Fun Board Game Design for Kids
Every board game on the shelf started as somebody's doodle of a path, a few squares, and a wild idea — and that's exactly what kids get to do with board game design, no store-bought box required.
What Is Board Game Design?
Board game design is the activity of sketching an original game board, inventing rules, and building simple pieces from things like buttons, bottle caps, or hand-cut paper tokens. Kids act as both artist and game inventor, drawing the path players will race, race, or race around.
Easy Instructions to Get Started
- Path Race Board: Draw a winding path of connected squares from a start to a finish line. Add a few special squares marked "skip a turn" or "move ahead 2" using different colors.
- Theme-First Design: Pick a theme like outer space or an underwater kingdom, then design the board's shape and squares to match — spiraling toward a planet, or weaving through coral reefs.
- Chance Card Deck: Draw a small stack of cards with simple instructions like "draw a silly face on your token" or "swap places with another player," shuffled and drawn whenever a player lands on a marked square.
- Playtest and Revise: Play the new game with a die and simple tokens, then redraw or adjust any squares that feel unfair or boring before making a "final" version.
Why Kids Love Designing Board Games
Designing a game hands kids control that playing someone else's game never does — they decide what's fair, what's silly, and what happens when a player lands on the shark square. Playtesting their own creation with friends or family adds a proud, "I made this" moment that store-bought games can't offer.
Tips for Parents and Teachers
- Start with a simple looping or straight path before attempting anything more complicated, like branching routes.
- Keep rules to three or four short lines at first — a game with too many rules becomes hard to playtest.
- Use dried beans, buttons, or hand-drawn paper tokens as playing pieces.
- Save the finished board in a folder so it can be replayed on a rainy day.
Frequently Asked Questions
What supplies are needed to design a board game?
Paper, markers, a die, and small objects to use as tokens are all that's required to get a first version playable.
How long does it take to design one board game?
A simple path race board can be drawn and playtested in under 30 minutes, while a themed board with chance cards might take a full afternoon.
What if the first version isn't fun to play?
That's normal and part of the process — real game designers redraw and adjust rules constantly. Encourage kids to tweak one thing at a time and playtest again.
Conclusion
Board game design turns kids into inventors with nothing more than paper, a pencil, and an idea worth playtesting. For another strategy-drawing activity, check out chess strategy diagrams.