Giant Memory Game

I found a book while making a display that gave me the delusional idea that I could make a giant memory and scrabble game out of wood for our Summer Reading Kickoff event. I'm going to talk about the memory game here in case anyone ever wants to see how much work it would be to do this themselves. 

The first step was to purchase the wood and cut it into squares. This was the easiest part since the book told me how much wood I needed, and Home Depot will cut wood purchased from them for free. I got 1 sheet of plywood that was 1/4 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. for about $30. I asked them to cut it into squares of 6 in. I worked with an assistant manager at Home Depot, and she offered to cut everything at her home workstation and text me when it was done. I was able to pick it up the next day and get started with the next steps. 

I picked out the best-looking 30 squares and sanded the edges down. This particular wood has an issue with its layers peeling away which was frustrating. I would recommend looking at the wood you get very closely so you can hopefully avoid this. A higher quality wood will be more expensive but less annoying. Once I sanded them all, I realized I had so many extra squares left over. Many were not good enough to use but I had enough to make another memory game. I decided to ask another library in my system if they would like a set of tiles for themselves and they jumped at the opportunity. I sanded 30 more tiles and started to think about what the tiles would look like and how I would seal them.

I created a diagram of the designs. I wanted bright colors and fun patterns. Then I got to painting. 

Each design needed to be painted 4 times since I was making 2 sets of tiles. If you plan to use a lot of yellow, be aware that you might need to add a few layers for it to show up brightly. 

I painted a few of the discarded tiles so I could test sealants out on them. I tried a few different sprays and glues. I tested them out by throwing the tiles at brick walls and dragging them across different surfaces like concrete and carpet. I found that the tried-and-true winner was Mod Podge. My method for applying it was to use a brush on the painted side first, hit the edges, and let them dry. Then I'd flip it over for the back side and seal the edges again. I did the edges twice since I had a lot of issues with the wood peeling apart and the edges would be the things that get hit if they were dropped. There were a few edges that were roughed up from being cut and I went over those with Mod Podge a few extra times. 

I repeated painting and sealing until I had two full sets. It did take a long time but they have been great for big events like a summer reading kickoff and other parties. 

Takeaway

This took a lot of staff time but I have used the tiles so much already. The other branch I sent a set to also loves them. We've seen kids having a real blast playing the game. Some kids use them to make their own artwork by arranging tiles in fun new ways.