Kids Games and Crafts

The following kids games and crafts are different ideas for playtime. Here you'll find crafts you make a game out of, instead of just for decoration or gifts. If you have kids games and crafts you'd like to submit, please feel free to do so!

Dinosaur Egg
by Michelle Thompson of Making Memories by Thompson
http://www.makingmemoriesbythompson.com

Materials:
- Small balloons
- Funnel
- Small plastic dinosaurs
- Coffee filters
- Colored gel
- Glue
- Water
- Food coloring (2-4 colors)

Use a funnel to put colored gel inside a balloon. Next, stretch the opening of the balloon and place a small plastic dinosaur inside. Blow up the balloon.

Mix glue, water, and food coloring in a bowl. Make 2-4 different colors. Let your child dip coffee filters into the glue mixture and attach to the outside of the balloon. Continue dipping and attaching coffe filters until the balloon is completely covered. Set aside overnight to dry.

Read a book about dinosaurs to your child. A book with hatching eggs is especially good for this. Tell you child that his/her egg will "hatch" in a couple of days if they keep it safe and warm. Help your child build a "nest" for their egg out of an empty box and paper scraps or shredded newspaper.

One night later that week, poke a needle into the egg to pop the balloon. Tear the egg in half. The next morning your child will find that they took good care of their egg and it hatched with their very own dinosaur.

See what other kids games and crafts you can come up with using the ideas above!

"Let's Go Fishing" Kids Games and Crafts
By Kandi Traxel
http://www.aloveofcoffee.com

Materials Needed:
Cardboard Box (at least 12x12x12; larger is better)
Blue Wrapping Paper (Light Blue Works Best)
Construction Paper in Several Colors
Roll of Magnet Strip (At crafts stores; you can cut it into pieces)
Black Marker
Pencil
Scissors
Dowel Rods (For "Fishing Poles") Use the ones that are about as big around as a pencil
String
4-6 Metal Nuts (i.e. nuts and bolts) or Metal Washers

Making the Game:
Make The Pond: Cut all the flaps from the cardboard box and discard. Wrap the box in the light blue paper; then you can use the black marker to create "waves" on the outside, making it look like "water". You may also line the inside of the box with the blue paper, cuttting it into pieces to fit the inside walls and floor of the box and using glue to adhere it.

Make The Fish: To make the fish, use several colors of construction paper and draw your fish shapes on with a pencil. The easiest way to make the shapes is to draw an oval, and then attach a upside down triangle "tail" to the end. Make the small enough to get at least 3-4 fish from one sheet of paper, but no smaller. If you wish, you can use the marker and make little eyes and smiles on them, but do NOT decorate them. You will need to leave them "blank". Once you have all of them cut out that you want, take the roll of magnet strip, cut it into pieces about 1/2 long, remove the backing and stick them onto or near the tails on BOTH sides of your fish. In a later step we will be working with the fish again, so lay them aside after you get the magnets stuck on them.

Make the Pole: To make the fishing pole, cut a long piece of string about 2-3 feet long, and tie it to one end of the dowel rod. Tie the nut or washer to one end for the "fish hook". Now you can return to the fish and decide what you want to put on them according to your child's grade level. You can draw on colored shapes, letters of the alphabet, simple words, math problems, etc.

Playing the Game
Place all the fish into the "pond" and give each child a fishing pole. The object of the game is to "go fishing", catch the fish, and then the child will have to indentify, read or solve what it on the outside of the fish. For example if your child is learning to read, write words on each of the fish, and when they catch one, they will have to read what is on the fish. Every one they get right, then will get to keep. If they miss it, they have to put the fish back for another try.

The child with the most fish "caught" when all the fish are gone, wins!

Fun Math Kids Games and Crafts
by Kandi Traxel
http://www.shopwithamom.com

Materials Needed:
Plain White Card Stock
Ruler
Pencil
Colored Markers
Laminating Sheets or Clear Contact Paper
2-3 Regular Dice
Small Game Pieces-You can cut squares or circles out of colored paper, use coins, colored paper clips, etc. You will need about a dozen pieces for each person that will be playing the game.

Making the Game Board:
Using the ruler and a pencil, measure and mark 16 even squares on the card stock. Using a black marker trace over the lines. Using the colored markers, number all the squares, by putting the number "1" in the first square and number them all through 16. Use a different color for each number to give your game board some cahracter.

Take the laminating sheets or contact paper, and laminate both sides of your game board, trimming off any excess. **You can also make the board for this game using and graphics or publishing program.**

Playing the Game:
Now that you have the game board completed you can play the game. Give each player his or her own game pieces.(For example you can use colored paper clips, and give each player a different color, or you can even use markers for each player, giving them a different color and allowing them to place an "x" on the board rather than a game piece. The board can later be wiped off with a damp paper towel.)

Starting with the youngest player and moving to the left, each player rolls the dice. They will then take the numbers that they rolled and complete a math problem of his or her choice using the numbers rolled. They may use addition, subtraction, multiplication or division, depending on the education level of the player. For example, if the dice rolled show a 3, a 4 and a 6, then the player may add them all together which would equal 13. OR they could add 2 dice and subtract one of them. For example they could add the 3 and the 4 to get 7 and then subtract the 6. The answer would be 1. There are literally hundreds of different ways you could add, subtract, multiply or divide the dice to arrive at an answer.

Once the player has an answer, they will then to mark the corresponding number on the game board. In the examples above, the player would place his or her marker on either the "13" or the "1". Once those numbers have been marked, then no other player may choose them. They need to keep trying new ways to add/subtract, etc. in order to arrive at a different answer. If they cannot arrive at an answer that is not already taken, then play passes to the next player.

Play will become more and more difficult. You may play until all squares are filled, or you may play a timed game. Either way the winner is the one that has the most squares marked by the end of the game.

Decide ahead of time which types of math problems will be allowed; you may choose to allow addition and subtraction only; you may choose to play using multiplication only; the choice is up to you.