A couple of weeks ago I was playing around with my Rubik’s cube (that I’ve had for years, believe it or not), and I thought of a cute DIY game that helps kids with their word skills. It’s been a while since I solved this Rubik’s cube and ever since then, I haven’t really done anything else with it. But being the DIYer that I am, I thought that it would be interesting to see if I could turn this “adult” game into a learning game for kids. These days all the kids do is watch KLT youtube songs so this would be something nice and different for them to give a try.
This DIY is simple. I adhered small paper cutouts, with written letters on them, onto the front of each square on the cube. On a long car drive or just playing in the house for fun, kids can twist and turn the Rubik’s cube creating 3-letter words to help them with basic vocabulary!
For this DIY, you’ll need:
- A Rubik’s cube
- Colorful cardstock
- Scissors
- Craft glue
- Ruler
- Paper cutting board (optional, but very helpful)
- Permanent marker
Step 1:
First, measure one of the smaller squares on 1 cube. This one measures to be 5/8″ high and wide. This is the size paper you’ll need to cut for each space.
Step 2:
Using a paper cutting board, cut strips of cardstock that are 5/8″ wide.
Step 3:
On each strip, mark 5/8″ spaces. Or you can use the Rubik’s cube itself as a guide to how wide each square is. I mixed the colors because I wanted a different color on each side of the cube.
Step 4:
For better precision, use the cutting board to cut where you made the tick marks on each strip. Each side of the cube has 9 spaces, so you should have 56 piece of paper cut out in the end.
Step 5:
Now it’s time to decide what letters to use for each space. I wanted it to be somewhat easy to create words, so I use a marker and wrote on the Rubik’s cube itself, different letters to make sure I could make different 3-letter words as I turned it and played around with it. This and the next step are optional, but I found, very helpful.
Step 6:
After you’ve written letters on all the spaces, copy these letters onto the cardstock squares you cut.
Step 7:
Use your craft glue to adhere the letters onto each space. You can use Elmer’s white glue, or even something a little bit stronger so the letters stay adhered while drying. It doesn’t really matter which way the letters are facing- as it’s used it will all jumble up and face many directions.
When you’re finish with one side, a tip is to flip the cube over to the opposite side, so that the weight of the cube helps the previous squares you adhered, stay flat.
Step 8:
Allow the cube to dry completely. Try not to mess with it until all pieces are firmly adhered. Periodically turn it over with various sides facing up during the drying process to help each piece lay flat.
Step 9:
Mix it up and have some fun!
I have to admit, I played around with it a little bit and had some fun. If you want to make the game “adult,” here’s what to do:
Rubik’s Scramble Word Game
- Grab a pen and paper for each person in a group.
- Have one person “shuffle” the Rubik’s cube by twisting and turning it various ways.
- Lay the cube on the table and set the time to 2 minutes.
- Each person will write down as many words as they can make in 2 minutes with only the tiles that are facing up.
- When the time is up, go around the table and have each person recite the words they found.
- Whoever has the most words wins!
- Variation: Whoever has the most words that are different from everyone else’s wins!
PIN IT!
