For Father's Day this year, I wanted my boys to create something unique for a gift. I also wanted to come up with something easy for them to do together, especially after two failed attempts at a different idea. The end result is this super simple homemade tic-tac-toe game for my boys to play with their dad on Father's Day. I promise it only takes a handful of minutes to actually make.

My four-year old has been interested in tic-tac-toe recently. So his interest was the inspiration for this gift idea.

What you'll need:

white acrylic paint

foam paint brush(es)

8 x 8-inch piece of hardboard (luckily, I found this piece of hardboard in our scrap wood collection so I had to do zero cutting!)

1.5-inch wooden letters, five Ds and five As. (You can find these at craft stores)

washi tape

scissors

First, the boys painted the hardboard all by themselves. Remember that acrylic paint is not washable so dress your kids appropriately! We painted outside to contain the mess and to enjoy the warm weather.

Once the paint dried, the boys selected the color of washi tape that they wanted to use. My two-year old selected a pretty teal chevron pattern. Then he did all the cutting and taping to finish off our gameboard. I left the wooden letters natural, but you could also paint or dye them if you'd like.

This craft was a great way to work on fine motor skills through painting, cutting tape, and adhering tape. The finished game is also great for encouraging literacy and alphabet learning. My two-year old is reading quite a few words by sight already and "dad" just happens to be one of those words. Here he is spelling "DAD" all by himself.