5 on the spot games to keep your kids engaged and having fun
A few years ago I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear and it kind of changed my life. Not only did it inspire me to take the leap and start this blog, but it also made me look at how I can apply the concept of creative living to ALL areas of my life.
There was a time when I spent most evenings scrolling on my phone. By the end of the day, I was just done. I would turn on a movie and cross my fingers hoping for a few minutes of peace.
After reading Gilbert’s book I had a little mind shift. I asked myself, “What if this were fun?” And I’m not just talking about the playdates or the trips to the park or museum, but what if the in-between times were fun too?
What if dinner time, driving to school, and lazy afternoons weren’t so boring? What if instead of dreading these transitions we made them interesting?
The phrase “creative parenting” kept coming to mind.
I am by no stretch of the imagination a “Pinterest mom,” but I do consider myself a pretty creative parent. I love surprising the kids with a question or a challenge to get their brains thinking.
I’d be willing to bet you play these kinds of games with your kids all the time… when you have the energy. I’d encourage you to bust them out when things are just bordering on stressful or you can feel a tantrum or sibling squabble coming. When I started regularly playing these little games with the kids, my action changed my attitude… and it changed theirs as well.
Guidelines when choosing a game.
- No supplies
- Somewhat education
- Easy to modify for different ages
- Gets them talking
Here are 5 on-the-spot game you can play with your kids to keep them engaged and having fun.
Synonym game
Choose a common word like “tall” or “soft” and ask the child to come up with synonyms for that word. If your child is learning to write narratives in school words like “said” and “look” are great. It gets them thinking about more interesting ways to write their own stories or journals.
$.25 cent word game
I got this from one of my college professors. She didn’t actually hand out quarters, but
For my purposes, I try and catch the kids using words that are just beyond their vocabulary level. Then I give them a quarter. They have to use the word in a sentence that fits the context of what we are talking about.
For instance, my kindergartener was playing and ran by me with a blanket tied around her neck and said, “I am hiding behind my cloak.” and then wiped the blanket around secrete spy style so only her eyes were showing. Aside from it being adorable, she used the word “cloak” instead of “cape.”
It’s most effective when you can hand over the quarter right away so I try and keep a stash in a few places in the house and in the car.
Starts with game
Choose a category and a letter. Then have the child name something within that category that starts with the letter.
For example, “Name an animal that starts with the letter, B.” See how many they can come up with. You can also take it up a notch by having the child spell the word.
Antonym game
Similar to the synonym game except now we are asking for the opposite. I do challenge them to find a true opposite. So If I ask for the opposite of “dark” and they say, “shiny” I would tell them that would be the opposite of dull.
Both the synonym game and the antonym game are great ways to learn new vocabulary words for the $.25 cent game. For instance my 2nd grader came up with minuscule as the opposite of big and a few days later earned a quarter for saying in a sentence.
Creative Parenting
Living creatively doesn’t always have to mean you are an Artist with a capital A. It just means that while moving through life you are allowing your curiosity to lead the way. Children do this naturally, but adults have to be reminded that even the most simple of tasks can be done creatively.
It’s hard to want to be engaged when you’ve got a mountain of things to do and your little ones seem to need something from you every two minutes. When I feel like this I try and remind myself I’m here anyway, I might as well enjoy it.
I still have my lazy days and from time to time the TV is on during dinner, but I’m so much more intentional about it now.
Have you played any of these games with your kids? Do you have any others you’d like to share? Drop a comment below I’d love to hear about it.
As always, If you enjoyed this and want to follow along please consider subscribing.
