Ten simple games for kids

I have had lot of fun playing the games listed below. My six year old calls it mouth games. On those rainy days or while travelling where we could not run around they came very handy for a hyper child. The screen time while lunch of dinner was also taken care of. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

1. Word Antakshari

A game for the time when kids start associating sounds to alphabets. All you have to do is say a word with the letter which the previous word ends with. So if A says "bat", B has to say a word with Alphabet "t" like "train".  A the has to say a word with "n".The only rule is you can't repeat the word some one has already said.

2. Spot the colour

We started playing the as soon as  my kid and his friends were learning colors. I had to say a color and they had to spot anything around with that color. Either you ask the kids one after the other or ask them together and they spot two different things of the same color. I have had my boy ask me also to spot the colors and it's amazing how they notice the colors more than us.

3. What can you see?

We played this while on our way back from pre school. We keep saying what we see in turns. Also, you can't repeat what anybody has said. I realised my boy had noticed things closer to home and he now knew the way back home from the things he could see. I felt we have graduated a lot in this game... from saying I can see cars..we say I can see a silver santro...it increases the number of things you can say.:)

4. Guess?

This one has so many variations and can be played by any one. All you do is give three hints on what you are talking about. Since my kid was totally into animals we started with giving simple hints...1. It has a long neck 2. It has spots in its body 3. It munches  on leaves of trees... slowly the answers became tougher or on the latest fetish for my child.He also started coming up with hints and I had to guess the animal. He is in the "space" phase now, and we give hint about things or people related to space.

5. Ten questions

A game we used to play as teenagers. I was waiting to introduce it to my child. While on on of our raod trips I said, I have thought of an animal you have to guess what it is. The only rule was i will say nothing more than yes no or may be.He started throwing names it didn't help. So he started asking questions. Does it eat grass? Does it live on land? Is it a domestic animal?. Yes, the game is as simple as that. Once the game was in the flow we restricted the number of questions to say ten in number. You could think of a cartoon charachter, famous personalities, super heros, monuments,.....

6. Name game

Best game when kids are eating, cuts screen time. Choose a topic, like boys names and each of you have to keep saying a different name. No repetitions please.
You could also choose an alphabet,  cities, Indian gods, etc.

7. Memory game

I am sure every one has played this game at some point in school life. First we pick up a subject like girls names . Each player  then starts saying a name after repeating what the first one has said .For instance Player A says "radha", player B  has to say radha, and a new name, say he says Dia, player c has to say radha , Dia and a new name. You cannot repeat a name already said while saying a new name. The more the number of players the more fun it is.
Again any subject  can be picked up, animals, cities, etc..

8. One minute game

This is the adrenalin rush game. All you have to do is to name as many say sea animals in one minute. Initially the kids tend forget under pressure but slowly once they get the hang of it they enjoy being the winner and saying more names. Again we picked up the easiest topic first like what do you see. Repeat the same topic atleast five times with your pre schoolers and see what they can come up with.

9. Rhyme this time

My kiddo recently picked up this game at the age of 6.As they start learning rhyming words and framing sentences with it, this game becomes interesting. So we need to make rhyming sentences. Like I say why don't you sit, he says because the shoes doesn't fit, I say but help me a bit, he says I don't have a kit... and so on..
It takes a while but as usual they come up with surprises and lot of funny poems.

10.Dumb charade

Enjoy the game with your kids, just make it their level. You take turns to inact animals, nursery rhymes etc, and the other person has to guess. You cannot say words just enact.

Will come up soon with other games we play at home. Am sure all of you have also played such games with kids. Do add those to the list. It will be exciting to share our experiences.

Enjoy the games and do suggest if there are more such games you have enjoyed playing.