make a butterfly matching game

For this super easy matching game you will need to plan ahead to source out your wood discs. I've purchased discs from Amazon, Michael's, and etsy in the past. Stickers were found at a local craft store but you can find them here (I should probably sign up for an affiliate dealio).

Decide on how many pairs you want to make (I did 12 as I only had 24 discs) and get to sticking. Make sure you have 2 of each image.

That's it! I have found that stickers stick best to wood base as is. They stick a little less when the disc has been painted. You can also go over the disc with a coat of mod podge but so far these have stuck and the children know they are not to get wet. I've been gifting sets like this to the kiddos in my life for eons! There have been butterflies, owls, halloween stickers, colored dots, rollerskates, and so much more!

make a colorwheel from a lazy-susan

We made a color wheel!

The first thing we did was talk about the colors in a rainbow. I pulled out the mystery bag (more about that later) and we played with the items within by sorting and discussing what we found. With each color we discovered, I would name it as a primary color or a secondary color. Sometimes I would describe two colors as being complimentary if they were. When it became art time, we gathered at the art table and got to painting.

 

 

 

We began with primary colors and then we worked on secondary colors. We worked with one sheet of paper between two children. Each child used a different primary color to paint with. As they painted and their brushes mingled their colors began to blend and change. The expressions on their faces were priceless!

Once the papers were all dry. I pulled out our thrifted lazy-susan and made a circle template. Having completely forgotten how to divide a circle into sixths I finally settled on folding the circle into quarters then opening it into a half. From there I folded one side of the half circle in towards the center then the other side over that, kind of like when you are folding paper to make a snowflake. Once opened, the circle showed six parts. I cut our the parts and used those as templates for the colors on the color wheel.

 

Cut a large-enough sheet of clear contact paper for your soon-to-be circle and peel backing paper off. Place contact paper sticky side up and place your red triangle on top. Continue connecting your triangles until you have a circle; make sure yo place your triangles in color-wheel order. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple and back to Red. My circle was a little short so I cut some more red and layered it down.

Once your color-wheel is complete, add another sheet of clear contact paper over the top of your wheel and tape down onto the lazy-susan using loops of masking tape. Using a lazy-susan will turn your wheel into a game, you of course, do not need one.

To make a color game, I filled a shallow basket with items in colors on our color wheel and put out a small handmade dice with all the colors on it. The children took turns rolling, selecting, and placing.

I also left it all out on a table and let the children play with it as they wished. From simply turning the wheel to make all the items fly off to playing the game as is or to making up their own game, it was quite a hit!

Holiday Fun: Edible Memory Game

  I was hopping around the internet this morning when I came across this happy, lovely round up on Tatertots & Jello. I thought to myself "how brilliant!" and immediately clicked on over to Shindig Parties To Go to see that what I thought was an edible memory game was really a bunch of happy in a jar (which is also pretty nifty). So...taking a cue I thought "why not?" and so I present to you an edible memory game, perfect for Hanukkah, Christmas and most any other holiday.

Materials

*1 bag of wrapped flat bottomed candies (like Kisses or Patties or Hanukkah Coins)

*Printable sheet from Shindig Parties To Go, round stickers, labels or a handy decorative punch

*assorted paper for decorative punch

Dump out bag of candies. I used world coins from here. They are nice and flat and perfect for my scalloped paper punch.

Count out an even number of coins and punch out paper bits. I had 24 coins so needed 12 different prints of paper.

Smother paper bits with glue stick and place one each onto a chocolate coin or candy. You can also print out your own designs on round sticky labels or use happy holiday stickers.

 

 

 

Flip over and play a coupe of rounds. Save this for a party and the kiddos can keep the candy they "win".  Candies can be stashed into handmade bags like these! Happy Holidays!

From the Archives: Extending Easter Goodies

Make a memory game! That is, if you actually have any jelly beans left.

memory game in action

I had to do a Piaget Interview for my cognition class and decided to use jelly beans as the main ingredient. I interviewed the kidlets on conservation, ego-centrism and problem solving. We had a blast but maybe it was the jelly beans.

For the problem solving part of the interview, we played the memory game with the egg halves. I thought that maybe it would be too easy for the eight year olds but as it turned out, it was just hard enough and the five year old made enough matches to sing and dance too. Check it out:

Egg Memory Game

If you celebrate Easter, you most probably have oodles of those plastic egg bits floating about your home. Most of your eggs are probably a mish-mash of mixed up pieces which is perfect for this memory game. All you need is an even number of egg halves and pairs of matching items to hide under the halves.We used jelly-beans (FYI, Gimbal's jelly beans are peanut free, gluten-free, dairy-free & gelatin free!) and twelve eggs. It makes for twenty-four game pieces. The eggs we had were originally hinged but we snapped them apart but shhh, don't tell anyone!

scrumdilly-do it!

Set up your game on a clean kitchen table or on the floor on a clean solid colored mat or cloth. You can of course use a print but it makes it harder to see the jelly beans. Make sure your wee one's aren't peeking as you order out those pairs in a grid format.If your wee ones are quite young, match up each pair with a like-colored egg half. For instance, the red beans will have pink halves over them, the yellow will have yellow halves and so on. for your older tots, go a little mix crazy. Some will catch on right quick but it still makes for a fun game!Once the game is set up, let your kidlets go for it! The pieces you use can be eaten up by your tots which of course will call for a brand-new batch when they're ready for another round. You can also use buttons, stickers, beads, colored pasta, shaped pasta, etc. If you don;t have plastic eggs, whip out some tiny paper cups, cupcake liners or nut cups. Either way, make sure it's fun! Happy almost Easter!

A heartfelt memory game for you to make

Make a lovely memory game!You will need:
*cardboard (a cereal box would work just dandy)
*a heart shaped template (you can draw this yourself)
*large sheet of gift wrap or fabric or construction paper for the backs
*spray adhesive, heat n bond, mod podge, etc.
*variety of printed papers or fabric such as origami for your pairs
*scissors and/or blade
*pen
This is a project for you to make for your kidlets. An older child may be willing to help or create it as well. But it takes a little time to finish. There is a lot of cutting involved, unless you own a Cricut, which I don't but wish I did.

Create your heart template by either tracing a large heart shaped cookie cutter or drawing one free style. You can also cut one from paper like I did. It doesn’t matter how heart shaped or wonky it may be, this will be your template for the entire game. Make it large enough for your wee ones to easily see it but not so large that you have exhausted your supply of cereal boxes. About three inches across at its widest point is good.Using your template, trace a minimum of twelve hearts onto your cardboard. Make as many as you have a variety of papers for the backs. Always make an even number so that you have two of each print/paper backs. Make an odd number of pairs if you want your game to have a "winner".Flip your cardboard over so that the hearts are facing down. Adhere your large sheet of gift wrap or fabric to the “blank” side using your choice of adhesive. A spray adhesive is the fastest. My paper is a little see-thru but as long as your kidlets aren't savvy enough to spot the differences, it's good to go. if you like, you can add two layers of paper. That spray adhesive really comes in handy!Once dry, cut out your hearts. Don't they look happy?Now it is time to gather your materials for your pairs. You will need two hearts per pattern. You can use solid colors, prints, words, or fabric. It is up to you. Adhere each print to two hearts making sure not to cover the backing pattern. I used mod podge for this and it went pretty quick. Don’t try to match up heart shapes to heart shapes. Simply adhere a swatch to each heart. To dry, layer your cards-to-be on wax paper and pop a heavy box or cutting board on top to keep your hearts from curling. If any glue leaks out the sides, it won't stick to the wax paper. Once dry, trim off the excess. You now have a nifty hearth shaped memory game!