Fun Games for the Family

You can play these games in your family language or school language

Snakes and Ladders

For this board game, you need a die and some game pieces. Prepare some pictures of objects you want to practise with your child and put them face down on a stack next to the board. The first player throws the die and moves ahead as many squares as the number on the die indicates. If the player stands at the bottom of a ladder, s/he can climb up the ladder. If the player stands on the head of a snake s/he slides down the snake to where its tail finishes. If the player lands on a picture without a snake or ladder s/he takes a card from the stack and tries to name the object correctly (e.g. the school bag). If this is done successfully the player can stay on this square. In case s/he fails to do so s/he goes back where s/he was before throwing the die. The player who reaches Dandelin first is the winner.

Here you can download the board for this game!

Here you can download pictures of nouns you might want to practise with your child. Alternatively, you can draw and cut them together with your child.

This game is good for practising nouns.

Hot and Cold

You show an object to the child and say its name. Then you ask the child to step out of the room for a short time, while you hide the object somewhere in the room. Next you ask the child to find the object. While the child is moving around in the room looking for the object you can say “cold, warm or hot,” indicating to the child how far away s/he is from the object. When the child has found the object the child tries to say the name of the object. This game can be repeated as long as it is fun for the child.

You can also add other words e.g. “colder, warmer, hotter, very hot” to indicate how far away the child is from the object.

This game is good for practising nouns and some adjectives.

I Spy with my Little Eye

First you choose an object nearby that has a certain colour. Then you begin with the sentence: "I spy with my little eye something green." The child has to guess what it is. For example: "Is it the tree over?" Once the word has been guessed, you can talk about this object together (What features does the object have? What does the object remind you of? etc.) or you simply swap roles.

This game helps your child to recognize and name things and colours around her/him.

I’m Going on a Trip

You start by saying: "I'm going on a trip and I’m taking with me a toothbrush.” The child repeats the sentence and has to add another item. For example: "I'm going on a trip and I’m taking with me a toothbrush and a book.” Each time it is your turn, you have to repeat the previous sentence and add a new word. The game is finished when somebody cannot remember the last sentence anymore and gives up.

This game not only trains vocabulary, but also memory!

We Tell a Story together

You begin and make up the first two sentences of the story. For example: "Once upon a time there was a girl called Mina. One day, Mina found a magic key." Then the child adds the next two sentences to continue the story. For example: "The key opened the door to a secret world. In this world, everything was made of sweets." Everybody who plays takes turns and adds each time two sentences to make up a story together.

This game stimulates the imagination and creativity. Over time the child will use more and more words and expressions.

What’s Missing?

You place 5 or 6 objects in front of the child and revise with her/him the names of the objects. Then you cover the objects with a scarf or a small blanket. Next you ask the child to close her/his eyes. While the eyes are closed you secretly remove one of the objects. Then you remove the scarf and you ask the child “What’s missing?”. You can repeat this game as long as it is fun for the child.

This game is good for practising nouns and memory.

Bingo

You place 6 or 9 objects in 2 or 3 rows in front of the child and revise with her/him the names of the objects. Give the child 6 or 9 tissues. When the child is ready you randomly say the names of the objects in front of the child and of other objects which are actually not in front of the child. When the child recognises the name of an object in front of her/him, s/he covers this object with a tissue. When all the objects are covered the child shouts as loud as possible “Bingo!”.

This game is good for practising nouns.

Cross the Line

Draw a line on the floor or make a line with a skipping rope. You say a number of sentences about the child which can be true or false. If the sentence is true, e.g., "I am six years old," the child steps forward, crossing the line. If the sentence is false, the child stands still.

This game is good for practising the comprehension of whole sentences.

French Skipping

You need a long elastic band (4-6 metres). Tie the ends together to make a big loop. Two children stand inside the loop so they are stretching it relatively taught around their ankles. A third person performs a series of hops and jumps, chanting an appropriate rhyme. (e.g. “Chocolate cake, when you bake, how many minutes will you take? One, two, three, four.”). When done correctly, the height of the elastic band gets raised to the lower leg. When the choreography was done again without any mistake the elastic band gets raised to the knees. After yet another successful jump the elastic band gets raised even higher to the waist. Whenever the current player fails to execute the correct jump her/his turn is over and it is the turn of another child to perform her/his skills.

A lot of rhymes and choreographies can be found on the internet. (Alternatively, you can invent rhymes and choreographies on your own. If there are only two players present, the elastic band can be tied around a chair.)

This game is a lot of fun and helps to develop balance and coordination.

Broken Telephone

You and some children sit in a circle or at the table. One child whispers a word or a short sentence into the next person's ear. The message gets passed around in a circle from person to person until it reaches the last child. The last child must say out loud what the message is, revealing if the message was passed intact or if it was changed along the way.

Typically, during the game some syllables and words are misunderstood and the result is completely different from the word/sentence at the beginning. A discussion can evolve on what was understood at which stage and when the message changed into another word/sentence.

This game not only practises listening skills but also new words and expressions.

Simon Says

One child is “Simon”. All the other children stand in a line in front of “Simon”. The child who is “Simon” is allowed to give commands (eg. “clap your hands, jump on one foot, spin around in a circle, …”). The other children must obey all commands that begin with the words “Simon says”. If Simon says, “Simon says touch your nose” then all players must touch their nose. However, if Simon says, “jump” without saying “Simon says”, the players must not jump. If a child does jump, that player is out of the game. The aim is to stay in the game as long as possible.

This game is good for practising verbs and understanding commands.

Red and Green Light

One child is the traffic light at one end, and the other children are standing at the other end. When the child who plays the traffic light faces the group, she or he says, "Red light!" and everyone must freeze. The traffic light then turns his or her back and says, "Green light!" while the group tries to get as close to the traffic light as possible. The traffic light turns around quickly, again saying, "Red light!". If anyone is spotted moving, this child has to go back to the starting place. The first person to tag the traffic light wins.

This game is good for practising colours and helps to explain the concept of traffic lights to the children.

Scavenger Hunt

Before going for a walk, draw some things on a piece of paper that can be found on the walking route (e.g. bicycle, bird, tree, dog, river). The child checks them off while being on the walk.

On a rainy day this game can be even played inside with another list of objects.

This game makes walks in nature more interesting and it helps your child to recognize and name things around her/him.

Pebbles

All children choose a pebble that is as different as possible (or everyone can colour, stick a sticker or otherwise decorate her/his pebble). A large stone is placed at the desired distance. The children take turns and throw their stones from the agreed place, trying to make them fall as close as possible to the big stone. After each successive drop of a stone, points are counted - the child who dropped her/his stone closest to the big stone gets 2 points, and everyone else gets 1 point. If the thrown pebble touched the large stone or fell behind it, then that child does not get any points. After the points are tallied, the players collect their stones and throw them again. The first child to collect 10 points (or any other agreed number) wins.

This game is good for practising numbers and doing easy sums.

Letter Memory

This specific memory game consists of all letters of the alphabet. The related memory piece to each of the letters is a picture of an object that starts with that letter. The rules are easy. The pieces are mixed up and distributed in front of the children upside down, so that the actual pictures are hidden to the eyes of the children. Getting turns, every child has the chance to turn around two pieces. If the child manages to turn a letter and its matching object, s/he can keep both cards and can continue to play. If the cards do not match, then the cards are turned again so that the pictures on them are hidden. In that case everybody tries to memorise the position of each card for the next round. The game is over when all pairs of the memory are matched. The player with the most pairs wins.

You can craft such a memory with your child, so that your child is already familiar with the matching pieces. This way you have the opportunity to discuss letters and words and from there you can open a whole discussion with your child about what kind of object should become part of the memory and why. Crafting it together gives you also the opportunity to spend more quality time with your child and to support your child’s fine motoric skills and its creativity.

With this game you can not only foster concentration but also practice letters and nouns.

Forest Mikado

You and your child/children collect some branches of different shapes and lengths. When there are at least 3 to 5 branches for every player you put them on top of each other on an even underground. The players take turns and try to take one branch out of the pile without moving the others. No other branch should wiggle when the player claims the branch. If the child succeeds s/he can keep the branch and continue. If not, the next child tries her/his luck. The game is over when all branches are distributed to the children. The winner is the one who got the most branches. At the end you should count the branches together to verify the winner.

While collecting the branches you can discuss the length, the size, the weight, the structure etc. with your child. The discussion may open more interesting topics to speak about.

This game fosters concentration and fine motor skills and you can practise counting.

Egg Run

This game is a race, where every player needs to run with an egg on a spoon. The aim is to pass the finishing line without dropping the egg. The race can be made easy or more challenging depending on the age and skills of the children. The starting and finishing point can be in short or long distance and the racing track can be with or without obstacles.

Instead of an egg you can also use a potato or a little ball.

This game is fun for younger and older children and fosters concentration, balancing and agility.

Throwing Cans

For this game you need a few empty cans and a ball. You build a little pyramid out of the cans and every child takes turns and tries to throw all the cans down from a distance. The distance between the player and the pyramid depends on the age of the children and should be between 1metre and 3 metres. You can even draw letters or numbers on the cans and every child has to announce which can s/he aims to collect.

Variation 1: The aim is to throw all the cans down with one strike.

Variation 2: If a player succeeds to hit a can s/he can keep it. At the end, the winner is the player who collected most of the cans.

This game helps children with their agility and motoric skills. If played with letters or numbers it also fosters literacy and numeric skills.

Balloon Dance

Two children balance a balloon between them and have to dance to music. They are not allowed to use their hands to hold the balloon in place and they shouldn't lose the balloon during the dance. For older children the rule could be to balance the balloon between their noses or heads or standing back to back when dancing.

This game helps children with their agility and motoric skills.