When this whole crisis home school fiasco started, John David, our resident first grader, sat down beside me and laid out exactly how his school day usually goes. He fully expected our distance learning day to mirror the way things run at regular school. Oh, boy, was he set up for disappointment or what? However, this did give me good ideas. This year John David has a teacher who makes school very fun, so she is someone I should be copying.
J.D. explained that every single day they start school with a fun game and going around and sharing about their lives in general. This teacher created such a friendly environment. No wonder he loved school so much. We all live together, so the sharing thing did not work out as well. They get all silly and giggly and really manage to say nothing at all, but the game thing has stuck– like glue. You won’t catch our younger two boys picking up a pencil until they have had their mandatory morning game session.
I set up old papers and chairs across the floor. Each player rolls the dice to see how far they get to advance forward to get from start to finish. This was such a big hit that we played about five rounds.
We have a ceramic tile kitchen, so we use the tiles as you would the tiles on a traditional game board, like Sorry or Candy Land, only we are the game pieces. I cut out squares of paper and wrote game play instructions on each one like, “Move forward 2, Move backward 2, Move forward 5, Switch places with another player,” etc. Then I shuffled the cards, and on each turn the boys would take the top card and follow the directions. I shuffled the deck each time we finished all 10 so each person didn’t always end up with the same cards.
This is one we do most often because it is easy to do. I think of a name of a book, character, or movie, and just play the regular old version of Hangman with a wipe-off board.
….when my feet aren’t hurting too badly
They don’t love it, but sometimes we make birthday/graduation/thank you cards instead of a game. I haven’t paid money for a card in ages. I feel like this should be a natural benefit of having young children.
They love this one, and I do not because, well I don’t know why because, but it isn’t my fave. We hide an item. Then they have to come in and find it, using our hot/cold instructions. They will play it over and over again, and I have no idea why they like it so much.
I love mad libs, but only one of my boys loves them. We’ve only done this one once.
Well, you all know how charades works. The boys like this one, but I have to be careful to come up with very easy ones for our six-year-old, or he gets upset and gives up. This one can be super fun if you include people that everyone in the game knows and you have to try to act like them. Hilarious!
I haven’t actually done this one yet, but we are planning to try it.
Everyone knows how to play this one.
We only do this every once in a while because they have this firm belief that the winner should get a prize, and I find that annoying, but I do enjoy Bingo. Maybe just say up front that the prize is a bag of cereal. Haaa!
Free Printable Bingo Cards Here
The boys like this much more than I thought they would, probably because it was new and challenging. You put twenty random items on a tray or large plate. Cover it with a dish towel. Start a timer for one minute, and take off the towel. Tell everyone to memorize what is on the tray. When the timer goes off, put the towel back over the tray, and put the tray away. They have to list as quickly as they can everything they can remember that was on the tray. It’s surprisingly challenging!
Another popular one. They love this. One person, “it”, closes their eyes and counts to 10 while everyone scrambles for a corner of the room. Then “it” calls out a corner number. Whoever is in that corner becomes “it.”
This is an easy game to turn into an educational game because whoever is in the corner you call out can answer a question, but in the mornings I am forbidden to do this…
This is literally just bouncing a balloon around the room.
You play catch with a third person in the middle who tries to snatch the ball as you toss it. This can get messy in our house, so we really need to do it outside.
If I jump on the trampoline with them, they will count that as a game, but of course, not everyone has the benefit of a trampoline in their backyard, so I didn’t include this one in the fifteen list.
I hope at least one of these ideas will help you bring more joy to your children and your day as a whole. We all need all the joy we can get, right? I am always on the hunt for new game ideas, so please share your own favorites in the comment section below!
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hay. I am a teacher too. when I go to the classroom I try to do something different for getting child attention. John David's idea is great. I applying it for my own style.
and also game ideas so enjoy. the child really likes this kind of game.
April! I want to be in your class! You are the best mom/teacher ever!
haha! I always appreciate your encouraging words! But I can assure you this is where my fun ends.
FUN! Although my kids do love GoNoodle, they also love these games. The Floor is Lava is such a classic, isn't it?
No idea why my kids don't love Go Noodle. It's supposed to be so popular. Maybe their particular teachers at school have just overdone it?
I can do these! I like the simplicity of these activities :) I should add a little more game time into our week. Thanks for sharing these friend!
It gives the day a little fun (besides Fortnite and Minecraft--ha!)..
These are all great games; many of which I remember playing with my boys but you have a few really cute and creative ones on here I had not thought of.
Thanks!