Homemade Fun Games

Board Games

• Board games don't have to be store bought. If you have a pen and poster board or paper, you can design your own game. Draw a pattern of squares on the board in a design of your choosing. Mark certain squares with instructions to send players backward or forward a specified number of squares. Other squares can tell players to swap places with other players or go back to the beginning. Use small household items such as thimbles, pennies, buttons, etc. for markers. If you do not have dice, make cards out of paper to draw. Mark each card with a number. The number on the card tells players how many spaces to move.

Matching Games

• Anyone can make matching games, and there are many ways to make them entertaining. The more pictures that are in the matching game, the harder the game is to complete (which will make it last longer). Turn the game into a team activity or award points for each pair of pictures cleared. Draw out the pictures yourself, use two decks of cards, or print out clip art on the computer. For an interesting twist to the matching game, glue the pictures to paper plates. Throw the plates out into the yard like Frisbees and have the kids race to find the most matches.

Scavenger Hunts

• One of the simplest games to make up is a scavenger hunt. It requires very little supplies and is limited only by the imagination of the person making up the list of clues. To improve on the basic game of hunting down items on a list, make up clues instead of actually naming the items. Another twist is to give the names of the items, but hide all but the first clue. The first clue then leads to the second clue, which leads to the third clue, etc. until the item is finally revealed.

Balloons

• A simple balloon can give you several games in one, and it is a good way to play energetically inside, without damaging anything. A simple balloon game is volleyball over a coffee table or child's bed. A wacky game of balloon ping pong is also fun because players cannot predict if the balloon will actually go in the direction they want it to. Another activity is to take turns hitting the balloon in the air to see how many times each child can hit it in the air before it gets away from him.