How to Create a Board Game Book Report

Completing a book report doesn't have to mean sitting at a computer and writing a lengthy essay. So long as your instructor permits it, a book report can be an opportunity to be creative and interpret the material you studied in an engaging way. One way to do this is to create a board game based on the book, using the book's characters and story as a way of tying the material to a fun project.

Draw the map of spaces on the poster board. It could be circular, like the board in Monopoly, or one-way, like the board in Candy Land. It will help to consider the story you are basing the board game on, and what locations are in it. Does the story start and end in the same place, or does the main character start in one location and end in another? The board game should accurately reflect the story of the book.

Color the poster board with illustrations and designs to reflect the locations from the book represented in the game. For example, if the main character visits a cave filled with dragons around the middle of the book, the area of the board around the middle might be decorated with dragons.

Write instructions on some of the spaces to introduce variety to the game. Some spaces can have instructions to move forward or backward a number of spaces, sit out a turn, roll the dice an extra time, or other random instructions. Look to other board games for inspiration.

Write trivia questions on the note cards with rewards (Reference 1). Write instructions on some of the board game spaces to draw a trivia card. This introduces more variety to the game play, and more importantly, it demonstrates an understanding of the material in the book. Write questions regarding characters and plot that only someone who read the book could answer.