There's nothing new about this, just something done this week for a nursing home at which I volunteer. Some of the residents love noughts and crosses. They have 3mm thick tiles about 20mm across. Many of the residents have dementia and an impaired capacity to pick up the small pieces, so something easier to identify and handle was desirable, hence 38mm pine cubes. Additionally, rather than simply place the pieces haphazardly on a table, a grid seemed desirable.

Making these was dead simple. I had no suitable square material, so PVA-bonded two lengths of 42 x 19mm DAR pine which, when dry, were trimmed back to 38mm width and cut to 38mm lengths. The grid is made from 6mm MDF offcuts 180mm square, with 19 x 12mm pine pieces to form the grid. Each of them has four x 180mm and twelve x 44mm pieces, glued and tacked in position. All edges and corners are softened to reduce potential damage if one person should hit out at another with a piece.

When photographed, the blocks were unmarked, allowance yet to be made for the best form of marking. In fact (and relating back again to those with dementia, along with their capacity to identify colours and shapes) one of the three sets made now has its blocks with a green face and a red face, another has pink pussy cats and blue puppy dogs, while the last has noughts and crosses on opposing faces.

Noughts and Crosses.jpgNoughts 'n' Crosses 2.jpg