A couple of summers ago I was teaching a sewing workshop at the neighborhood pool to a handful of kids who were members of the swim team. Class attendance wasn’t consistent so in an effort to encourage enrollment I decided that I needed to create classes that were simple and could be finished within a couple of hours. I came up with the idea of this game board that was totally portable so the kids could take this with them to swim meets and have something to do during those long breaks between swimming events. Felt is fairly easy to work with and sticks well enough to itself to be used as a travel game board. This finished project will work well in most any other travel situation to keep kids busy.

Supplies You Will Need:

• 2 Felt Squares 16 X 16 inches (but you can make it any size you wish) I used black & red for the swim team colors
• 9 X 12 inch pieces of felt White, Green and Brown (or and color combo you wish)
• Tape measure/ruler
• Scissors
• Sewing Machine
• Thread
• Snaps or Velcro Dots
• Scrap Card Board for templates

Begin by cutting your base felt board pieces to 16 X 16. And cutting the white into 4 strips that measure 1″ X 12″.

Lay the white strip onto one of the felt board pieces so they form a grid. Pin in place and stitch with a zigzag stitch all the way around each edge of the strips to secure in place. Set this felt board piece aside.

On the other felt board square position your snaps or Velcro dots about 6 – 8 inches in from opposite corners. The kids had a blast using hammers and snap setting tools on their projects.

Take both felt board square with right sides together and sew all the way around leaving about 5 inches opened on one side to turn your project right side out. Don’t forget to trim your corners before turning to reduce bulk.

Now give your square felt board a quick press with an iron and stitch about 1/4″ all the way around making sure to close the opening left for turning. Your game board is complete.

I cut templates from card board in the shapes of a circle and and X and cut 5 green circles and 5 brown X’s.

Now for the roll up for travel —

Lay all your game pieces onto the felt board where you have sewn the grid strips. Turn it so it looks like a diamond with the fastener sides pointing towards and away from you. Pull the left and the right corners in to the center. Fold the top corner and the bottom corners towards the center . Roll it up until the snaps meet and fasten.

Have fun and let me know how your travel game board turns out.