This started with a bowl of homemade clay and a milk carton lid. I was making small clay disks for a different project and had a stack of them drying on a baking sheet, and it dawned on me halfway through that they would make perfect game pieces. Two colors of marker pen later, half the disks were ladybugs and half were bees, and we had a tic-tac-toe set with bugs instead of Xs and Os. A small craft that turns into a small game that turns into the kind of busy bag a child reaches for unprompted. Ages 3 to 6.
The clay
The clay itself is two ingredients you already have. One cup of cornstarch and half a cup of white school glue, mixed and kneaded for a few minutes until it pulls together into a smooth, slightly stretchy dough. It is taste-safe in the sense that nothing in it is toxic, dries hard overnight in a warm room, and takes a marker pen well once dry.
- One cup of cornstarch.
- Half a cup of white school glue.
- A clean work surface dusted with a little extra cornstarch to stop sticking.
- A milk carton lid or a small round cookie cutter for the circles. Roughly an inch wide is the right size.
- A sheet of parchment paper or wax paper on a baking tray for the drying.
Mix the cornstarch and the glue in a bowl. It looks unpromising for a minute, then suddenly pulls together. Knead it for two or three minutes on the dusted surface until it feels smooth. Roll it out about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut circles with the carton lid pressed firmly straight down. Lift each circle onto the parchment with a flat knife or a thin spatula.
Trim any ragged edges with scissors while the disks are still soft. Brush off any excess cornstarch dust with a dry fingertip. Leave the tray somewhere warm overnight. By morning the disks are hard, smooth, and ready to decorate.
Making the ladybugs
Color the top of each disk solid red with a red permanent marker. Go right to the edge so the rim looks painted, not bare clay. With a black marker, draw a small filled-in semicircle at the top for the head, a thick line down the middle for the wing split, and four or five dots on either side. Stick two small white circle stickers inside the black head and add a dot inside each one with the black marker for the eyes. A coat of decoupage glue (or white craft glue thinned slightly with water) on top seals the surface and gives it a smooth shine.
Making the bees
Same idea, different colors. Color the disk solid yellow. Draw three thick black stripes across with the black marker. Add two small white sticker eyes at the top and dot the centers with the black marker. Seal with the same coat of glue.
Five of each is enough to play with. Ten is better, since at least one usually rolls under the couch.
The board
A drawn-on cloth or paper grid is fine, but a small child plays better with something they can feel. We used nine short wooden slats laid out in a three-by-three grid, with a finger-width gap between each. The defined edges of each square turn out to matter. There is no ambiguity about whose square a piece is in.
How it actually gets played
The strict version of tic-tac-toe is for older children. With a small child, the rules drift and that is the whole charm. Ours decided the bugs needed houses, and that the houses needed to be in a row so the bugs could see their friends. Once a row got built, the row was the win, and the game reset. After a few turns the actual block-the-other-player logic of the game started showing up on its own, without anyone teaching it.
When the game is over, everything goes into a small drawstring bag or a tin. The disks travel well, the wooden slats stack flat, and the whole set fits in a coat pocket.
Why it lasts
The clay is harder than it has any right to be. The marker pen sealed under decoupage glue does not chip. Ours have been knocked off tables, rolled across carpets, and stuck behind couch cushions for weeks at a time and they still look fine. The whole project costs almost nothing if the cornstarch and glue are already in the cupboard, and the playing piece you end up with is more interesting than a wooden X.
For another book-themed craft that turns into a play set, our pom pom Elmer the Elephant uses contact paper and craft pom poms instead of clay and markers. And for a quieter sit-down option in the same age band, our free flower coloring pages give a child something to color when the bugs go back in the bag.