DIY: Bean Bag Toss and Board

I opted for a tractor themed, two-year birthday party for my son this year, since he's become tractor obsessed. I made a tractor cake, a tractor gift box for all his tractor gifts, tractor food, John Deere colors everywhere....I'll try to post about the whole party another time for those of you who'd like a little more inspiration for this type of themed party.

In the meantime, here is a run-down on how I made a bean bag toss for $2+.

My husband has been cleaning shop at his office, and one of the things he was throwing away was a large piece of plywood.

"Bring it home!" I pleaded.  Free is a magical word to me.

First, I measured out six 4" holes somewhat evenly on the board. Then, I drew tractors all over making sure to use the 4" holes as the wheels of the tractors. With acrylic paints on hand, I painted in my tractors with bright colors, making sure green was the highlight for the big tractor in the center (John Deere theme).

To make the holes, my husband borrowed a 4" hole saw, then sanded the inside edges to get rid of the splinters. I did some slight touch-up painting after the holes were made.

What I had to go out and purchase was green and yellow hankerchiefs. Strangely, I could find yellow at Walmart for $1, but had to get green at Hobby Lobby, also for $1. I did buy five of each color, but I only needed one hankerchief of each color to make the amount of bean bags you see here ($2 total).

I cut each hankerchief into 16 squares approximately the same size. I sewed them together, then filled them not with beans, but with rice. I had purchased a ton of rice for my son's sensory box months and months ago. Needless to say, I purchased enough rice that filling 16 "bean" bags barely made a dent in his rice supply. The bags come out to be roughly 4.5" X 4"; I eyeballed them.

Plus, as a bonus, filling the bags with rice has also made them mini heating pads that can be microwaved. Yay me!





All-in-all, I was really happy with the end result for a very quick (one-day), $2-dollar project.

It's just too bad neither he nor his friends actually played with it at his birthday party.

Such is life!
Until the next...

Yankee Doodle Dandy,
–TYG


Disclaimer:  Amy Joy Davis/TheYankeeGirl is in no way affiliated with Walmart or Hobby Lobby. They did not pay me for the "name-drops" in this post, nor would they probably want to.