Handmade Gifts for Boys: Wooden Geometric Tiles

My handmade gift today is a bit different from what I usually put up on the blog, but I had so much fun making it and I must confess, I’ve had a lot of fun playing with it too!

These wooden geometric tiles are quick and simple to make and are a colourful toy for some open ended play. I used a scrap piece of MDF to make these.

To start off, I got hubby to cut me the tiles. Mine are 5x5cm (2×2″) and I’ve got 27 in total. That was how many he managed to cut out of the scrap piece of wood. If you don’t have access to a saw, you can ask at the timber yard or hardware store and they will cut the pieces for you. Alternatively, you can also buy blank wooden tiles in most craft stores.

Once they were cut out, I sanded the edges smooth and gave them a base coat of white paint all over. I used spray paint because it’s nice and quick and coats evenly. Acrylic paint applied with a sponge or brush would also work fine.

After they were dry, I taped them off, running the tape from corner to corner and then applied the coloured paint to one half of each tile. I applied 3 coats all up. The blue ones could probably do with another coat, oh well!

You don’t need to stick to paint either, the blocks could also be covered in fabric, scrapbooking paper or wrapping paper cut to size. I think fabric ones would make a great gift for a quilting friend…these blocks totally remind me of quilting squares!

Once the paint had dried, I peeled the tape off. Then I gave them a top coat of clear spray paint. I wouldn’t usually do this, but the white paint I used was a flat paint and they didn’t feel very smooth, so the clear gloss fixed that.

The tiles are plain white on one side and have the colour on the other. You could also put colour on each side or do all sorts of other geometric patterns on them.

One day, I’ll get around to making a little bag to store them in. Roman has already requested more colours, so I guess I should get on that too 😉