Tag Archives: diy

10 Days in Europe game and how to make your own.

10daysineurope2

My youngest got 10 Days in Europe for his birthday last month and we really like it!

I am so excited to work on my geography!

I am really bad at remembering where places are…

10daysineurope

In the game you have to plan a trip through Europe and you need it to connect via land, water, or by air.

Such a fun game!

After playing this game and then seeing the Race Across the States game over at Deceptively Educational, I decided to try to make my own game.

5daysinthemiddleeast2

First up was “5 days in the Middle East”

I got the map, here.

You can get the free printable cards I made, here.

5daysinthemiddleeast

We all drew 5 cards, laid them out in front of us, and tried to travel to countries next to each for 5 days.

cards

For your turn, you could choose from the discard pile or the deck and switch out the cards you did not need.

Just like “10 Days in Europe.”

geography

trip

This game was easy, fun, and a great way to figure out where countries are located!

game

map

We have been reading G.A. Henty’s book “The Young Carthaginian A Story of The Times of Hannibal

It is a really good book to learn about Hannibal Barca!

The boys groan everytime I stop reading!

I wanted them to get a better idea of the route he had to take to get to Rome so I printed this map from the Wikipedia page.

This is to attribute the author.

“Hannibal route of invasion” by Frank Martini. Cartographer, Department of History, United States Military Academy – The Department of History, United States Military Academy [1]. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hannibal_route_of_invasion.gif#mediaviewer/File:Hannibal_route_of_invasion.gif

hannibalsroute

I then made these cards of the places he went, free printable here.

I printed them all on card stock.

The goal of the game was to follow Hannibal’s route to Rome and then cross the Mediterranean to Carthage first.

We each started with one card and placed it in the correct spot in front of us for our journey.

To win you need, Spain, Gaul, Alps, Rome, Mediterranean, Carthage, in that order.

winner

You draw one card from the discard pile or the deck each turn until someone gets all 6 cards in the right order.

The possibilities are endless!

I am excited to have some fun with geography!

Hats, haircuts, and washi tape…

I could have just titled this post random but where would the fun be in that?

hat

First off, I made a hat from a sweater!

Usually these sorts of things are epic fails for me but this one worked out!

sideslouch

I actually mashed together three different tutorials to make this.

This was another reason I was surprised that it turned out.

For the sizing part, I used this one.

For how to cut it into a slouch shape and how to connect the top, I used this one.

For how to sew the top, I used this one.

I did all of the sewing by hand since I do not have a machine.

slouch

I like how it turned out but if I did it again, I would probably cut it in more of a rectangle like the last link.

clips

I wore this all day and really liked it!

Score for being to cheap to buy a new hat!

smiles

In other news, this boy was in dire need of a haircut.

upsidedown

We were hanging out at their fort and I was thinking how nice it would be to cut it outside.

before

I then remembered that the extension cord was still out by the fort because Nick is still working on it.

hair

So this wild haired boy went inside and got the clippers…

silly

It’s gone!

growl

No more wild hair!

Plus, no mess to clean up!

after

I think he was happy to be rid of it.

Too much maintenance.

washitapefail

Also, I gave up on washi tape for my family wall.

I tried two different kinds and it peeled right off.

I am still too cheap to buy more white picture frames right now though so I just hung some of the prints with these clips I found at Hobby Lobby.

Has anyone else tried to hang things with washi tape and it failed?

Travel Lego Box

gluegun

I bought the boxes for the project over a year ago when I first saw the project on the Dollar Store Mom blog.

It was not until after I bought them though that I realized finding the lego plate would be difficult.

I did not want to use any of my boys lego plates because they are all part of a set.

Buy the lego plate first!

box

Thankfully my husband gave himself a 3-D printer as a christmas gift!

Here are the directions:

Step 1 -Print a Lego Plate on your 3-D printer.

What? Not everyone has one?

Crazy.

I guess you unlucky people will have to go buy one then…

Lego Travel Box

I found a really good chart on Design Sponge for adhering plastic to wood, here.

I used a glue gun which is not their top choice but so far it is working well.

Travel Lego Box2

Now we need to go on a long trip!!!