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Easy DIY Garden Tic Tac Toe Game

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I feel like I’ve been hibernating and now that the sun is out I’ve got many, many pages on my to-do list. This tic-tac-toe game is a project I’ve had in mind since late December.

wood stump with painted tic tac toe board with sontes painted like ladybugs and bumble bees for game pieces

Forget the boring X’s and O’s, it’s time to add some life to the tic-tac-toe game with some insect-inspired stones. I went minimalist with simple stripes and spots to represent two of my favorite insects.

Bumble bees and lady bugs just make me happy, like fields of dandelions and my dog. Luckily for all of us they’re easy to represent with a basic paint job!

 Ladybug vs. Bumble Bee Tic-Tac-Toe Game Supplies:

DIY Game Tutorial

Instructions:

Painting the rocks is super simple but it may take a while if you need lots of coats. I needed about 5 coats for the yellow, 3-4 for the red and 2 for the black.

The goal is to make happy little insect-like stones, no need to go crazy here! It’s simple enough that even my mom could do it (she banned Pictionary from our home, that’s how much she loves drawing) so I promise that you can!

Decide which end will be the head and leave about 1/4 for the total length unpainted.

For the bumble bees start painting yellow stripes across the top and down the sides. The number of striped you need will depend on the side of you rock and the width of your stripes.

For the ladybugs paint about 3/4 of the stone red, after a few coats add the black dots on top. I like the look of an odd number of spots myself but it’s up to you!

Painted Rock Tic-Tac-Toe

I free-handed the lines on the wooden disk in paint but if you were more motivated a wood burned game board would last much longer.

I can’t wait to get to use the game this summer, I love how fast the games go. My kids are really into tic tac toe all of a sudden, I’m just happy this game doesn’t make noise!

Of course they aren’t playing the game but they are playing a game. These little painted stones have taken on a life of their own and have elaborate back stories according to my 2 & 4 year olds. Anything to keep them busy right?

Keep the game going this fall with a Halloween Tic Tac Toe!

Entertain your favorite little goblins with a game of Halloween tic-tac-toe! Paint a game board on a wooden box to double as a carrying case

Make sure you know your kids before you set them loose with this DIY board game. The painted rocks can obviously be a choking hazard so please, please, please keep an eye on any young children when allowing them to play with this game

Check out my Garden DIY page for more ideas or start here:

DIY Garden Ornament

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Comments

  2. Sheila Miller says

    A perfect find at a perfect time! I will be working w/ a group of youth in 3 wks and needed one more project for their group….this is definitely IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Alecia says

      I used Apple Barrel High Gloss acrylic craft paint, it’s what I had around the house. I’m sure any acrylic paint would work

  6. Sabrinna says

    One Thing that was left out, was how many? I Would Love to make this, but the number of bugs were Not specified

  8. Sam @ Thrive 360 Living says

    Just had to tell you that your adorable Spring Time Tic-Tac-Toe inspired my project and post today. A good friend shared with me a pin of your idea and I knew immediately I had to create my own version. I absolutely adore your fun and creative take on such a classic game.

  11. Jennifer says

    This looks so fun! I was trying to think of an End of the School Year/Summer Fun project for my 9- and 10-year-old students and if I can find someone to cut up a tree for me, I think this will be it. I like to encourage them to be creative, be outside, and limit their media time. Thank you!

  12. Cathy says

    So cute – what a lovely idea! I’ve been painting loads of ladybirds and bumblebees the last few weeks – and love the idea of making a game board… now I got one to play on… all I need now is someone apart from the dogs to play with. Hahahah!

  14. Andrea says

    Where did you get the wood round? Or was it cut from your yard? What is the diameter?

    • Alecia says

      My brother-in-law is a park manager, the wood is cut from a cherry tree that fell down by a trail. If I had to guess I’d say it’s about 12-16 inches wide. The size of the wood you need will depend on the size of your rocks

  21. Rhea says

    how would you make them waterproof, i did this with my class using normal paint but we want them outside what would you suggest?

  22. oweneen says

    Well done, brilliant way to interact with the grandchildren, luvin it. Thnx for sharing

  24. Heidi says

    I shared this same idea on my site a few months ago. I got the idea from my sister-in-law, but I wonder if she got it from you. Sorry if you stumbled on it and thought I copied. If I did, I didn’t know it. My sister-in-law brought all the stuff to do at our family reunion last year. Anyway . . . if the idea did come from you . . . thank you! We had a blast with it at the reunion.

  25. susie anderson says

    Ooh! I’m going to try this with Mijnleiff. It’s played on a 4×4 grid, involves a little more strategy and still finishes up in 5 minutes.

  27. Ann says

    I’m not very good with paints ( worse than your mom) so I painted half red and half yellow and then made stripes and dots with a black sharpie. Came out great!

  28. Brooke says

    Featuring your project in our studio this month. Will credit you as source in our project tutorial, with your permission!

  29. Mark says

    Awesome project! And it looks great! I want to make one for a friend. Did you use a preservative on the wood to prevent it from cracking over time? What did you use? I have been researching this and I haven’t found a practical way to stop it.

    • Rachel says

      I was wondering the same thing. I just made one, but with daughter and boyfriends favorite NFL team vs other team. I was going to modge podge it, but wasn’t sure how it would look.

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