Another lazy weekend soon would be upon us. And I’m betting your mind is teeming with lots of fun ideas and activities to make the weekend truly awesome for your family. But for the cornhole enthusiast, I’m sure the famous game is topping your list of must-do activities for the weekend. This DIY project will provide hours of fun for your family upon completion.
“Huh….cornhole?” Yeah, my lovely first-timers who are new to arguably America’s most common household game, the cornhole also known as bean bag toss, is a very simple and easy-to-play game. Firstly, there are two teams of players, two boards, and eight bags of corn.
Secondly, each team has a board and the two boards are set at a distance of 27 feet from each other. Thirdly, a team usually consists of four players and each player has to throw a bag of corn (popularly referred to as bean bag) towards the board of the other team. Finally, points are given for any bag that goes through the hole in the board or lands on the board. Anything else is considered a foul, and the offending party or team would be ‘punished’ as deemed fit.
Getting Ready to Build Your Cornhole Boards
So now that we are all acquainted, let’s get down to real business. How would you like to build and design your very own cornhole board? Awesome, right? Whether you’ve been playing the bean bag toss game all your life or you want to try it out for the first time with family and friends this weekend, having your very own self-made cornhole board is the sure way to make this year’s summertime weekends and family game nights truly memorable and loads of fun..
You would need the following materials and tools:
- Two 2×4′ boards of 1/2″ thick plywood
- Four 2×4′ boards that are 8′ long
- Four 4×3/8″ carriage bolts
- Four 3/8″ flat washers and wing nuts
- One box of 2 1/2″ wood screws
- Wood glue
- Chop saw or miter saw
- Clamps
- Measuring tape
- Compass
- Jigsaw
- Drill and bits
- Sand paper or palm sander
- Paint (optional but recommended)
Now, the fun begins!
Step 1:
Firstly, use your miter saw to cut your 8′ long boards into 4 pieces that are 48″ long, 4 pieces that are 21″ long and 4 pieces that are 12″ long. Then, take two each out of the 48″ long and 21″ long pieces and join them together via screws to form a rectangle.
Now place one of your 2×4′ board on the rectangle. It should fit perfectly. So if there are overlapping edges, sand them off. Then attach the board to the formed rectangle using glue and well-placed screws. Now you have your cornhole board sans the legs and the all-too-important hole at the top.
Step 2:
To get the center of the hole, use your measuring tape to measure 9″ from the top of the board and 12″ from the sides of the board. Then, with the aid of your compass placed at the marked center, draw a circle with a diameter of 6″. Now, use your drill to create a small hole in the circle outline and let your jigsaw take over from there. Sand the created hole to prevent your bean bags from snagging on any protruding piece during game time.
Step 3:
Onto the legs! Drill a 3/8″ hole in two of the 12″ long pieces you obtained in step 1. Also drill a similar sized hole 3 1/2″ down from the center of the board on both sides to attach each leg. Then use your 3/8″ carriage bolts to attach the legs to each side of the board. Finally, secure the bolts using a locking washer and nut.
Step 4:
Sand the board thoroughly. Then wipe it down with a clean cloth. Finally, paint your board with the color(s) of your choice. You can even design the board with your own personal and customized style.
Afterwards
Now go ahead and repeat steps 1- 4 to create your second board.
Now, you have your cornhole boards. Splendid. “What about the bean bags?” Some diehard DIY’ers (Deborah coined this one, not me) even go the whole mile and make their own bean bags filled with real corn. That sounds fun, but personally, I think I would stick with those who prefer purchasing their own bean bags from stores. And not just any bean bag: I mean those filled with plastic corn rather than real corn. Why? Well, they are less expensive and are totally weather-proof.
Whichever you chose, all I want is that you have some major fun this weekend with those who mean the most to you. From the entire crew of DIY Home and Garden, we wish all of our readers an awesome weekend. We hope you enjoy your cornhole board-making.
