Triangles to Squares Take-a-Long Game

Have you ever played dots and boxes? It's an astounding simple game that is perfect for passing the time. This little game fits that description as well. Critical thinking gets snuck in while kids play.

What You Need

PDF of triangles/squares (download it here)

Cardstock (2-5 sheets)

Small drawstring bag or plastic sandwich bag for transport/storage

Notepad and pencil for scorekeeping

Simply print the PDF on cardstock, cut out and get ready to play. If you want to increase the durability of the game, either laminate the pages before cutting out the squares or use foamies glue and adhere the paper to thin sheets of foam and use a straight edge and craft knife to cut out once dry.

To make the game car-friendly, buy a metal clipboard to use for storage and playing surface, shrink and print the pieces on sticker paper, and adhere them to thin magnetic sheets.

There are five pages in the PDF I made. For a short two-person game, only two pages of game pieces are necessary. Play is extended with more pieces. Likewise, for more players, you need more pieces.

The Objective

When all the pieces have been played, be the player with the most points. Points (or tally marks) are earned by adding the last piece to make a full square of any single color.

How to Play

All the game pieces should be turned face down in a pile accessible to the players. Each player draws three pieces from the pile and looks at them. (It's up to you if you want players to keep them secret or lay them out on the table in front of them.)

The youngest player picks one game piece and puts it in the center. He/she then draws from the pile of unused game pieces.

The next player looks at their three pieces and if possible, adds to the piece previously played. Play continues in this way, so that each piece must touch another of like color. The player to add the last piece to make a full square of any single color gets a point. Keep track with tally marks on a notepad.

If a player adds a game piece that finishes two squares, two points are awarded (see the picture above).

When all the pieces have been played, look at the scorecard. The player with the most tally marks wins!

VARIATION: During a child's turn, they can move an existing piece that's already been played on their turn instead of laying down a new piece.

EXTENSION: Talk about fractions as you play, asking the child to recite how much of a square is complete when a game piece is added (e.g. "Now there is 3/4 of a red square!").

When the game is over, put the pieces in small bag for easy transport. (I plan to tote this around in my purse to play next time we're waiting for food at a restaurant.)

Family Art Project: Alcohol Ink Drink Coasters

On Mother's Day, I had only one request - that we make art together as a family. I had the project all picked out and while I expected grumbling, there wasn't any.

Perhaps that's because the magic that happens when alcohol ink hits a cheap ceramic tile is mesmerizing.

I love these kinds of art projects. And when I say "these kinds," I mean kids' art that's practical. (No offense to the art teacher in my son's elementary school, but that African mud hut my son made out of clay isn't exactly the kind of sculpture I was looking for to adorn my bedroom dresser.)

List of supplies

Alcohol inks (We used the Adirondack brand.)

Inexpensive ceramic tiles from the home improvement store (ours cost $0.16 each)

Plastic to cover your work surface (we just used trash bags)

Patience for drying time

Aleene's Jewelry Pendant Gel (we used 1 1/2-4 oz. bottles for six tiles)

Small self-stick felt pads

Plastic cups

Waxed paper or aluminum foil

Black permanent marker (optional)

toothpicks

How we did it

Day one of this project is when all the magic happens. Simply wipe your tiles clean and holding the bottle of alcohol ink upside down, drip them onto your tile. The colors will blend or push against each other, creating truly phenomenal effects. Some of our tiles looked like nebulas in space, while others looked like melted candy. The effect impressed each of us (our 4 1/2 yr. old, 8 1/2 yr. old, husband, and myself).

WARNING: The dye will stain your hands.

Once the tile is covered in ink, set it aside to dry. Depending on the amount of ink applied, you may need to wait up to 48 hours.

Once the dye is no longer tacky, place the tile on top of a plastic, disposable drinking cup that's turned upside down on top of waxed paper or aluminum foil. Make sure you are working on a level surface, where you can leave the materials for a day or two undisturbed.

If you don't make a cup stand onto which the tile can rest, the gel will pool around your coaster and it will adhere to your work surface.

Now squeeze Aleene's Jewelry Pendant Gel generously over the surface of the tile. Make sure all areas are covered. Pop any air bubbles with a toothpick. Let the excess gel dribble over the edge of the tile onto your waxed paper. Leave the gel to set up for 12-24 hours. (Don't worry about drips that dry. You can break off the excess gel from the bottom of the tile easily later.) The gel will be cloudy when you first pour it on but it will dry clear.

When completely dry, you can color the edges of the tile for a finished look with a black permanent marker or leave it as is. Now attach the small felt pads to the four corners of your tile.

Now use the coasters to hold a drink! I love how these turned out!

NOTE: Some of our cups did stick slightly to the coaster as they were sweating. Just hold the coaster down and remove the cup. The ink design remained unharmed. 

After School Linky Party (6-2)

Welcome to the After School Linky Party!

Summer is upon us. Do you know how to ward off those "I'm Sooooooo bored" moments?

There's plenty of ideas at this linky to help, so get ready to surf and pin.

Road Trip Printables for Kids: Alphabet I-Spy at 3 Boys and a Dog.

Beach Scavenger Hunt (free printable) at Buggy and Buddy.

Color Diffusing Paper Jellyfish at Little Fingers Big Art.

How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have? Storybook Math Activities at School Time Snippets.

Solar Science Experiments for Kids at The Educators' Spin on It.

Summer Cookout Themed Bath at Growing Book by Book.

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Boy Mama Teacher Mama

Coffee Cups and Crayons

Little Wonders' Days

Mama Smiles

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

The Measured Mom

This Reading Mama

What Do We Do All Day

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks!

Bleeding Tissue Sunset {Art + Science}

Have you heard of bleeding art tissue? As soon as I did, it was added to my must-make art projects. But, if I'm being totally honest, my oldest boy is not a fan of art. "It's not my thing, Mom," he always says. (sigh)

This mama with an art history degree is always looking for sneaky ways to make art fun. This art lesson is cleverly disguised as a science extension.

We read Why Does the Sun Set? by Violet Miller to truly understand what's happening when the sky is filled vibrant oranges and pinks.

Then we got busy making our own sunset.

After reassuring my son that we weren't going to paint, his interest was piqued. I cut loads of small squares of bleeding art tissue with my paper cutter. NOTE: Regular gift wrap tissue will not produce the vibrant colors that this art tissue will.

He wet a large piece of watercolor paper with a small sponge. Then I laid a small circular plastic lid at the bottom to simulate our sun. He arranged pieces of tissue around it - first orange, then pink, red, purple, blue, and light blue at the top of the page. The wet paper helped our pieces of tissue stick.

Lastly, he spritzed the paper with a squirt bottle filled with water.

Now we let it dry overnight. In the morning, he pulled all the tissue squares off to reveal the sunset underneath. Beautiful!

He was pretty proud of it!

Battle of the States {free printable game}

My oldest son (8 1/2 years old) has always had a fascination with U.S. geography and the history of the states. This game combines both.

To make your own deck of states cards, download the 7-page PDF I made here. Print on cardstock.

If you're worried the cards will be see-through, spritz the back of the printed pages with spray glue (in a well-ventilated area) and adhere a lightweight piece of scrapbook paper to the glued side before cutting out.

Now grab your kid and get ready to play.

Shuffle the deck and divide it in half with the cards face down. Each player turns over the top card on their deck, keeping it to themselves. Then, the youngest player names a category (e.g. population, number of counties, electoral votes, etc.). 

The opponent reads the number from that category on their card and the youngest player does the same. For all categories but one, the player with the largest number is the winner and takes the opponent's card, setting both their card and their opponent's card in a pile in front of them face up.

If a player selects the "statehood" category, the winner is the player with the card containing the earliest statehood year.

The player that wins the round selects the category for the next one.

If the category called results in both players announcing the same number from their cards (e.g. both states have the same number of electoral votes), two more cards are drawn and compared. The player to win, takes all four cards.

When the decks are out of cards, players compare the number of collected cards from their wins. You can count them or straighten and set the decks side-by-side. The player with the most cards wins.