Here’s a fun twist on how to play the classic dot game: create it with cake! Instead of grabbing pen and paper, use frosting and cake to create your game board. While one person may be the official winner of the game, everyone will win with this sweet treat!
Download a PDF of this activity’s “recipe” to add to your family activity binder.
What You’ll Need
• Cake mix (or make your own cake)
• Frosting
• Frosting bag with a tip or sandwich bag with a hole cut in a bottom corner
How to Play
1. Bake a 9" x 13" cake.
2. Create a dot pattern using frosting every 1.5"–2".
3. Take turns having players draw a line between two dots.
4. The player who creates the line that closes off a square writes his or her initial inside.
5. The person with the most initials wins.
Adaptations
1. Never played the dot game? Practice a round on paper first.
2. After the game, let players eat the pieces with their initials. Let them know up front how many pieces they can actually eat that night, though, so they know to expect that some pieces will be saved for another day. ;)
3. Have a food fight outside! Players get to throw their initialed pieces. Many pieces will often still have large chunks of cake after they’re thrown. So once all players have had a chance to throw their pieces, have a free-for-all where anyone can pick up pieces of cake from the ground and throw them until only crumbs are left! It’s 100% worth the mess!
Skill Building
If family members have never made a cake or frosting before, invite them to help with the baking so they can learn a new skill.
Conversation Starter
Every dot on the board is like an opportunity for us to act on. In some situations, we may not want to connect two dots (leaving our opponents the chance to gain a victory over us), but in many instances we want to connect the dots to make our claim on the board. Are there opportunities in your life that are waiting for you to take them? Are there actions you’re glad you did or did not take in the past? How did those choices affect your life opportunities? Talk as a family about having the courage to take advantage of the opportunities awaiting for us when we choose to connect certain dots (or not) in our life.
Why This Activity Matters
Food games are often the messiest, but they also become instant favorites—they are for my nephews! Let the kitchen (and backyard if you enjoy the food fight!) get a little messy to create a lasting memory. Sometimes it’s the games that simply result in laughter that are the ones you want to play over and over again.
