Handmade Checkerboard

My kids love Melissa & Doug Wooden Toys. They are such high quality toys and we always seem to ask for them for gifts. Each of the sets come with a wood crate that stores the set. While I love the crates they really could use a top on them in order to make it into our playroom (I am not a fan of pieces everywhere). So what has happened over the years of receiving Melissa & Doug toys is we have amassed a collection of these wood crates.

I used one of them to make a checkerboard for our family game collection.

I have reused a couple of them already. One is in my nightstand holding lotions, books, pens, chapsticks, book lights, etc.

Another two I turned into a backgammon game for our family (this idea was even featured in the book Mod Podge Rocks!– on sale for $6.18 on Amazon).

This month I was challenged by Michaels to ReLove something in my home. So I pulled out the crate from one of the bead sets Kayla got for her birthday and began repurposing it into a checker game.

Supplies:

Old square Melissa & Box wood crate

Mod Podge (I used satin)

Two colors of cardstock

Silhouette machine or paper cutter

ruler

Spray Paint & Primer

Foam Brush

Bottlecaps to use as game pieces

sanding sponge

1. I lightly sanded the crate and wiped it clean. Then I spray primered and painted it a Berry Pink.

2. Next I measured the inside length and width of the crate and divided each of those numbers by 8 to determine the width of my checker spaces.

3. I cut the squares out with my Silhouette machine. If you don’t have a Silhouette machine you could totally use a paper cutter but using a Silhouette machine gave me perfect accuracy.

4. Then I used my foam brush and Mod Podge to adhere the cardstock in place. Once dry, I gave it two coats of Mod Podge over the top of the checkerboard to seal it.