Hobbies And Interests
Checkers
Cut a piece of cardboard that is 8 inches square. Mark out an 8-by-8 grid on the piece of cardboard, with each square being 1/2-inch on all four sides. Color every other square on the board black with a marker. Color the remaining squares red.
Trace a quarter 12 times on a red piece of paper and 24 times on a black piece of paper. Cut the circles out and place a sticker on one side of each circle, this will be the king side of each checker.
Mankala
Cut two cups from an egg carton. Remove the lid from another egg carton, then center and attach one extra cup to each end of the carton. Paint the game board any color. Place four small buttons in each cup of the game board, with the exception of the end cups that you attached. Look for game directions at the Web site below.
Peg Solitaire
Draw the peg solitaire game board on a piece of cardboard by drawing seven rows that are three squares wide. Then add two squares to both ends of the middle three rows. You should have a cross-shaped grid. Color a star in the center square. Gather 32 buttons and place a button in each square, except the middle one. Look for game directions at the Web site below.
Battleship
Paint four 7-inch-square pieces of cardboard blue and let them dry. Draw a grid that is 11-squares-by-11-squares in the center of each piece of cardboard; make the squares 1/2-inch wide and long. Write the letters A through L in the squares along the top of the grid, starting in the second square from the left. Write the numbers 1 through 10 in the squares along the left edge of the grid, starting in the second square down. Cut two pieces of construction paper that are 2 1/2 inches long by 1/2 inch deep and write aircraft carrier on them. Cut two more pieces that are 2-by-1/2-inch and write battleship on them, then four pieces that are 1 1/2-by-1/2-inch and write destroyer on two and submarine on two, and lastly cut two pieces that are 1-by-1/2-inch and write patrol boat on them. Gather 68 red buttons for hits and 332 white buttons for misses. Sit back-to-back when playing so you can't see each other's game boards. Look for game directions at the Web site below.
Bingo
Draw a 5-by-5 grid, with 1 inch square boxes, on a piece of paper. Write Bingo above the top row, with one letter above each row. Write random numbers from 1 to 10 in the first column, 11 to 20 in the second column, 21 to 30 in the third column, 31 to 40 in the fourth column and 41 through 50 in the fifth column. Cut 50 small squares of paper and write the numbers 1 to 50 on them. Take an old shoebox and cut a baseball-sized hole in the top. Put all the numbered slips of paper in the box. Gather 25 buttons for each bingo card.