Kids stocking fillers part 1 - 0's & X's

This is the first part of two makes I did for the kids stocking fillers for Christmas just gone, both makes are made from scrap wood I had lying about and they are both really easy to make, and obviously as I have two kids I made two lots of each thing.

The first is a small noughts and crosses game made from a piece of an old pine shelf and some cut up sections of a hardwood spindle.

Here's the finished article -

Quick and simple to make.

I marked out the game board using some squared paper, this is good way of making an easy to use template for simple things like this.

The game board template - 

Speeds things up a bit.

Once I'd made the template I laid it over the piece of wood I chose for the game board and using a scribe I marked the four corners of the board so I knew where to cut, and then the centres of the circles, these were to be drilled out so the game pieces fit into the board.

Using a forstner bit I drilled out the nine holes for the game pieces, then I cut nine slices from an old hardwood spindle, the combination of light and dark woods makes for a nice contrast.

Holes drilled out and game counters cut - 

Onto the x's & o's

To make the noughts (0's) I marked the centre of some of the hardwood slices, then drilled through them with a small forstner bit, for the crosses (x's) I made another template and pinned it to a piece of scrap wood I'd made a hole in, the hole was just big enough to hold one of the hardwood slices.

Template for the crosses (x') - 

Simple enough.

I then used the template to mark four points on some of the hardwood slices - 

It's not that accurate, but it works.

Once I'd marked up some of the hardwood slices I then set about joining the marks up to make crosses in the wood, I used the scrap bit of wood to hold the slice in my bench vice, so as not to mark the wood on the sides, then using a small saw I cut a cross into the wood and made it bigger using a small needle rasp.

Like so - 

Not quite central, but it looks like a cross.

And that's about it, apart from sanding and then a couple of coats of Danish oil the noughts and crosses games were done, besides waiting for the oil to soak into the wood it didn't take very long to make the two game boards and their pieces.

All done, just need some oil - 

Almost ready for wrapping.

A simple and inexpensive stocking filler, even if you had to buy the materials you should be able to find a flat bit of pine and some thickish dowel for a few pounds (it's worth looking in off cut bins at the local diy shop) you could always make it a small project for the kids to make themselves.

They do look better with a bit of oil, paint would work just as well - 

All done.

And if wood work isn't your thing (or even if it is) why not try your hand at a bit of sewing, my wife made these soft toys for the kids stockings, I think they turned out great and the kids love them.

lightlyenchanted - Happy New Year 2016

Thanks for reading.