Do any of you use HOME-MADE educational games with your preschool children?

Question

I made over 1000 educational games while homeschooling my three children. However, I started when they were past preschool ages. I am now making games for my grandsons and would love ideas that others have made.

Answer 1

I don't know how you would create a game to make this fit, but when the kids and I had auto trips, I would make a comment about something and they would have to decide weather it was true or "Daddy bologna" :)

When we got home, they would have to research the answer. It could be the number of shoes in a closet, or results of a game, or the number of a given letter in a street sign. They really enjoyed it and both later became good researchers.

Answer 2

A couple things that are REALLY easy..  Take the large popsickle stick/tongue depressor like stick and glue it to a cardboard paper plate to make a "bat".  Then hang a balloon with string from the doorjam or a ceiling.  It should be at or near shoulder level.  My son thought this was the best homemade toy.  He could practice batting a ball in the house.

The other thing you can do is cut a cereal box in different shapes and have the child put it together.

Again, these are really simple and inexpensive, but kids don't mind.

Answer 3

Concentration or memory-type games using matching pairs of photos of family members.

Answer 4

Yes, I have made many, many games for my children. Simple things like Sight Word Go Fish, Bingo, etc., to more complicated board game type things.

I've made file folder games for visual discrimination and  trinkets in opaque film canisters for auditory discrimination.

I've made my own sight word/emergent readers - some with clipart, others with photos of my children (they like those the best.) I've made math games for just about every holiday/monthly theme based on a book called "More than Counting" which I found to be very interesting.

I've gone even further and made powerpoint presentations and turned them into videos which I've burned onto a dvd to play on the tv. Those are so much fun...but alot alot alot of work. I did one called "Color Kids" which went through all the colors, showed a photo of my child in that color, had little animations in that color, and had print across the bottom which said "Bethany in pink" (or whatever color she was in.) I recorded my voice for the presentation, so it was quite entertaining, and she is 4 now and still loves to watch it. I also did a short story about her and her brother building her first snowman...and another about nursery rhymes (that one I never finished.)

I think my favoite part about preschool/homeschooling, is not just being in charge of what my child is learning...but getting to create a curriculum tailored especially to them! Thankfully God saw fit to bless me with the gift of creativity! Oh what fun!

Answer 5

I am sure that you already have everything that I can think of, but here's a try:  

Alphabet, Numbers, Colors w/photos of objects seperate (play go fish or memory)

Candyland type w/ numbers, colors, alphabet (out of file folders)

Here are a few sites with file folder games, gotta love them because they are cheap and easy to make!

http://www.webeans.net/hutt/ffgames.htm

http://www.myffgames.com/

http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filef...

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art2...

Good Luck!

Answer 6

finding something to bead onto string.. can be fun, can be used to help with counting, patterns (different colours)