countryfun…homemade games

We use cards around here for everything from homemade matching games to a regular deck of cards. It can become hard for smaller hands to control cards in these games, so I decided to make homemade card holders. I had old plastic store bought ones from when my children were young and knew I could come up with something.

Take 2 plastic lids of very similar size, one large brass paper fastener and you have a homemade card holder that works really easily.

Poke the paper fastener through the center of each lid. Remove fastener. Now place lids with flat tops together. Put fastener through and open so fastens the lids together. 

Decorate if desired.

Just slide the cards between the lids. Fanning out as you want.

The bigger the lid the more cards or the bigger your cards can be. I now have many different size card holders on hand for use.

Filed by countryfun at 11:47 am under Card Games,Misc.  Tagged tool
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I have seen what I think of as I Spy Bottles on lots of preschool blogs. Most used small bottles, which is great for younger children. I was looking for a way to adapt for my older children to also enjoy using. The problem was finding an appropriate vessel to use. As I was getting ready to recycle an empty Parmesan cheese container I realized it just might fit the bill. Now this is a large (24oz) container. 

Now you’ll need a good amount of rice to fill this.  I always have a bag of the cheapest rice I can buy on hand to use for projects, so no problem there. Next I gathered items to place in the container.  This time I went misc., but others will be themed.

I filled the container to within a half inch of the top with rice, randomly placing objects within the rice as filled.  I hot glued the parts of the lid that could flip open, but did not glue the lid to the container.  I want to be able to change out items in the future if desired. This lid tightens well, but can always run tape around it too. I did take a picture of the items, printed it off and labeled the items, so the children can use the I Spy Bottle independently. To see them in action link here.

Filed by countryfun at 8:53 am under Hidden Items Activities  Tagged adaptable, hidden items, problem solving, sorting
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Chart style games are one of the games that I’ve continued to make. Many think of this style as “Race To the Top”.  A good example and explanation can be found at Pre-K Pages. I adapted this type of game for long-term or multi-concept usage  by dividing cardstock into 6 equal columns. I then place a small square of construction paper at the bottom of each column. I use the 6 colors of the rainbow for this. You can make more or less columns. I have just found that 6 allows me the most flexibility. Once everything is glued down I run through the laminator. This not only prolongs  the game sheet’s life, but allows for use with dry erase markers or crayons – again flexibility.

I now laminate 1- 3″x3″ square from each of the 6 colors. Again you can do a different size, but I’ve found that the 3″ squares work well for smaller hands, store easily, and have enough room for writing on. To save material, but maintain flexibility I laminate plain and we can then use dry erase materials for writing in whatever we are reviewing.  Children can help complete these cards which allows for involvement in making the game.

Basic Rules:

• roll the dice
• name what shows on dice
• find the corresponding color card
• find the color on the game sheet
• make a mark above the color in the column

Filed by countryfun at 12:28 pm under Dice,File /Sheet Games,Literacy,Math  Tagged ABC's, adaptable, charting, floor, Math, numbers, shapes
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To complete many of our games I like to use dice. I have many already made, so we can pick and chose to met our need, and they store really easily. We use wood, foam and paper dice. One of my favorite dice is just made from folded cardstock. There are many designs out there, but I like the ones at Don’t Eat the Paste, which I found through How About Orange. They can get very fancy with designs, but I copied for the dimensions.

I use the 2″x2″ box, copy on cardstork, cut out and reverse, so have a clear or solid color sides. This is so low cost, sturdy and a great size for little hands. I just construct the box (glue up) and then use stickers or construction paper shapes on all the sides.

Filed by countryfun at 12:25 pm under Dice
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Too many egg cartons?

I started the brainstorming/inventive process by just cutting up one carton and seeing what I got.

I noticed that the egg holders were a size that would fit in the openings in the top…. Now I had an adaptable game base.

Now to decorate. Time to play around with paints, so I got a small paint tray, added a variety of colors and the creating began.   Lots of mixing of colors happened  with some interesting results 

Now we have a colorful game base, so many different ways to use. Think our first game will be tossing 10 pennies and counting how many make it into the cups. Maybe we’ll even chart our throws and results….

or maybe roll the dice and move that many buttons into the cups

or lets sort those buttons first…….

Filed by countryfun at 1:52 pm under Floor/Active games,Game Tool  Tagged adaptable, chance, floor, sorting
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To make an I Spy Board all you need to do is gather items together, spread out and take a digital photo. At that point you can print the photo out or embed in an email, blog, etc. to share.

We did this board in the blog with a listing of what to find.

For others I printed out and laminated. Then made multiple lists of what to find. Some lists were all words, some just single images and some a mixture. This allows for anyone in my group to use and have fun. Having multiple lists also means more usage from a single board.

Filed by countryfun at 2:05 pm under Hidden Items Activities  Tagged adaptable, hidden items
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I love puzzles and think they are a really great experience for children of all ages. As I was checking out new blog connections I came across The Teaching Palette. I decided to dig around a little bit and a title Color Sudoku caught my interest. Now we buy sudoku booklets around here for personal use, but I had never thought to bring this down to the level of my early learners. Now I have. This morning I got out the cardstock, construction paper, rulers, cutter and laminator. The result: 4 Color Sudoku Can not wait to play with the kids and see how they do. Will be making some 6 and 8 Color boards later today. A little more challenging for my school-age children.

Filed by countryfun at 1:29 pm under Math  Tagged adaptable, Math, problem solving
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It was a morning for making some homemade games to use this month. I love working on patterns during the holiday season there are just so many options about to keep the lessons new and interesting. Part of the way I have worked with patterns in the past is to do worksheets on same and different. Playing around with the Picnik program last night I got to thinking that I could make my own work cards this year. That is just what I did this morning.

• I pulled up free clip art of holiday images that the children would enjoy
• I uploaded into Picnik
• I edited the image
• I placed into a text/pages document
• I printed off
• I laminated
• I cut apart

I now had same and different strips to use this month. It was simple and fun to make up these sheets. I’m sure I’ll be making more using other themes.

I’ve tried to add the 4 sheets I made here in a PDF format. If you can open please feel free to use.

samedifferentxmas1

samedifferent2

samedifferent3

samedifferent4

Filed by countryfun at 2:14 pm under File /Sheet Games,Literacy  Tagged adaptable, language development
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C is totally into the trash truck that comes weekly for trash and recyclables. He also really likes a computer game where you pick up items and place into the trash can. So to give us lots of fun practice as we learn our numbers, I thought I could adapt the trash can computer game.

We started with a large oatmeal container, gray paper, scissors and glue. I had C cut the construction paper into strips that he could glue around the oatmeal container. Lots of fine motor skill work with this project. By overlapping the strips it gives the look of a galvanized trash can. C was really pleased with what he made.

Next will come the trash for the can….
To finish the trash can game we needed to cut out and laminate groups of items. I got some of the school age children to help me with this. They decided on an item and then went through magazines, fliers and newspapers until they had cut of 5 of that item. They were then glued down on poster board. I cut our each item and laminated them. Once the laminated sheets were cut apart we had the game pieces. The children had fun helping and they got some language development, fine motor practice and practice in citizenship. Activities like this allow me to continue to reinforce lessons from home and school.

Free picture collage made with Smilebox

To Play:

• empty the items from the trash can
• spread out face up
• leader calls out a number and item
• player finds that number of the item, counts out as collects, and counts again as places in the trash can
• continue until items are all gone or you have played enough and interest is waning

You can adapt this game to meet many needs, interests and skill levels. It’s a nice change from sorting, picking up and piling or putting into a box. The trash can tied into an area of interest which enhances the interest in the game and thus provides more fun while practicing/developing our counting skills.

Filed by countryfun at 2:23 pm under Math,Misc.  Tagged Math, sorting
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This week we continued to work with the letter “N” and our numbers. This counting wheel is simple to make and always a hit with the children.

Counting Wheel

Today C just clipped the numbered clothespins on the section that pictured the number. You could have child count the pictured item and find the clothespin. You could place clothespins around the wheel and have child rearrange correctly. You could randomly pick a clothesppin and then find the correct picture section.

What are some ways you would use this game?

Filed by countryfun at 2:28 pm under Math  Tagged adaptable, matching, Math, Motor Skills
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