How to make a giant chalkboard for football squares:

What you will need: 4′ x 4′ piece of plywood, primer, chalkboard paint, foam paint roller, chalkboard paint pen, chalk

I have always wanted to make a chalkboard, and I figured that making a life-sized football square grid was the perfect opportunity! Luckily my dad talked me off the ledge of actually making a 6′ x 6′ board… To start, I used the primer recommended on my can of chalkboard paint to cover the entire front side of the board with a foam paint roller. One coat may have been enough, but I used two to smooth out the surface. I also didn’t sand the board before painting, which I may do if I decide to make another one, but it was still really easy to write on.

After letting the primer dry overnight (a little excessive – a few hours probably would have done the trick), I painted the board with a coat of chalkboard paint, let it dry for a few hours, and added two more coats for full coverage. I let the board dry overnight so that the paint set fully, and then went to work on the grid!

To make the football square grid, I measured increments of 4″ to make a 10 x 10 grid measuring 40″ x 40″, aligned 1″ from the edge in the bottom right-hand corner. I used a chalkboard paint pen to outline the grid and  write the names of each team, and I also wrote the logistics of the game in the top left-hand corner to quell any uncertainty. Don’t forget to leave space for the randomly drawn numbers under the team names – 3″ is plenty! Once all of the boxes were filled (using standard Crayola chalk), we picked numbers out of a hat to complete the grid and crossed our fingers for a big win.