The game is inspired by Tic-Tac-Toe, Connect Four and Penta (one of my favorite games as a kid). We used an egg crate scavenged from the garbage pile at our favorite diner and some scrapbook dots I picked up years ago (I always wondered what to do with them).
Each player starts with a small stack of dots - one color for player 1, another color for player 2. You could also use buttons, checker pieces, rocks, small squares of paper, etc., as long as each player has their own color.
The object of the game is to get four pieces in a row. It's a little more challenging than Tic-Tac-Toe but still fast paced enough to play several games in a setting.
The game didn't hold my kids' interest for long, but then again they are 6 and 8. I think this would be an excellent game for preschoolers. A great thing about this game is that when you're done you can recycle it! There are lots of fun crafts to do with egg crates - little flowers, bells, caterpillars. According to my friend Sarah, egg crates are great fire starters too. I think we might use ours to start some seeds. And the diner thought they were garbage.
Have fun and don't forget to change your clocks!
they also are great paint holders....i cut them in strips of 3 or 4 and then fill each with paint.
ReplyDeletethey are great for starting seeds too.
have a great weekend! karen
Clever, impromptu, reuse.
ReplyDeleteOne spring we tore them up, soaked them, and made paper that became Easter cards for grandparents.
R received a Mancala game from a friend one year for his birthday, made from an egg carton, with little stones as the pieces, jar lids for the ending "holes", and with instructions printed out from online.
Most of our egg cartons go to folks who keep chickens locally and sell their extra eggs (which might be us too this year!)
Dryer lint is a pretty good fire starter, too. And the wax from around those individual Babybel cheeses. I could go on and on...
I've so been meaning to do a whole post about the things we reuse for SO long now. Maybe soon.
I love this idea and I think it's just perfect for my 3 year old and I to play together. Thanks for the inspiration Molly!
ReplyDeleteCute game! I think my Ryder would love this!
ReplyDeleteWe might have to scrounge the diners for egg crates. We're thinking of making a moth trap (for observation purposes) and I hear that they are the perfect thing to put inside so that the moths have something to tuck themselves into while they're waiting for you to come and release them.
such a cute idea.
ReplyDeletefantastic idea! and the colors are perfectly eggy too. i had to look twice...
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned Mancala, but I just wanted to underscore how great it is to play this game with an egg carton and buttons or other small objects. I was able to entertain an after school group of 9-year olds day after day with this little trick. But the game is simple enough for smaller kids to understand too.
ReplyDeleteI received the doily rock and wanted to say thanks. ; ) I put it on my dashboard as some cute car decoration.
ReplyDeleteVery cute. And thanks for the reminder on daylight savings time. I totally forgot.
ReplyDeleteVery clever. I'd love to share your idea...I'll be linking over!
ReplyDeleteBefore we started recycling our egg crates by giving them back to the egg guy at the farmers market that we get our eggs from, we used to use them as firestarters too. They do make good ones.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, at first glance I thought you have brown and blue eggs in that carton... gave me a pang of nostalgia for the little flock of Araucanas I used to have. Oh to be able to raise poultry again!
ReplyDelete