Building an Indoor Play Area Board for Your Child - Part One of Five

Here in northern Michigan, outside play is limited to just a few things in the winter. Little boys love to play in the dirt and the grass with their action figures, but can't do much of that in the winter. We tried; have you ever tried to find a 4 ½" tall Star Wars guy in the snow? Well, I have, and that is the reason I decided I had to do something. I had to figure out a way to play in the dirt and the grass ... inside.

I built what we call The Play Board. Because the instructions are lengthy, this will be a multipart series.

This will be my second How-To Series. The first is a publication titled Decorating With Color ------

which is a four part series. I have imbedded links in these directions to related information. When you click on the links, please do so in another window, or return to this page for complete instructions. This is a great project the share with the kids, and you will all love it. While lengthy, you will find all the information you need to build one of these play boards with your child

I decided to use as many natural products as we could, and spent several days, several hours, walking together in the woods looking for mosses and grass and rocks. This really makes the kids use their imagination as they look for things to use on the board. You can make any kind of board you wish, city, country, or medieval. Our next project will be a play board that is a dirt bike track and also a play board modeled after Star Wars.

Little girls would have fun with a Barbie City board, with houses and stores. The board I built first was for a boy, so the directions that follow will be more for a boy's play board.

Decide where you will place the board.