Play these quick and easy games with your kids

A New Character in the Story!

(Players: 2 to 3)

Getting Ready: 1. Choose a time of the day when there is not much noise in the surrounding. | 2. Keep a storybook ready

Resources Required: 1. Undivided attention | 2. Time | 3. A storybook

How to Play: 1. Present a number to all the readers. | 2.  Read one part of the story aloud to the child. | 3.  Invite the next reader to read the next part of the story and so on.

Tickle the Thoughts: 1. Ask the child how many characters were there in the story. | 2.  Invite the child to retell the story in his or her own words. | 3.  Ask the child to introduce one more fictitious character in the story and describe the newly introduced character.

Goals Achieved: Concentration | Vocabulary building | Sequence of words | Plot building | Taking turns | Team work

TICK-TACK TIPS

1. You can build the story sentence by sentence.
2. Keep the sentences short and simple.

Cartographers!

(Players: 2 to 3)

Getting Ready: 1.  Keep a full-sized chart paper and a pen ready. |2.  Place a few toys, clothes in a particular corner of a room.

Resources Required: 1. A full-sized chart paper | 2. A pen

Method: 1. Invite a player to draw a simple map of the child’s room, living room, or the backyard. | 2.  Mark out the location of some of the things kept in the room on the map such as a toy or game that you have placed in a particular corner of the room.

How to Play: Ask another player to find the toys using the map.

Tickle the Thoughts: 1. What do you think these markings (pointing towards the markings you have made) on the chart paper indicate? | 2.  Who do you think made the first map? | 3.  What do you think these lines on the map represent? | 4.  Where are these lines on the earth? | 5.  If you were to travel by sea route, where will the lines be? | How would you find your way at night if you are travelling by sea? | 6.  Who was Vasco da Gama?

Goals Achieved: Spatial thinking |Representational thinking

TICK-TACK TIPS

1. As the child gets more comfortable using simple maps, encourage them to make their own maps.
2. Take the child outdoors for cycling and encourage them to observe the roads and later make the roadmaps.
   Also Read: 10 fun learning games to play with your toddler

I Went to the Park and I…!

(Players: 8 to 10)

Resources Required: 1. A visit to the garden | 2. A rug

Getting Ready: Keep some extra time to visit the nearby park.

How to Play: 1. Once you are back home from the park, ask the children to sit on a rug and begin the game by saying, ‘I went to the park and I climbed a tree.’ | 2. The neighbouring player says, ‘I went to the park and played in the sand, and I climbed a tree.’ | 3. The next player says, ‘I went to the park and played on the swing.I played in the sand and I climbed a tree.’ | 4. The game continues in a circle with everyone trying to remember all the activities they did. | 5. The player who forgets the chain of activities is eliminated.

Tickle the Thoughts: When the game is over, ask the players who said what.

Goals Achieved: Concentration | Listening skills | Sequencing

TICK-TACK TIP: To further increase the level of complexity, increase the length of sentence.

Secret Dictionary!

(Players: 2 to 3)

Getting Ready: Keep a dictionary your child is likely to use and papers and pens for each player ready.

Resources Required: 1. Your child’s dictionary | 2. Papers and pens

How to Play: Take the child’s dictionary and write a secret message on a paper.

How to Write a Secret Message: Look into the dictionary and replace every word of the message with the preceding word in the dictionary. For example, if your message is, ‘Surprise under your pillow’, the message to be written could be: ‘Surplus undeniable youngster pillory’.

Tickle the Thoughts: 1. Would you like to make a secret message for your partner? | 2.  What message would you like to convey?

Goals Achieved: Enhanced vocabulary | Word search | Reading skills

TICK-TACK TIP:

Change the format of the secret message. For example, replace the ‘preceding’ word to the word that follows the actual word in the message such as: If the message is: ‘Surprise under your pillow’, the message can be written as, ‘Surreal underachieve you’re pillowcase’.

(Excerpted with permission from Super Child! Unlocking the Secrets of Working Memory by Gayatri Kalra Sehgal, published by Rupa Publications.)