FAMILY GAMES

by Papa

Title: Money Money Money

Summary:

A lot of kids are interested in money at an early age.  This game teaches them how to count money in a fun way.  Kid A invented this game after receiving a play money kit as a gift.

Recommended Age: 6-8

What you will need:

• A set of play money
  
• The set should have a good amount of all the different values:

-10 dollar bills
-5 dollar bills
-1 dollar bills
-Quarters
-Dimes
-Nickels
-Pennies

• A stack of note cards
  
• A white sheet of paper
  
• Player pieces (you can borrow them from a board game that you own like "Sorry" or "Monopoly"
  
• A small ball that anyone can hold in their hand
  

Instructions:

1. On the white sheet of paper, draw a table with the number of players as the amount of columns and between 10 and 20 rows.  This will be the board.
   
2. Label the bottom side of the table as Start and the top side as You Win.
   
3. On each note card, write an amount of money.  Try to make the amounts under $20 and make them all vary for different degrees of difficulty.
   
4. Shuffle the note cards and turn them face down in a pile.
   
5. Place the player pieces on the Start row of the board.
   
6. Distribute the money evenly.
   
7. Take turns flipping a note card over to show the amount.
   
8. All players get the amount showing from their stash.
   
9. The first player who puts the correct amount from their stash and grabs the ball wins the round and gets to advance one row on the board.
   
10. Once someone grabs the ball, all players stop and check if that player did indeed get the correct amount.  If you grab the ball and you don't have the correct amount, you move back one row.
    
11. The first player to get to the You Win row wins!
    

Optional Instructions:

If you want to give the younger children a better chance, you can have the player who turns over the note card roll a set of dice.  The amount shown is the amount all the players except the young child needs to count to before accessing their money stash.  You can use multiples of the dice number if you need to make the amount of time higher.

FAMILY GAMES

by Papa

Title: The Backwards Word Game

Summary:

Someone says a word pronouncing it backwards.  The other person guesses what the word is.  For example, if you say "T-A-B" the answer would be "Bat".  This is a great game for kids to learn what letters make what sounds and gives them practice imagining the word in their heads and reading it back.

Recommended Age: 4-6

What you will need:

• Nothing! 
  

Instructions:

1. Take turns who is the speaker and who is the interpretor.  If you have a more than 2 people playing, go around in a circle with the last interpretor switching to speaker.
   
2. You can stick to 1 syllable words for younger kids and move up to multiple syllables gradually.
   

FAMILY GAMES

by Papa

Title: Geography

Summary:

This game is taken from Cam Jansen and the Catnapping Mystery by David A. Adler.  Cam and her friend, Eric, play this game as they walk around town with Cam's parents.  One player says the name of a place (country, state, city) and the next player has to pick the name of a place that starts with the last letter of the previous place.

Recommended Age: 8-10

What you will need:

• Nothing!
  

Instructions:

1. Take turns saying the name of a place.  The name of the next place has to start with the last letter of the previous place.  For example, if the player before you says "Seattle," you have to come up with a place that starts with the letter "e".
   
2. Some letters are more difficult to start with than others.  If you get stumped, look at a map or a globe for some suggestions.  It's a great way to learn about more geographical places.
   

FAMILY GAMES

by Papa

Title: The Map Game

Summary:

Someone hides a "treasure" in a room and draws the location on a map.  The other person uses the map to find it.  This is a great game to teach kids how to use a map.

Recommended Age: 3-7

What you will need:

• Sheet of paper
  
• Pencil
  
• Small toy (we like to use a plastic Easter egg)
  

Instructions:

1. Draw a map of a room.  We've used living rooms, family rooms, and dining rooms.  You can even make a map of a few rooms that are connected.  You can use a pen for this.
   
2. You can label the objects in the drawing if you want to.  We find that it's more fun not to label the objects so that it's not too easy.
   
3. The seeker waits in another room where he or she can't see what the hider is doing.
   
4. The hider hides the special toy somewhere in the room or series of rooms.
   
5. The hider draws a X with a pencil where the treasure is hidden.
   
6. The hider gives the seeker the map.
   
7. The seeker finds the special toy.
   
8. The seeker becomes the hider and the hider becomes the seeker.