Bored kids - games ideas

[Tinkerbell]

The weather has turned a bit unpleasant, so I thought I'd start a thread re ways of entertaining the children.

1) This game was popular when I was young and my 5 year old granddaughter played a simple form with me last week.

Make a list of 'things'. Could be done on the computer for several games.

Vegetable, flower, transport (make of car even), town, county, country, girl's/boy's names, clothing, tree, animal, bird, fish, film, book etc. - up to about 20.

Then pick a letter of the alphabet and everyone has to write down their answer for each item on the list beginning with that letter. Answers can be hilarious sometimes but it gets the brainbox working and Mum/Dad can do it whilst peeling the spuds. Keep it simple for younger children.


2) Dominoes - very popular with children from the age of 4 upwards.

Tink

[Tormentil]

Reminds me of a game we used to play as kids on a rainy day. You pick a rain drop at the top of the window and watch it as it runs down and joins other rain drops. The first to reach the bottom of the pain won.

Life was simpler in those days.

[nightshade]

One of the motoring organisations is offering games online
bone up on historical places/landmarks on your proposed journey
my children still remember places by battles,hangings,and other
gory historical details, Jamaica Inn-smugglers at Hartland-wrecks
you get the idea,Somerset etc. Civil War,the George at Norton stPhilip

[Paul mabbott]

A good one for car journies combines two of my favourite things. Everyone picks a 'subject' (birds, plants, celestial bodies) and then get a point for each pub they spot with one of their subjects in its name ...

Originally Posted by nightshade

One of the motoring organisations is offering games online
bone up on historical places/landmarks on your proposed journey
my children still remember places by battles,hangings,and other
gory historical details, Jamaica Inn-smugglers at Hartland-wrecks
you get the idea,Somerset etc. Civil War,the George at Norton stPhilip

[Tinkerbell]

Any more ideas on this subject please. I'm making some Christmas 'crackers' and would appreciate a few more games which might be played by the family.

Tinkerbell

[littleT]

I'll have to have a think!!!

I would have suggested the alphabet game, that always goes down well in the car. Well done Tinkerbell.

Name the nursery rhyme - One of them hums it, the other guesses, then they sing it. (Could work with christmas carols).
On long journeys we do, first one to spot a ....... gets a point. Eye spy, using colours as the little one can't spell yet.

The kids have got such imaginations that they usually come up with better game ideas than me, I'll go ask them and see what they can come up with.

[nightshade]

Draw and Make cardboard puppets ,then perform a play that they know from a childrens tale

[Tinkerbell]

Thanks both. Keep 'em coming.

Tinkerbell

[RogerTheCat]

Originally Posted by Tinkerbell

Make a list of 'things'. Could be done on the computer for several games.

I used to play that all the time when i was in school

[Garden Carpet]

My son and I used to play games on holiday..in France we named all the names which told of a profession.. eg boulanager... it can also be played in english.. baker, butcher, cook... etc. We also looked for daft things... woodpiles... either static or on lorries (when they became mobile woodpiles and scored more points).. monkey puzzle trees. renault espace cars, which he used to call s busses . and toyota Space Cruisers. Having them look for things outside the car is good because it tends to keep em from being carsick too. He also wanted me to make sums for him to work out... now that was tiring... another favourite was word association. Recently on holiday with a friend at my sisters in Spain when we had no power three women of a certain age played the Vicars Cat.. and In My Basket.. which became rather unruly when one or other of us forgot the order.. but what fun it was.

jaki

[nightshade]

A simple game that could work is Chinese Whispers,my two boys used to be helpless with laughter

[cannylad]

Shoebox with a few different size holes in it numbers above and a few marbles hours of fun. thing is kids have powerful imaginations, my lad and me used to spend hours with pens and paper designing alphabet animals, imaginary secret camps, homemade quizzes.
the secret for me was to lose my adult take on life.

[Jane_Russell]

Flap-flap, Ding-ding.

A little known game played mostly for the annoyance caused to parents. The idea is to be the first person to spot either a telephone box (they were old fashioned red things when I was a child) or a letter box. The person spotting the object says flap-flap for a post box or ding-ding for a phone box. One point for each object won and extra points to the person who gets either parent to yell "ENOUGH"

Jane

[Duke of York]

When I was a kid and going on a car journey. my brothers and sister and I used to pick a car colour and see who could see the most of that colour.

My partner Jenny used to play animal, vegetable or mineral where someone had to think of an object and the first question had to be animal, vegetable or mineral.

[littleT]

Originally Posted by cannylad

Shoebox with a few different size holes in it numbers above and a few marbles hours of fun. thing is kids have powerful imaginations, my lad and me used to spend hours with pens and paper designing alphabet animals, imaginary secret camps, homemade quizzes.
the secret for me was to lose my adult take on life.

Marbles - That one was one of my favourites. We'd cut little arches of different sizes in an upturned shoe box. If you got the marble through the small ones you scored big points.

Christmas ideas - How many chocolates are left on the tree?
Guess the presents - the best time to get ideas of what the kids really want if you still haven't got them enough (or save the ideas for a birthday or next year).

2006 - Christmas quiz
How many christmas trees did asda sell and have to recall this year because of electrical faults.
(saw it on the news and I don't actually recall the answer)
Could be used as a cracker fact instead of a joke.

Paper snow flakes - fold the paper, cut the holes and see how many different patterns you can make, which are your favourite etc. (Warning: This activity can leave you with lots of tiny bits of paper that you could be finding for weeks to come!!)

Peg dolly nativity characters - kids really love the crafty things especially if they relate to topics they are studying in school. Therapeautic too.

[Imaginos]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

A good one for car journies combines two of my favourite things. Everyone picks a 'subject' (birds, plants, celestial bodies) and then get a point for each pub they spot with one of their subjects in its name ...

Used to play a variation on this called pub cricket-every pub on your side of the road either scores you runs or loses you wickets. You score runs for every leg on the pub name (red lion scores you 4, wagon & horses scores 4 times the number of horses on the sign) If the name has no legs (Plough & Harrow, the Trout etc.) you lose a wicket, if the pub name is related to the head (Queen's head, Crown etc.) you get a wicket back (OK it's not quite like cricket). The winner is the one with the best score for his/her ten wickets.
My dad always had to slow down when we passed pubs like the Fox & Hounds so we could count exactly how many hounds were on the sign

[littleT]

My kids are off ill today and have spent the morning cutting up the argos and other christmas mags choosing toys etc. Sticking them on large pieces of card ready for santa to collect when he comes round in the float in a couple of weeks.

I've dug out last years christmas cards and we plan on spending the afternoon making gift tags with them.