ADVICE RATING |
 4.66 (Highly recommend) from 9 votes (57 Visits) |
My children enjoy something new along with the rest of the children in there lives but how darn expensive are those DS games and PS2 and what ever else.
I have taught my children to appreciate the small things in life and to not have to get an expensive gift to understand how fun it could really be.When i was a young mother money was very tight and i was lucky to afford a nice fisher price mobile for the crib.So i invented games that involved little to no expense,simple fun things that kept them occupied and kept them out of my hair until at least an hour.
The games were easy to understand ,they could play them together or with friends.When there was only one of them the games were easy.
1) Get a heap of different sized cake containers,jugs,wooden spoons and cups.They can make a band by turning over the containers and banging them or making pretend food ,play cake shop .Stack the containers as high as they will go or count the containers.You would be surprised how much entertainment my plastics cupboard would be for my 1 and 3 year olds.Hense this game is suitable for these ages.
2)A game called Treasure Hunt -You get some bits and pieces like bright shoelaces,books,woolly socks and small toys .You hide them around the house in varying places appropriate for your childrens age group-if you child is 3 hide them with alittle bit sticking out so that the child isn't dis heartend if they can't find something,obviously for an older child you can hide them in places that make them use more skills to think and search for the items.I would sometimes put points on certain things.The shoelaces were worth 5,the toys worth 10.Then you can add the points and see who won.
3) Scavenger Hunt-I would write a list of about 6-10 items on a piece of paper,things you would definately find around your house or backyard.A green leaf,a piece of stick,a bottle cap perhaps for outside and things like A red sock,a piece of newspaper and a green pencil for inside.I would send the children off and they would have 20mins to come back with all the items on the list.Whoever got back in the time limit would get a $1 or another amount we had previously agreed to (usually i would got bullied into making it more lol).
4) Dictionary-This is mainly if your children are older and have a good grasp of spelling or comprehend grammar well. Each child gets a piece of paper and a pen. The adult or older sibling quickly flicks through the pages of a dictionary not trying to pick any word puposefully,then when they choose a word they clearly say it and the other children get to have a chance to try and spell it,by writing it on their paper.When i play it i give points like 2 points per word,half points can be awarded if you got very close to spelling or did a good job in anyway.The parent or oldersibling reads out the word spelling it from the bok and all the people playing see how good they were .At the end of spelling say 10 words add up all the scores and that child is the winner.
These can be really fun things to do on a rainy day,sleep overs or just when theres time to fill before tea on the week days.Keeping childrens minds stimulated helps them keep alert and it gives you an insight into how well they may do at spelling or if they have good comprehension of instructions,if they know their colours and shapes.In the case of smaller children how their fine motor skills are at the moment and if they can hold onto objects in the case of the banging objects game.
I enjoy these games with all my kids for most of their lives,we all play dictionary including me and ive found my kids spell better than i do lol.
(June 2008) (
