Children have more free time than usual over the Christmas season. School holidays last for over two weeks, and if the weather is not too good, we have to be able to stop being at home from becoming boring or unpleasant for them.
In today’s post we will give you some tips to keep your children busy on cold and rainy days, when you just can’t go out to play.
Games for children up to 3 years old
- Building blocks
Playing with children at building blocks, putting them in order, classifying them and putting them on top of each other has numerous benefits. We promote their skill and improve their fine motor movements. Little children start to be aware of volumes, shapes, textures … and learn skills like organization. This type of game is adaptable to age, and as our children grow and can do more with the blocks, it becomes more complicated and can be just as entertaining for them once they are 3 years old or even more.
There are plenty of options on the market for this kind of toy, but for this age group it’s much better to choose natural materials (wood, cloth, cardboard etc.).
- Who am I?
Playing at imitating animals is not just something that children love, but it also has a very important educational function: it favours the development of language and helps them differentiate among sounds.
It’s a really simple game – each member of the family imitates an animal and the others have to guess which one it is. Whoever guesses first is the next one to imitate an animal and so on.
Games for children aged 3 to 6
- Houses
At this stage of their development children need to play with things that help them create their own worlds, contributing to reinforcing their imagination and creativity.
Get a cardboard box and you will see that it is a magnificent option for playing. You will help your children develop motor skills and show them what symbolic games are.
The box can be a house, and also a car, a castle … with colours and scissors you can turn it into whatever you want, and give free rein to their imagination!
- Shall we dress up?
When children dress up, they are living out their fantasies, which is very beneficial for their emotional health.
This symbolic game is also ideal for helping children express their feelings. Many therapists use this method to eradicate relational problems and distant fears.
You can go for ready-made fancy dresses or clothes that you have at home – this second proposal always works, they love dressing up as the grown-ups at home.
Games for children over 6 years old
- Word chains
Who hasn’t played at word chains? This helps improve children’s vocabulary and their memory too. Each player says a word, which has to start with the last letter of the previous word, generally within a category. So for example, if someone says “soup” the next word could be “potatoes”, the next one “sugar” and so on. If a player doesn’t come up with a word in the time limit, he is eliminated.
- I went to the market and bought…
This is very similar to the previous game and puts children’s memories to the test. Someone starts the game by saying “I went to the market and I bought a lettuce”, the next player has to repeat this and add something else on: “I went to the market and bought a lettuce and some carrots” and so on. If someone forgets one of the products he is eliminated.
The most important thing is to choose the right games for our children’s age and preferences, as we said in our earlier post tips for choosing toys for children.
Would you like to share with us your favourite family games for playing at home? We’ll be waiting for you in the comments!
