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How to Make a Tropical Rainforest Game Board

Tropical rainforests are mainly found in South and Central America, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, and are home to an incredible variety of animals and plants: 1,000 species can be found in just one square kilometer. With its colorful wildlife and lush environment, the rainforest makes an exciting theme for a board game. Designing a game is one way to learn about rainforest animals and plants. To play the game, players take turns to roll a die and move the indicated number of squares along the path using a counter; the first to reach the finish wins.

Things You'll Need

Large sheet of white posterboard or stiff paper
Pencil
Paints, crayons or magic markers
Colored card
Scissors
Counters
Die

Instructions

- 1
  Pencil in the route on the posterboard that players will take from start to finish. Draw a second line parallel to the first, about an inch apart, to make a path. At one end of the path, draw a box marked "start," and at the other end draw one marked "finish."
- 2
  Draw lines across the path at regular intervals to divide it into squares that players will move along when playing the game. Make as many as you like, depending on the length of the path -- about 100 works well.
- 3
  Write instructions on certain squares -- "challenge squares" -- that players must follow when they land on them. These can be both good and bad and should have a rainforest theme, such as "You discover a new species of butterfly -- move forward three squares" or "You are attacked by a jaguar -- move back four squares." Add other obstacles, such as a "river'" square -- every time players land there, they must back to the start.
- 4
  Make certain squares into "question squares" by drawing a question mark on them or by differentiating them in another way, such as by making them a different color. Every time players land on these squares they must answer a rainforest trivia question. Players get an extra turn if they answer the question correctly but miss a turn if they get it wrong.
- 5
  Make question cards by cutting the colored card into rectangles about 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches (blank index cards cut in half work well for this). On one side of the card, draw a question mark. On the other side, write a rainforest trivia question, such as "Q: How do poison-arrow frogs warn other animals that they are poisonous? A: By being brightly colored." Vary questions by making some multiple choice and others true-or-false.
- 6
  Draw or paint rainforest scenery filled with plants and animals in the blank spaces around the path. Decorate the path by coloring in the "challenge" and "question" squares or by turning it into one long "creeper" or "boa constrictor" that players must move along.
- 7
  Complete the game with counters and die.

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