DIY Canada Day Yard Game: Canada Themed Tumbling Blocks

Looking for a fun, festive project for Canada Day that doesn’t create waste or clutter? We’ve got just the thing: a reusable, family-friendly yard game made from real wood and finished with Osmo’s eco-friendly Wood Wax Finish. Not only is it a fun DIY—it’s a sustainable investment your family can enjoy year after year.

Sustainable DIY Yard Game

We all love a good Canada Day celebration—but let’s be honest: themed decorations and plastic game sets often don’t survive past the first party. Instead of buying cheap items that end up in a landfill, why not build something durable, beautiful, and reusable?

That’s exactly what inspired this project: a custom-built wooden game set that can come out every year AND actually look good.

Materials needed for giant jenga game, wood blocks, cutting knife, painterst tape, wood stain

Materials Needed for Giant Jenga

  • Wooden blocks (we ordered pre-fabricated pieces, but you can also use scrap wood!)

  • 240 grit sandpaper and/or sanding block

  • Osmo Wood Wax Finish (we used ‘3104 Red’ and ‘3186 White Matt’)

  • Lint-free cloth

  • Elite Painters Tape for clean edges

  • Mozart Precision Knife

How to make a large scale jenga game

Sanding a wood block. Wood preparation is key before applying wood stain.

1. Sand and Prep Your Blocks

Determine how large you would like your blocks and cut your wood into evenly sized pieces—approximately 10.5″ long if you’re going for the classic giant Jenga look. Alternatively, we opted to order pre-fabricated pieces. Give each piece a quick sand with medium- to fine-grit sandpaper to smooth out rough edges, we used P240 grit.

Creating a Canada Flag with Osmo Wood Wax Finish

2. Choose Your Colours

We used Osmo’s Wood Wax Finish in 3104 Red and 3186 White Matt to create a fun Canada Day red-and-white effect, while still allowing the natural wood grain to shine through. You can apply as little or as much as you like to build up colour intensity.

Osmo Wood Wax Finish 

A canada maple leaf stained on the end of a jenga block

3. Creating your maple leaf: Tape

Use painter’s tape to mask off areas if you want crisp lines or colour blocking. We used Elite red tape and we are very impressed with how crisp the lines ended up turning out.

Canada Flag with jenga blocks and osmo wood wax finish - wood finish that has high colour intensity and still shows the wood grain

4. Stain with Wood Finish

Apply a thin layer of Wood Wax Finish using a cloth, and let dry according to the product label. For deeper colour, add a second coat.

💡 Pro tip: Osmo Wood Wax Finish is safe for kids’ toys once cured, and it doesn’t require a topcoat!

5. Let Dry and Assemble

Once dry, stack your blocks and get ready to play! Bonus: This finish is super durable and easy to touch up if your game sees heavy use.

Large scale Canada themed jenga game stained with wood stain