Make Kids Games Yourself
If you’re giving the game as a gift arrange jar with items, notepads, and pencils in a nice box. To play the game, one person dumps the items out on a table for 20 seconds. Then the items are placed back in the jar and the jar put out of sight (unless the jar is painted where players can not see items). Kids have a couple of minutes to write down as many items as they can remember. The child who has written the most items correctly wins.
Another great kids game to make, that’s a little more complicated to make, is called “Two by Two”. Players go around the board trying to collect two of every animal and take them to the ark. Start with a piece of cardboard, poster board, or plywood. Paint squares onto the board, in any manner you wish. Make the pathway wind around and around until it finally reaches the ark location. For the ark, purchase a wooden craft boat or make an ark from crafting foam, which is very inexpensive.
Purchase small novelty animals, in pairs, to place here and there on the board. Spread the animals around the board, don’t place them on the board as a pair. You can make your game as fancy or as plain as you wish. Add silk bushes, at various places on the board, for animals to hide. Place other animals on a square, and when the player lands on that square, he picks up the animal. The play starts by one player throwing the dice and moving that amount of spaces. Write things on the squares like “Go to square 7” or “Lightning – go back to start” and similar instructions. When a player has gathered 2 of the same type of animal he will then drop them into the ark and will move ahead 5 spaces for collecting a pair. The first person to the ark isn’t necessarily the winner. The first person to arrive at the ark receives 25 points but every player receives 10 points for each pair of animals he’s collected. Add points at the end of the game to determine the winner.
Here’s a quick card game for kids that you can make just from cardboard: On the cardboard square, write or draw the four aces, one on each corner. So, the corners should be: Ace of spades, Ace of diamonds, Ace of clubs, Ace of hearts. Now draw a huge circle in the center of the board and divide it into 10 sections. Mark the sections as follows: Two of spades, Ace of hearts, King of hearts, Queen of hearts, King & Queen of hearts, Jack of hearts, Ten of hearts, Nine-Ten-Jack of hearts, Three In A Row, and Out First. These will be winning spaces for some players. Draw a smaller circle in the center of the larger circle, for placement of the cards as they’re played.
Start by using candy or pennies. Each person should have a supply and before the game starts, every player should put one candy or penny on each of the sections, including the four “Ace” corners. Pass out all the cards, with the dealer dealing himself two hands. The dealer then picks up the hand on his right and leaves the extra hand alone. Everyone looks at their cards and the dealer then lays the extra hand out, in front of him, for everyone to see. The Two of Spades begins the round, and whoever holds this card tosses it in the center of the board and picks up the candies on the Two of Spades section. Remember that the spare hand, or “dead hand” may contain the Two of Spades. If so, the person holding the Two of Clubs will lead out. If that card is also “dead” the person holding the Two of Diamonds will lead. If, again, that card is dead, the Two of Hearts is played. The chances of all four 2’s being dead is astronomical but in case that happens begin by throwing out the Three of Spades, Three of Clubs, Three of Diamonds or Three of Hearts, in that order, depending upon if any of those are dead as well.
After the leading card has been thrown everyone will follow suit. For example, if the Two of Spades has been played by one of the players, the person with the Three of Spades will play next. The 4,5,6 of spades will play, and so forth. Eventually you’ll arrive at a card that is in the dead hand. When that happens, the person who threw the last card will then throw their lowest card, of the opposite color. So, if the last person who played last threw a red card, he must now throw his lowest black card. As everyone follows suit they collect any candy or money from sections that are displayed upon the board. If a player throws the Jack of hearts, he collects the money or candy laying on that space. If a player throws the Queen of Hearts then the King of Hearts, he will pick up the candy on the King of Hearts space, the Queen of Hearts space, and the King-Queen Hearts space.
When someone runs out of cards the round is over and that player picks up the candy on the Out First space. By the time the game is finished there will be several sections still containing candy or pennies. Leave them lying and begin a new round by everyone placing a candy or penny on each section once again. This game is fun for older kids, teens and even parents. A different way to make this game is to use additional cards along with bowls. Arrange the bowls in a circle and everyone puts the candies or pennies in the bowls. Identify the bowls by placing a card in each bowl to signify which card will collect that bowl of rewards. Don’t forget to place a bowl for the corner Aces. Make a piece of paper that says “Out First” for the person who runs out of cards first.
Make a unique memory game for kids by first purchasing a bag of assorted candy. Arrange small bowls, upside down, with a piece of candy under each. Write numbers one through twenty four on the bowls. Children choose one bowl and look under to see the candy. Now they choose a second bowl to see if they can find the match to that piece of candy. If they don’t match, both bowls and candies are placed back into their original positions. If they are a match the two bowls are removed and the child receives the candy under each. The child then takes an additional turn. Play until all the candy has been matched. Or, play with coins to teach children to count money. Place two quarters under one bowl and five dimes under another, and so on. The child must count the money to see if it matches. Play until all matching coin sets are gotten.
Want to make the quickest game ever? Place a glass bottle on the floor and pull a chair up to it. Each player gets in the chair, on their knees, and tries to drop 10 clothes pins into the bottle. Rules should be set as to how low the person can place the clothes pin before dropping it, such as “not below the back of the chair” or “keep arm at shoulder length”. The person who drops the most clothes pins into the jar wins.
Use a large piece of cardboard or a large cardboard box to make a bean bag tossing game. Draw a clown face, or another face, onto the cardboard. Cut out two eyes and a mouth. The cut-outs should be large enough for bean bags to be easily tossed through them. Place the box across the room or lean the piece of cardboard up against a wall. Make bean bags by using zipper lock bags to hold the beans or rice. Fill the bags only halfway full and let the air out before zipping shut. Decide how many points will be given for a mouth shot or for an eye shot. Each person throws six bags and then scores are tallied.
Use cardboard squares to make another bean bag game. Cut a dozen 12″x12″ squares and align them, side by side, on the floor. Place number amounts on each square. Players stand way back and toss three bags then total the number amounts. The person with the highest number wins. Remember that central squares will be easier to land on than corner squares, so allow more points for corner and edge squares. There are many other games you can make for your kids and you’ll probably come up with a few ideas on your own after making some of these.
