Homemade games for children 

We give you some ideas about how to make homemade games for children with materials that we all have at home. Have fun and recycle with the little ones of the family.

child care

Share


It's not easy having everyone at home every day, parents teleworking and doing household chores and children being asked, constantly, to behave, when what they really need is to be outside, playing with friends and running free. That’s why, as well as establishing routines and timetables for the coming days, we should keep them calm and entertained.

Homemade boardgames for children

Apart from traditional boardgames like ‘parchís’, the game of the goose or any card game, we can also make some homemade games which, as well as helping us to pass time, will be another activity to do with the little ones of the family.


  1. Homemade Tetris. Make a board with cells and columns like a Tetris grid using cardboard. Then, get sheets of paper and cut them into the different shapes of the Tetris counters, trying to ensure the pieces are the same size as the cells you drew onto the cardboard, and colour them in.  That way you can set a timer and each member of the family has to place the counters to fit inside the board.  
  2. Noughts and crosses. Get a piece of cardboard or a shoe box that you have at home. Cut the base of the box, this will be used as the board. You can line it to give it a personal touch.  With a ruler, draw the noughts and crosses grid onto the base. Then make 6 counters with the rest of the board. You can make three of one shape and 3 of another. If you choose round ones, colour 3 in one colour and 3 in another.
  3. Homemade bingo. With bottle tops you can make the numbers of the bingo machine and use sheets of paper or cardboard for the bingo cards. If you have small children, you don’t need to do up to 90, you can use the numbers they know up to. Then put the bottle tops in a bag and play!



4. Glass races. If you have plastic cups and straws at home, you can use sticky tape to draw out lanes on the floor which include a start and finish line. The games consists of each player using the straw to blow the plastic cup without leaving their lane until they reach the finish line.
.

5. Treasure hunt. Draw a map of various rooms in the house and place some things you all like in a box that you already have at home, this will be the treasure.  Then, make clues with some sheets of paper and give them to the children so they can find the treasure.  

6.  Plant lentils and other seeds you have at home. It’s very simple, you only need a container, it can be a plastic cup, the seed or lentil and wet cotton wool. Leave the wet cotton wool inside the container and place the lentil in the middle. In a few days, you will see a new plant grow.

7. Make homemade slime. It is a very simple activity, fun and they will also love it. Slime is a viscous mass that stretches, shrinks and sticks. You can see the step by step of how to do it in this article.

8. Make a homemade twister. You only need a piece of material, an old sheet will do, fabric paint or otherwise coloured paper or white paper to paint. You should draw four columns with five circles. Whilst it dries, make a wheel. Draw two concentric circles and divide them into four straight angles with the help of a compass so they are exact. In turn, divide each section into four more sections for each one of the colours. Paint the legend and place the stick and the tack or butterfly fastener, adjusting it so it spins properly.

9. Card games. Little ones love games like cinquillo (Spanish sevens) or Cheat.

10. Exercise as a family. Choose a time slot and set it aside to do sport together. You can do it through YouTube videos or with a mobile app.