How to Make Giant Yard Dice + Free Printable Yardzee!

DIY Giant Yard Dice

Friends gathered in the back yard with ice cold tumblers of water, fireflies blinking in the distance, the familiar smell of tiki torches and bug spray, and deep belly laughs. Sunset with friends in the summer might be the best part of the year. And our favorite thing to do in the summer is play giant backyard games. Game pieces flying and kiddos running around make the best summer nights.

So, this year I’m going to show you how to make a series of giant backyard games that will transform your game night. First up is the fabulous Giant Yard Dice.

I actually love to display these in my house even when they’re not being played with because I think they’re so pretty (although you could say my home decor is definitely more on the eclectic side). 

How to Make Giant Yard Dice

To begin, you’ll need:

• 2 feet of 4×4″ boards (or 5-6 pre-cut blocks)
• Stain + Sealer
• Circle Foam Brush
• White Paint

First, we cut the 4×4” boards into 6 squares. One thing to note is that although the boards are called 4×4”, they are actually only about 3.75×3.75”. Make sure you measure the boards before you cut to get a perfect square.

If you haven’t converted your garage into a workshop, I have heard rumors that your local home improvement store will cut the boards for you. But my hubby has an affinity for power tools, so I’ve never tested this theory myself.

Next we sanded each of the blocks with 120 grit sandpaper. I love using my Painter’s Pyramids, but you can certainly sand the blocks by hand if you don’t have access to an electric sander.

We stained our blocks with two coats of a stain that includes both the stain and sealer. If you don’t have those little yellow Painter’s Pyramids you see in the background to keep your work off the flat table surface, I highly recommend you make the small investment. They make staining and painting so much easier. It’s a purchase you’ll never regret.

Next I found some small round foam brushes at the craft store. They made painting the white circles a breeze. Simply dip the foam brush in white paint and apply to the dice in the correct pattern. I found that slightly twisting the brush made the dots more even. I also went back through with a small paint brush to touch them up at the end.

I followed this example to find the correct pattern for the dots (which are called ‘pips’). Basically, the opposite sides of the dice should always add up to 7, so you’ll have 6 and 1, 2 and 5, 4 and 3. I wanted mine to look a little more rustic, so I estimated the placement of the dots. If you’re looking for more precise dots, you can certainly measure them out or use a stencil.

Free Printable Yardzee

I’ve already shared one of our favorite games to play with our DIY Giant Yard Dice, How to Play Cooties, but I thought I’d share another quick printable so you’ll have a second game to play with your Giant Yard Dice. 

Yardzee is a lot like everyone’s favorite dice game, Yahtzee but we’ve taken it back to it’s roots. Yahtzee originally comes from a game called Yacht, which is a bit simpler than modern Yahtzee. Since we’ll be playing with giant dice in the backyard, I took a few of the more complicated elements out of the game to make the perfect backyard game.

Download Printable Yardzee Scorecards

I hope you love these DIY Giant Backyard Dice! I’m thinking about sharing another free printable game for these dice in the future, what do you think? Share your backyard game wish list in the comments below and we’ll try to make it happen!