Games for Children In Home Day Care

Cooperation Games

• Cooperative games focus on young children working together, rather than winning. A cooperative version of musical chairs removes one chair after each round, but the goal is to get the children to cooperate and share fewer and fewer chairs. Only chairs -- not players -- are eliminated, and the children must increasingly squeeze together and pile upon one another to fit everyone on the chairs. The game ends when all of the children can no longer fit on the remaining chairs. Ball bounce involves children all holding the edges of a sheet or table cloth and bouncing a ball in the middle. The goal is to see how many times they can bounce the ball before it lands on the ground.

Outdoor Learning Games

• The outdoors offer a sensory smorgasbord for young children. You can make a game to help them along in their curiosity by giving them a bag with a few things they could use as exploratory tools. A comb might help them sift through sand or dirt, while a clear container could hold bugs or vegetation samples. Let the children discover how to use their tools. Another game is a scavenger hunt where the child receives a collection of shapes and sets out to match those shapes in the natural environment. Colors can be substituted for shapes.

Indoor Games

• When the children must stay inside you can use games to keep them from becoming rowdy. A touch table is a fun way for children to learn new ways to explore their environment. Place random items on a table -- anything from peanut butter to sand to an action figure -- and blindfold the children. Ask them to identify the objects by feel. Another game takes advantage of children's love of imitation. Ask them to imitate animals or anything else that moves, such as a train or airplane.

End of Day Games

• Help children calm down and mentally prepare to leave day care. A good way is to play "freeze" several minutes before the end of each day. Whatever they are doing, when you say "freeze," the children must stay still. Once the children are still and have your attention, announce the cleanup game. The children can act like their favorite animal as they clean, have a countdown and try to break their old cleaning record, or close your eyes and ask them to surprise you with a clean room.