Ok mamas, some of us have been training for an extended time at home with kids for years—just check out the Pinterest boards of super cute, fun activities that we’ve saved! But then you realize trying to keep multiple ages happy with the same activities is a little trickier than a pin on Pinterest demonstrates. If you’re looking for some ideas of games to play kids of any age, here are 3 ideas that will keep everyone smiling!
BINGO
I can’t stress this enough, when it doubt, BINGO it out! Seriously, you could play BINGO for hours with countless variations!
Making your own BINGO card from paper and pen means any kind of customization you can think of is possible. Don’t have prep time? I love how many options this site gives for printing!
Toddler/ Young Preschooler
- Use images such as animals, vehicles, shapes, objects in your home, etc.
- Use headshots of people in your family
- Make boards easier with 3×3 or 4×4 squares
- To make it easier, you say what is on the call card
- To make it harder, let your child figure out what is on the call card
Preschooler/Young Elementary
- Use all capital letters or all lowercase letters
- Use numbers 1-10 or 11-20
- Include sight words/high-frequency words
- To make it more challenging, don’t let your child see the call card and give them clues to guess what letter/number you have pulled. “This letter makes the sound mmmm.” (M) or “This number comes after 2.”
Older Elementary
- Use number boards with higher sets of numbers through 100
- Use number boards with smaller numbers (1-20) and make your call cards into simple addition or subtraction problems. “4-2” or “5+3”
- Use more complex vocabulary words for categories such as body parts (humerus, intercostal), dinosaur names ( Brachiosaurus, Achillobator) etc.
- Use images such as international flags, headshots of historical figures, etc.
Whole Family Outside
- Listening BINGO: fill the card with kid’s ideas of what they may hear when you go for a walk together (horn honking, car or bus vroom, birds chirping)
- Color BINGO: create a card that just has colors in each square and look for objects that match those colors while on a walk
Magic Paintings
For all the white crayons that never get used out there, here’s a game for you! Grab some paper, white crayons, and watercolor paints.
Toddler/ Young Preschooler
- Adults can draw simple pictures with the white crayon on the white paper, then let your little one paint with watercolors on top to reveal the secret image!
Preschooler/Young Elementary
- Magic words: Adults write a simple word (such as your child’s name or “hi”) in the white crayon and let your little one reveal the secret word
- Reverse roles: Kids draw or write with the white crayon and you paint to discover what they made
Older Elementary
- Challenge your child to make more detailed secret images. This can be really tricky since they cannot really see what they have already created on the paper!
Story Starters
For this activity, you will need markers, paper, and googly eyes (optional).
Toddler/ Young Preschooler
- Start by asking your child to draw your story with the marker and paper. Share one sentence of your story, then give them time to draw those details before adding onto the story. “Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful Mommy.” (pause) “She loved to chase butterflies in the woods.” (pause)
- To make it easier, ask your toddler to draw things that are familiar to them (family members, pets, favorite stuffed animal, etc.). Once they scribble/draw, ask them to tell you about their picture. You can always ask questions to help them build a story “Wow, you did draw the cat. Where do you think the cat is going? Can you draw where the cat will go?”
Preschooler/Young Elementary
- A fun challenge is to put on the page before they start and see what they create from that prompt. Glue a set of googly eyes onto the paper or draw one shape (triangle or a hat or clouds, etc.) to see how they create a story around that prompt.
- For this image, I glued three sets of eyes onto the paper. My son decided this would be 2 ghosts and 1 human. “The ghosts are sucking out all of the human’s power. And the human is smiling!” I never would have seen that story coming!
Older Elementary
- Take turns building a story together. Each of you can only draw one line or one object before the paper goes to the next person. After each detail is added, the illustrator has to add a line to the story about what is happening in the picture. You can collaborate to create a story together or keep adding random details to see where this crazy story goes!
These are just 3 games to play, but the possibilities on how to age them up or down are endless. Check out our list of ideas to keep busy, then think about how you could modify any activity to keep everyone in your family busy and happy!
Have fun!
