Twist-and-Turn Game

With plenty of twists, turns, and tangles in store, kids will delight in a close-up look at the stars, spiders, jack-o'-lanterns, and ghosts lined up on this themed Twist-and-Turn game board. Make the mat from pre-primed canvas and paint the figures using the patterns below.

Coat the finished game board with a layer of polyurethane for extra protection, and secure it to the floor with a rug pad or temporary spray-adhesive product.

 

• 40-x-60-inch rectangle of preprimed canvas
• Straightedge and pencil
• Acrylic paints: black, green, lavender, orange, purple, white, and yellow
• Assorted paintbrushes
• Masking tape
• 5- to 6-inch plastic-foam block
• Craft foam: orange, purple, white, and yellow
• Foam glue
• Tracing paper
• Permanent black marker
• Polyurethane (optional)
• Rug pad (optional)

Twist-and-Turn game patterns

 

 

1. Use a straightedge and a pencil to draw 10-inch squares on the canvas in a grid pattern, making four rows of six squares.
2. Using a photocopier, enlarge one each of the ghost, jack-o'-lantern, spider, and star designs from the patterns.
3. Transfer each pattern six times onto the canvas, referring to the diagram for placement and centering the designs inside the squares.
4. Referring to the photograph and the pattern, paint the ghosts, jack-o'-lanterns, spiders, and stars. Mask around the outside of the ghost and star squares; apply black paint inside the tape and around the designs.
5. When the paint is dry, mask around the outside of the jack-o'-lantern and star squares; apply white paint inside the tape and around the designs.
6. Measure the sides of the plastic-foam block. Cut a square for each side, making two each of orange and purple and one each of white and yellow.
7. Glue a square to each side of the block with foam glue. Enlarge, then trace the foot and hand patterns onto tracing paper; cut out.
8. Draw around the foot pattern onto three sides of the block. Draw around the hand pattern on the remaining three block sides. Trace the lines with a permanent black marker.
9. To protect the design, coat the canvas in polyurethane, and use a rug pad to prevent it from slipping.