My name is Cathy and I blog over at NutureStore, a site which is dedicated to encouraging parents to give their children the best start in life by mixing play and learning in a fun way. The game Tic Tac Toe is a great one to play with children as the rules are easy to learn and you can play it almost anywhere – with paper and pencil, a stick in the sand or, with this craft, using magnets to make a version you can stick on the door of your refrigerator. The game teaches children the art of taking turns, following a fair set of rules and also helps them understand the important life lesson that you can’t always win. It develops mind skills too as gets them thinking tactically, anticipating what might happen next.
In the UK, where I live, Tic Tac Toe is known as Noughts and Crosses. This is my Valentine’s take on it which I’m calling Hearts and Kisses. I hope you like the idea.
You’ll need:
A sheet of squared paper, a sheet of red cardstock, a sheet of pink cardstock, scissors and a craft knife, glue, 14 little magnets, something to embellish with – we used heart confetti but you might like stickers or glitter, a pencil, a ruler
Step 1:
Using the ruler and pencil, draw out the Tic Tac Toe grid on to the squared paper. You can make it whatever size you like to suit your refrigerator space but think about allowing enough space for the playing pieces to fit.
Step 2:
Draw out a kiss and a heart on the squared paper too. Then cut the grid, heart and kiss out and you have the templates ready to go.
Step3:
Draw round the templates on the cardstock and cut them out. We used red for the grid and hearts, and pink for the kisses. You will need 5 hearts in total and 5 kisses.
Step 4:
Decorate however you like. We used glue to put heart confetti on the grid.
Step 5:
When your embellishments are dry it’s time to stick the magnets on. Use one magnet on each heart / kiss and four in the cross-points of the grid. (Make sure you stick the magnets on with the right surface facing upwards so they will stick on to the refrigerator – ours had a circle marking the side to stick down but test yours out to see which way they should go.) Leave the glue to dry.
Step 6:
Once the glue is dry, stick your grid up on the refrigerator door and you are ready to play. If you have a young child playing or you’re teaching the game to a beginner remember, as with any children’s activity, the emphasis is on having fun -not on you winning!
Step 7:
To add a little Valentine love the winner gets a kiss. x
We have some more Valentine’s crafts over at NutureStore and lots of play ideas, so I hope you’ll come over for a visit.
Happy Valentine’s… Cathy x
