Add a ghoulish touch to a classic game with these free printable Halloween tic-tac-toe games. It's always a thrill to cut out scary Halloween shapes to use as the playing pieces.

For even more Halloween fun, check out our Halloween crafts, Halloween coloring pages, Halloween games and main Halloween 2009 pages.

What you'll need:

How to make it:

Before you start

1. Find a place to work, and protect it with a large sheet of paper.
2. Gather all your materials.
3. Read all the directions.

Making the Game

Read all the directions before starting. This project is simple enough that you might not need directions, but check them once anyway.

Step 1 - Print Patterns

Choose the board you would like to use:

The Pumpkin The Haunted House

And if you are going to use the paper game pieces:

Game Pieces

You might choose to print the pumpkin game board on orange paper, or print the haunted house game board on gray or brown paper to reduce the amount of coloring necessary.

Step 2 - Color and make game pieces

Color the game board and pieces as you wish. If you printed the pumpkin game board, you will have extra pumpkin pieces - they were included on that sheet for those who choose to print the pumpkin game board on orange paper.

If you want to make the game pieces out of clay, make 5 each of two different kinds of pieces. We used ghosts and pumpkins, but you could also make witch hats, caldrons, black cats, or maybe even pipe cleaner spiders. Be sure to compare your pieces to the board, to make them a good size to fit in the spaces, and flatten the bottoms of the pieces so that they don't roll away from where you placed them.

Step 3 - Cut Out

Cut around the outside edges of the pumpkin or haunted house board. If you want to keep your board square, just cut the row of pumpkins off the bottom of the pumpkin board pattern.

If you made paper game pieces, cut them out, too. Very young children might need help with this.

Step 4 - Reinforce the game with cardboard

If you want your game to last for a long time, glue the base and pieces to some cardboard. Let the glue dry, then cut out the pieces again. It is a bit difficult to cut cardboard, be sure to use good scissors, and get an adult to help if needed.

Step 5 - Play!

Take turns with a friend putting the pieces on the board. Can you get 3 in a row?

You're Done!

Enjoy your new game. You can also use it as a Halloween decoration when you are not playing with it.

We made the playing pieces with Sculpey (tm), which is a clay that needs to be baked in the oven and then becomes hard. It is available in many colors.