Choose and Review - “Count the Words” Board Game

Make a standard board game on poster paper with spaces to advance from start to finish. Color the spaces, if you wish, or decorate the game board to match the theme. Write word strips with short phrases that also match the theme. For example, ways to obey the commandments, be a friend, be a missionary, follow the prophet, help others, etc. Make the phrases between one and four or five words long. Put these word strips in a can or basket to draw from. To advance, choose a word strip and read it out loud. Count the words and advance a marker that many spaces. Sing a song for each word strip chosen and continue until you reach the finish. If the track is a long one with many spaces and word strips, choose a reasonable number of songs to sing and put these on some of the word strips. Pause the game to sing the song. The point of the game is simply to move the marker from the start to the finish, briefly discussing the principles and singing the songs along the way. The picture shows the game I recently made to play on the Sunday after our program. It has a service theme for the month of November. I’ll put the game board on the chalkboard with magnets at the corners and use another magnet for a marker.




In case you are interested in making a similar board game, I’ll explain. Start with poster paper and a ruler and marker. Make some kind of track with spaces leading to a finish line. I used a pencil first to get the general shape and then used a permanent marker to draw over the pencil marking. I made this track long on purpose because I will likely have plenty of time on the Sunday we do the program. A longer track takes more time, but it does increase the participation for the kids. We won’t sing a song with every move.

After I got the track drawn, I paged through the digital copies of the Friend magazine, looking for illustrations of children performing service. When I found a likely picture, I printed the page, cut out the illustration and then glued it to the game board. After I had the big spaces filled in, I had to look specifically for smaller pictures. I trimmed some of them to fit. Depending on the track you draw, this may or may not be necessary.

After I had the illustrations in place, I colored the spaces with chalks. Crayons would work just as well, but chalks fill in large spaces fast. Unlike crayons, chalks are easily erased if I get just a little sloppy at the edges. I also liked the way the tone of the chalk matched the tone of the printed pictures, but that’s getting a little picky. The kids won’t notice or appreciate that. ;o)

There are 52 spaces in this track, so I made twenty word strips with a total of 60 words. The word strips for this service game are: dust, give a Book of Mormon, pick up toys, smile, help clean the church, donate toys, help cook supper, set the table, shovel snow, pick up litter, be kind, take cookies to someone, push the swing, hold the door, put groceries away, mow the lawn, bring a friend to Primary, be cheerful, wait my turn, say a prayer for someone. I tried to choose songs that matched the action on the word strip.