Here, part of the fun will be making the game!
Memory Card Game
Cut out pictures from magazines of things that match or go together (ex. sock & shoe, pencil & notebook, fork & spoon) and glue them onto index cards. (You can also use a set of stickers with matching pairs.) Turn the cards upside down in rows. Take turns turning over 2 cards. If you get a match, you get to go again. When the cards are all matched, whoever has the most matches wins.
Lotto/Bingo
Make a set of six game cards by drawing a 4 by 4 grid on each of six pieces of cardstock or posterboard (game cards should be 8 ½” x 11” or larger and have 16 rectangular sections on each card.) Now you’re ready to pick a theme and fill in the rectangles. A simple theme could be numbers, colors, letters, or shapes. If you want to be more creative, you could use your computer to print and cut out faces of family members, pets, and friends. Fill in each game card with the pictures or symbols you’ve chosen (vary the order so each card is different.) A fast and easy way is to buy a set or two of stickers—you’ll want 6 identical pages of stickers with at least 16 stickers on each page. When you’re done, cut two of the playing cards along the lines to get 32 smaller cards.
To play: Each player gets a game card. Turn the smaller cards picture-side down in a pile on the table. Take turns drawing a card from the pile. If you can find a matching picture on your game card, cover it with a penny or small square of paper. When your pile of small cards is used up, shuffle and reuse them. The winner is the first one to fill up his card. (Or, you could play to see who gets a “bingo” of four in a row.)
Lacing Cards
Cut out some simple shapes from cereal box cardboard. Use a hole punch to make several holes along the edges of the shapes. Give your child shoe laces or various pieces of yarn or twine and show her how to weave it in and out of the holes.
If you want to be more creative you could cut out large “buttons” from cardboard and teach your child to match up the holes and “sew” the button onto another piece of cardboard. Or, you could cut out a simple body shape and some cardboard “clothes” to be laced on. (Make sure the holes line up when you’re punching them.)
Puzzles
These can be as simple as cutting the front of a cereal box into a few pieces and letting your child put them back together. To make it more fun, cut out a large colorful photo from a magazine and glue it onto cardboard before cutting.
Can you print a large photo of your child on your computer printer and make that into a puzzle?
Try printing your child’s name in large letters on a strip of cardboard and then cut the letters apart. Can she arrange them in the correct order? You could also cut up a number line and let your child work that as a puzzle.
Follow the Path: (This is a beginner game similar to Candyland.)
On a piece of posterboard or other cardboard, draw a series of simple shapes in different colors. Put in a few special shapes (These could be stickers with favorite characters on them.) Label one end the “start” and one end “finish”. Use posterboard or index cards to make a lot of small cards (approx. 1 ½” x 3”). Each of the small cards should have a colored shape which matches a shape on the game board or a character sticker. Put all of the small cards into a brown lunch bag.
Each player puts his game piece on start. (These could be small plastic toys, bottle caps, colored paper clips, or pieces of cereal like Fruit Loops—each piece should look different from the others.) Players take turns drawing a card from the bag and moving their game piece to the next shape on the path that matches their card or to the character that matches their card. The first one to reach “finish” is the winner.
