Keep the Family Entertained With Craftfoam

Keeping children entertained at home isn’t always easy, so we have put together a couple of crafty creations using Craftfoam that all the family can enjoy.

These fun but simple activities are ideal for children of all ages to try their hand at when home schooling with parents or over the Easter period.

Build Your Own Boardgame – A fun and educational activity that will keep everyone entertained long after the paint and glue is dry.

Recreating family favourites such as snakes and ladders, draughts or chess couldn’t be simpler with Craftfoam.

Craftfoam is a strong yet lightweight material which can be cut, sanded, planed and painted. It is available to buy online in handy sheets in a range of thicknesses that are perfect for trimming down to size and using as a board. As it is easy to cut without the need for any specialist equipment, thicker pieces are also ideal for sculpting into counters/figurines and dice for use during play.

Once you have cut out the shape of the board, counters and dice, smooth down the edges using fine sandpaper then let the children get to work on decorating them. Craftfoam offers a smooth surface which is ideal for painting and is also suitable for use with some pastes and adhesives. Draw the layout of your game onto the board base first, then when complete paint over the design using non-solvent based paint and sprays. We advise testing these on offcuts of Craftfoam first to make sure you get the desired result beforehand.

Then, once the paint is dry stick on any additional decorations you need, and when everything is set, you’re ready to play!

Top Tip: Why not make this activity more challenging by getting the children to design their own game and rules. You could also have a go at making the board 3D. To do this take key features, such as the squares on a chessboard or the snake (for snakes and ladders), draw them onto a thin piece of Craftfoam, cut them out and glue them into place, before painting.

Make your own town complete with your children’s favourite characters and keep their imaginations running wild for hours.

Craftfoam can be easily shaped and modelled using a variety of tools including hand or powered knives, and saws, drills and routers (for adult use only). This and the fact it’s extremely rigid means it is ideal for creating a play-town that is as simple or imaginative as you like.

Work out how many buildings you will need – we would recommend at least three to start – plus your characters and any other decorations such as trees, lampposts etc. Then, take a large sheet of Craftfoam for the base plus as many additional thinner sheets required to make the rest.

Leave the base to one side and in the meantime get to work on cutting out your buildings.

Cut four squares for the walls and two larger rectangles for the roof from one of the thinner pieces of Craftfoam. Using a craft knife, carve shapes for windows and a door out one of the squares, which will be the front of your building. Let the kids paint each shape, then when dry take your base board and assemble the four walls on top wherever you want the building to sit and glue together using a robust PVA solution. Hold the pieces in place with large toothpicks or bamboo skewers; remove these once the walls are fixed, then place the rectangles together on top into a point, glue and fix in place to dry. Repeat this for each of your buildings but try to make them all a little different to make your town bright and colourful.

Once the shape of your town is assembled, everyone can decorate the base and any other sections, adding features such as a road, flowers and grassed areas. You can draw these on or make them out of other materials such as buttons, wool, pipe cleaners and craft paper. Finally, to make your own townsfolk cut out pieces of Craftfoam and paint accordingly or take your children’s favourite figurines or small dolls and you’re ready to play!

Craftfoam can be conveniently delivered anywhere in the UK. It can also be purchased as ready-to-use letters and numbers in various sizes. For more information, click here or phone 0114 249 5626. For more creative ideas, visit the Craftfoam blog.

Have you had a go at your own boardgame, town or any other Craftfoam creations? Don’t forget to share a picture on our Facebook and Twitter pages.