Hobbies And Interests
Family Vacations
Create a game based on a recent family vacation, or an all-time favorite destination. Make the spaces look like a meandering road, and create small cars as playing pieces. The goal is to get to the destination before other players, while navigating through potential pitfalls like road blocks and episodes of carsickness. Create cards that players must draw when they land on certain spaces, and on the cards, write things like, “Family of ducks crosses the road—wait one turn while they pass” and “Stop for ice cream and move ahead one extra space.”
Holidays
Create a holiday-themed board game with a religious or secular theme. For instance, create a Christmas board game in which Mary and Joseph have to find their way to a place to stay in Bethlehem. As described above, create cards like, “Your donkey is tired---skip a turn to let him rest.”
Fantasy Land
Create a fantasy theme using your favorite types of mythical beings. Paint a forest on the board, making many areas dark and mysterious. Label the different sections of the board with names like "Haunted Hollow" and "Fairy Glade," and include chance cards like "You run into a dragon---turn around and go back five spaces" and "You meet a troupe of good fairies---move ahead four spaces."
Garden
Decorate your board game like a garden, with a path meandering through the flower beds. Players must navigate through their garden, selecting cards like “Your tomatoes are prize winning—move forward two spaces!”
Nature Hike
Create a board game that represents a nature preserve, with a hiking trail winding through it. Make up cards with questions like, “Which of the following animals live in this forest?” and “What type of plant lives in swampy areas?” On certain spaces, indicate that players must pick up a question card. On others, indicate that they must choose a “luck” card like “Your socks are wet---wait a turn while you change them.”
Three-Dimensional Games
Make your board games three-dimensional with paper mache. Map out your game on cardboard with pencil and a ruler, and then use a plaster of Paris mixture and old newspaper to build up landforms, buildings, or other features. Simply making rolling hills with a path weaving through them will make the game more attractive and interesting. Or, as Activity Village suggests, use plastic containers and other everyday objects like toilet paper holders to create an obstacle course that game pieces must move through. Paint the board after it’s finished.
Cloth Games
A game made of cloth is easy to store, stays in good condition for longer, and is often quite attractive. As Disney&'s Family Fun website suggests, help kids to make a Checkers game from felt, attaching Velcro so the pieces will stick to the board.