game Archives - JDaniel4s Mom

Halloween Games- Candy Corn Ring Toss

September 28, 2015 By Deirdre

We recently set up a backyard mini carnival in our backyard. It featured fun games that were similar to the ones we have played at my son’s school fairs and Halloween party games. They each featured a theme or symbol that represents fall. Today I am going to share the first of the three games we played. We called it Candy Corn Ring Toss.

How to Play the Halloween Games:

The goal is to toss each of the colored rings into the area they match on a candy corn made of duct tape. The tossing was done from just in front of the piece of cardboard. It looks like it will be easy, but it can be rather challenging. We decided after several attempts that standing on the side was a good alternative. Children can throw the rings underhand or overhand or fling them like a Frisbee. There really isn’t a wrong way to throw them.

As I mentioned, we tried to be each colored ring onto its coordinating section on the candy corn. For young children you may decide that getting any ring in any section or on the game mat is the goal.

Constructing the Game

Game Supplies

The links below are affiliate links.

Large piece of cardboard (We used the side of an appliance box.)
White , Tangerine Orange and Sunshine Yellow Duct Tape
White, orange and yellow rings

Alternative Game Supplies
Instead of using plastic rings you could use white, orange and yellow bean bags. They would be heavier and easier for young kids to throw. You could also use Frisbees, jar lids, or small bags of candy corn in place of rings.

Building the Game Board

The game board is super easy to construct. I simply measured five inches from the top and bottom of the piece of cardboard and mark those spots with a pencil. I then measured the space between the top and bottom area. That distance was divided by three to find the size each of the color areas would be. That number was measured out and marked on the cardboard. Then a long line was drawn from the center of the top mark to the outside edge on the bottom mark. Next the lines that represented each color area were marked off horizontally.. Finally the colored tape was place over the lines I had drawn.

Here are some more Halloween Games:

Spider Web Frisbee Toss

Boxes and Pumpkins

Lorax Truffula Tree Sight Words Game

February 21, 2015 By Deirdre

We used this truffula tree game board to work on spelling words, but I think it could be used to work on any number of learning concepts. (The Lorax learning mat I shared earlier in the week worked that way too.) By creating file folder game boards without a specific skill displayed on them we can use them for lots of different activities.

Thoughts I Had While Putting This Game Together:

The trees displayed on this file folder game have black and yellow stripes on them.

We chose:

We moved up the tree by landing on each stripe.

You could:

You may have your children land on just the yellow or just the black stripes.

There is an open space on the right of the game board to display the concepts that you will be working on while playing this game.

We chose:

We used small halves of 3×5 index cards to write my son’s spelling and word wall words on. The words were written on the blank side of the cards and placed in a pile.

You could:

You may like the idea of using a whole index card or small pieces of paper to display the questions you want your children to answer or the words you want your children to spell. Colored index cards would be fun to use too.
A bowl or small box holding the cards could be placed in the open space to keep them neat and tidy. ( Our cards got kind of messy.)
A list of questions or words that will need to be read while playing the game could be placed on the right hand side of the folder.
Dice with dots, numbers or words could be rolled in the open space on the right side of the folder. Children could add the dots or numbers on the dice when they roll them. They could read the words written on small stickers placed on blank dice that end up face up when the dice are rolled.

Just about anything could be used as game markers for this file folder game.

We chose:

We chose to use some wooden peg people as our game pieces.

You could:

There are so many things that you could use as a game marker. Here is a list of things I think would be great game pieces:

Buttons
Small tiles
Paper clips
Fun erasers
Beans
Pom-poms

Here are some other wonderful sight words games:

Building Leaf Words

Scarecrow Sight Word Game

{Printable} Writing Sight Words on a Rainbow

Tape Spider Sight Word Game

Here are some sight words games from other learning blogs:

Sight Word Cup Crash

Sight Word Parking Lot

Sight Word Shake

Sight Word Connect Four

If you do try any of the above sight words activities, please leave me a comment below telling me about it or share a picture of it on my Facebook page.

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Spelling Games- Thanksgiving Words

November 6, 2014 By Deirdre

Spelling games that make you use your brain to build words are challenging and fun. In this game we tried to come up with a lot of words using the letters found in the word Thanksgiving. While we searched our minds for words that we could build, we were using a variety of reading skills at the same time.

Spelling games that tap into reading skills use the following skills:

Once children discover a word they can build, they can look for other words that would be in that words family.

When you have found a particular ending sound like –ng, you can see if you can build words that have that same ending.

If you have built a word like think, you can add a letter to it like an “s” to build a new word.

After building a word, you can talk about what kind of words it is. (noun, verb, or adverb)

We found a ton of words that we could build using the letters in the word Thanksgiving. We found about sixty actually. Rather than list them all in this post I have Thanksgiving Words list that you can use all with our file folder game.

Spelling Games Assembly

A simple turkey was cut out and glued into a file folder. The folder really displays just the turkey’s head and tummy. Then feathers were cut out of different colors of construction paper. Each feather had one of the letters in the word Thanksgiving written on it.

The file folder turkey is really just a work space for children to use to build words on. You could easily play this spelling game with just the feathers or just the letters on index cards.

Spelling Games to Play

As children are creating words on their own or with a partner, you may want them to record them on a piece of paper. After creating all the words they can think of, you could words in Thanksgiving give them the list of words. They could build the words on the list or search to see if all their words are on the list.

The main goal of the spelling games in to interact with letters and words. As children do that, they build connections from skills that they already know to new ways to use them.

This activity would be fun to doing in a learning center, as a whole group, with partners or even at a Thanksgiving gathering. It might we fun have the children at a gathering do this activity with an aunt or uncle.

The list I have provided contains only some of the words you can make with the letters found in the word Thanksgiving. I have found list of almost 200 words.

Here are some other spelling games and activities:

Spelling Games- Skeleton Bone Words

Practicing Spelling Words on a Place Mat

Spelling Games with Mixed Up Words and Apples

Math Games- Plastic Jug Flip Chute

August 5, 2014 By Deirdre

$Math Games- Plastic Jug Flip Chute$

One of the really cool things about this plastic jug flip chute is that you can watch the cards flip inside the jug. A second cool thing about it is that is can be used for a wide variety of math games. Let me walk you through how to make a flip chute and then various math games that you can play with it.

How to Make A Plastic Jug Flip Chute

I learned how to make a flip chute in college from my main education professor. She loved hands on learning. The flip chute I made eons ago used a paper milk carton. While a paper milk carton is fine, I want to create a flip chute that would have more of an awe factor. With the milk carton, kids would be awed that the front of the card would be placed in the flip cute with the question or number sentence face up and would come out the back side of the card facing up. They never got to see how it worked. Seeing how it worked required a clear plastic container or jug. We used one that came from a green tea container.

Here are the supplies that you will need to make a flip chute:

The link below is an affiliate link.

-a plastic jug or milk carton ( You loose some of the awe factor with a milk carton, but many of us have one.)

-construction paper of a heavy weight or part of a folder. (I used part of a paper folder.)

– X-ACTO Knife and/or scissors

-heavy clear tape (You could use duck tape instead.)

-stickers

How Create a Flip Chute

Start by making sure that the container you are using for the math games flip chute is really clean. You don’t want to have an odor left in your container.

Then cut a 1 1/2 to 2 inch slot at the top and near the bottom of the container. I used an X-ACTO knife to make the initial cuts and then used scissors to cut straight lines. (I found it was much easier to cut the top, bottom, and sides of each slot with scissors.)

Next a twelve inch length of construction paper was cut out. I made the width of the paper a little smaller than the width of the slits I had cut out of the container.

The top of the length of paper was taped to the top of the upper slot and the bottom of the length of paper was taped to the bottom of the lower slot.

Stickers were placed over the tape to make it look a little better. If I had used color duct tape, I would have left the stickers off the flip chute.

The flip chute I made long ago had a second piece of paper that was shorter in length. It was attached to the bottom of the top slot and the top of the lower slot. I think this second piece was to keep the cards going smoothly inside the flip chute. I decided to eliminate it and found that the flip chute still worked well.

$Math Games- Plastic Jug Flip Chute$

Math Games and Flip Chute Cards

Flip Chute Cards

Blank index cards were created the flip chute cards for the math games. I just cut them in half. My education professor had us cut the bottom left hand corner out of the front of the card. It helped distinguish the top for the bottom. For this set of cards I didn’t do that.

Math Games

Basic Facts

For this set of flip chute cards I focused on math subtraction facts. Early this week JDaniel announced he had been thinking and that thinking was about subtracting. I placed the number sentence on the front of the card. Then I turned the card over and made the top the bottom. Next I put the answer on the card. By doing that the answer came out facing up on the card.

You could easily do basic addition, subtraction, division or multiplication facts.

Greater Than Or Less Than

Placing two number with a big space between them would be great for working on greater than and less than. You would just have to place the correct symbol of the back.

Shape Identification

Draw a shape on the front of the card and the name of the shape on the back on the card.

$Math Games- Plastic Jug Flip Chute$

This are just a few math games that you could play. I bet you could come up with lots of other ways to use this flip chute learning tool.

$Math Games- Plastic Jug Flip Chute$

Here are some other math games for kids:

Math Fun- Solar System Math Facts

Math Games for Kids- LEGO Count and Move

Math Games for Kids- Outdoor Math Web

Math Fun- Solar System Math Facts

July 14, 2014 By Deirdre

$Math Fun- Solar System Facts$

Reviewing and learning math facts is not always considered math fun. This solar system game was created to tap into a child’s love of space, a joy in bouncing and throwing balls, and a need to practice math facts.

While we practiced basic addition facts with the math fun game, you could easily practice basic subtraction facts or even multiplication facts with it. Mastering basic math facts is something my almost first grader needs to do to get ready for first grade in a few months. We will probably take out this game again to work on subtraction facts later.

How to Play Solar System Math Facts

$Math Fun- Solar System Facts$

The goal is to get two of the planet ping pong balls into a section of the intergalactic themed egg carton. Each egg cup has a golden star with a number on it.

$Math Fun- Solar System Facts$

Then a player needs to add the numbers displayed on the stars to get the sum. If they get the answer right, they can have another turn. If you get an incorrect sum, it is another players turn.

Not Ready For Math Fun in Their Heads

Not all children are ready to work with numbers in their heads at my son’s age. Children a little younger and a little older may have trouble too. You can provide paper and pencil if you are playing this game inside or chalk if you are playing this outside. Children can draw stars or planets to represent each number. Tally marks could be used as visual representations too.Wait! They could used small rocks, pom poms or buttons to count up the the sum of the two numbers if working with concrete objects makes adding easier for your children.

How to Create The Solar System Game and Planetary Ping Pong Balls

$Math Fun- Solar System Facts$

You will need: (There is an affiliate link listed below for your convenience.)

Ping Pong Balls

Magic Markers

Egg Carton

Black Paint

Blue Paint

Paint Brush

Scissors

Yellow Sticky Backed Foam

I started by painting a egg carton with its lid removed black. It took a couple of coats of paint to make the carton dark black.

Then blue paint was added as an accent to the black paint and make the egg carton look more space like. You could add comets or asteroids to the carton if you like.

Next 12 stars were cut out of the yellow sticky backed foam. If you don’t think you can cut stars out freehand, print out a clip art star and use it as a pattern.

Then numbers were added to each star.( Several numbers were displayed on stars more than once.) Once the numbers had dried they were placed into the egg carton cups.

With the game space was finished it was time to make the planetary ping pong balls. I found a set of color ping pong balls at a local big box sports store that I thought would make great planets. Simple lines were added to the ping pong balls to make them look other worldly. I think they turned out well. You could easily have your children decorate the planets if you like.

We will be playing with this solar system math facts game over and over again. It really made math fun!

Games for Children- Landing Spot On

July 7, 2014 By Deirdre

Simple household items and office supplies can be used to create games for children that will have them working on fine motor skills and having tons of fun. These Landing Spot On games will allow your kids to do just that.

Supplies for Landing Spot On Games for Children

Platter size paper plate

Colored dot stickers

Large drinking cups (4)

Button

Chopsticks*

Pom poms (colors that match the dots)

*If you want chopsticks like ones we used, there are available on this affiliate link Zehhe Cheater Training Chopsticks for Children . I couldn’t find the chicken chopsticks, but the sheep is available.

How to Put the Game Together

This game board is so easy to put together. You simply place dot stickers an equal distance across and down on the plate. I ended up with four rows and five columns. You could easily arrange the dots any way that you would like. Your children might enjoy creating their own game board design on the plate.

Once you have the dots arranged on the plate, it is time to set the plate on top of the four drinking cups. You can arrange the cups close together or spread them apart so they are more like table legs.

Games for Children

Landing Spot On- Buttons

The goal of this game to get the buttons on the dots. There are several ways you can get the buttons of the dots. The way you have your children try to get the buttons on the spots will depend on how well your children have developed their fine motor skills and their eye hand coordination.

They can:

Place a button on a spot

Drop a button onto a spot

Underhand toss a button onto a spot

Overhand throw a button onto a spot

Frisbee toss a button onto a spot

Landing Spot on- Pom Poms

In this version of the game you are working with pom poms. Pom poms tend to be light and hard to throw so, for this version of the game children can use chopsticks. The chopsticks will give children a little more control of the pom poms.

You can do the same actions that I listed for the buttons. We found the dropping the pom poms or placing them to be the easiest. Frisbee tossing didn’t work well for us, but you may find that you really like frisbee tossing.

We played both games on our deck and on the kitchen table. It worked out well in both locations.

Other Fine Motor Activities

Fine Motor- Fold and Thread Necklace

More Fine Motor and Early Learning ideas can be found on my Early Learning Pinterest board.
Follow JDaniel4’s Mom’s board Early Learning on Pinterest.

Cool Games- Button Golf

June 23, 2014 By Deirdre

As far as cool games go, JDaniel thinks this is one of the coolest. After playing the basic version on the game for awhile and some versions of his own, he announced that we need to keep this game for a long time. I just love it when I find a learning activity that he really likes.

Button golf and the cool games JDaniel came up with to make it his own really work on fine motor skills, eye hand coordination, estimating force and well so much more. I love games that have kids learning while playing.

Let me walk you through how to create a button golf game and then the various cool games JDaniel and I came up with.

Creating a Button Golf Game

You will need the following supplies to put your game together:

Paper towel roll

Toothpicks (nine)

White construction paper

Markers (various colors)

Scissors (pointed end scissors)

Tape

Buttons (Some with raised edges and some smooth edged)

Directions for Creating the Game

Place marks at one and a half inch intervals on the paper towel tube. I did this around the whole paper towel tube.

Cut from one mark in each section to the next going around the tube until you cut out that section of the tube. When it has been cut out, it should look like a napkin ring.

After you have all your paper towel rings cut out, cut out nine small triangular flags or pennants from the white construction paper.

Number the flags from one to nine with marker. We used a different colored marker for each number.

Place two small horizontal slits on the large end of the triangle.

Weave a toothpick through the two slit in each flag.

Tape the bottom of a flag to the back of each of the paper towel rings.

These rings will be your golf holes!

Cool Games to Play

Basic Button Golf

Place the golf rings out on a table or the floor in any configuration your like. Make sure you have enough space between rings to flip the buttons.

Starting with the golf hole number one trying flipping a button into the ring by placing a top button on the edge of a bottom button and pressing down. The pressure from the top button will make the bottom button fly.

Once you have flipped a button into the first golf hole, move onto the next hole.

Button Golf Line Up

Put all of the golf ring holes in a line and try to move quickly from one hole to the next. This version of the game doesn’t require moving around a table or on the ground to get to the next hole.

You can make this game challenging by taking out and ruler and measuring out a distance you will need to flip the button from.

Sum! Button Golf

You can spread the golf rings out as you did in the basic version. One player can call out an addition fact and another player can try to flip their button into the golf button ring with the sum.

For more learning games you will want to check out my Early Learning Pinterest board. It is filled with them.

Follow JDaniel4’s Mom’s board Early Learning on Pinterest.

Other Cool Games

Lego Count and Move

Gold Coin Vowel Sound Drop

15 Outdoor Activities for Kids

Easter Game- Egg Toss Bottles

March 14, 2014 By Deirdre

This is a sponsored post.

JDaniel and I had the opportunity to go to JoAnn’s Fabrics and Crafts to hunt for treasures. We searched up and down every aisle and found way too many amazing things. I was just looking for the material needed to make an Easter Game with Egg Toss Bottles . JDaniel wanted to see what they had beyond my supply list. He loved the giant foam mattresses that seemed to reach the ceiling. The holiday related supplies also called to him. It was just as hard for me to focus on my supply list.

We eventually ended up looking through the array of washi tape to find designs that looked like Easter. It took quite a while to decide with designs. There were so many great choices. Deciding on what colors were really the most Easter like really helped.

The next item on my list was plastic Easter eggs. I thought it would be really easy to decide which ones to take home. JDaniel loved the giant eggs, but it was decided that they wouldn’t fit inside the plastic juice bottles that we were going to use to catch the eggs. Maybe the Easter bunny will have to sneak back to JoAnn’s and get him one of those.

It was hard to leave our time of window shopping, but beautiful warm sun was calling to JDaniel to come play in it. I was excited about heading home to put together the egg toss catchers.

While JDaniel played in our backyard, I sat in a folding chair and removed the bottom area of both juice bottles. When that was done, I started wrapping the washi tape around the juice bottles. The bottles were a little challenging to wrap. They had a lot of ridges and curves. I have never crafted with washi tape before and was surprised by how easy it was to pull up and move on the bottle when it looked a little wonky (not straight) to me. It is now my favorite kind of tape!

When the egg toss catchers were done, I asked JDaniel to play catch with me. It turns out that I am not very good at catching eggs being tossed at me. Thank goodness we used plastic eggs.

If you would like to find the washi tape or tie dyed eggs we used for this Easter game or egg toss activity or craft supplies for a wonderful idea of your own , you need to visit JoAnn’s Fabrics and Craft.

Disclaimer: I was sent a gift card to buy the materials to complete this craft ideas.