DIY Outdoor Board Games

October 22, 2020by HOMEMAKERS Editor0 comments

Make spending quality time outdoors more fun with this simple DIY 2-in-1 Outdoor Pebble Chess and Tic Tac Toe Board from DIY with Elle.

What you will need:

Bag of medium pebbles
2 x pieces of pinewood 440mm long x 22mm wide x 20mm thick (pre–cut)
Small hinges
8 x short wood screws
Paint tray or a rag and thin fine paintbrush
Drop sheet
Pencil and measuring tape
White PVA paint
Black spray paint
Wood stain and wood clear sealer
Garden Permanent marker x 2 (black and white)
Painters tape
Sander with 120 /180 grit sandpaper
Power drill or screwdriver

Step 1: Prep and Sand

Lay out the drop sheet on the work surface. Clamp and secure your piece of pine wood to the work station. Sand the sharp edges and the surfaces of your pieces of pine wood, wipe dust away with a clean damp cloth.

Step 2: Secure

Using a power drill/screwdriver, lay the two pieces of wood side by side so that they are flush, place the small hinges flush on the edge of the two spines of the pieces and secure the hinges to the wood with short wood screws (see image).

Step 3: Stain

Open your two wood pieces at the hinges and lay flat for staining with a wood stain of your choice. You can use a rag or a sponge roller and tray to apply the wood stain. Read the instructions of any wood stain product before use.

Step 4: Measure, Mark and Paint

Divide and mark the board into 8 equal blocks across and 4 blocks down on each side of the wood pieces, making the markings of chess squares on the board, make reference to a picture of a chessboard for help. Make sure the chess squares are on the inside once the two sides are folded, for a later step.

Once the squares are marked and equally drawn out, take some white PVA paint and a thin paintbrush and paint every other square on the board white, again make reference to a picture of a chessboard. Use painter’s tape to get crisp straight lines.

Optional: Use a black permanent marker to outline the marked/painted squares. Use a clear sealer to seal the entire project.

Step 5: Chess Pieces Pebble Selection

Open the bag of medium-sized white pebbles, take out 16 pebbles for each side of the chessboard, smaller pebbles for the pawn pieces and bigger ones for the King, Queen, Knight, etc.

Also make sure that the surface facing you is smooth, flat and large to mark later.

Clean the pebbles and dry them, put one set of 16 aside and leave them white. Set the other 16 aside on the drop sheet and spray paint them black for the other side of the DIY chessboard. Allow to dry fully.

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Step 6: Mark the Chess Pieces

Use your permanent markers, the white on the sprayed black pebbles and the black on the natural white pebbles. Make marks to represent the different chess pieces, a crown for the King, a Q for Queen, a cross for Bishop and arrows for the pawns, get creative.

With the DIY outdoor chessboard is now complete, the final step is to seal it with a clear sealer and allow it to dry.

Now you can add another great family board game to this project…Tic Tac toe.

Step 7:

Once you have closed and folded the Chessboard, turn it on its side so that you have one side of surface wood to use for the game Tic Tac toe or noughts and crosses.

Make clean lines of an evenly spaced # (three squares across, three squares down) with the white paint and painters’ tape. Seal with a clear sealer once dry, allowing the sealer to dry. Mark another 10 pebbles, 5 with “O” and 5 pebbles with “X”

Find a small bowl to place the “X” and “O” marked pebbles and get ready to play a game or two, then open the board flat and set out your chess pebbles and start a game of chess. Fun outdoors and all with DIY board games!

For more DIY’s, inspiration and tips follow DIY with Elle on Facebook.