Board & card games

There is a myriad of games and puzzles available for kids of all ages or you can make your own.

• Classic board games available from major retailers and toys stores.

• Jigsaw puzzles can be found as simple wooden shapes for toddlers, amazing 5,000 piece puzzles and even 3D puzzles. You can also cut up a drawing or pictures from magazines to make your own jigsaws.

Mazes, crosswords, word searches, puzzles and brain teasers can be found online, in newspapers and magazines, or in puzzle books.

Games

Kids don’t always need toys or other items to play with. Simple classic games such as the following are quick and easy to play when you have a small amount of time between other activities. Also see our website list and let us know of other games to add.

• 20 questions - one or more people can ask up to 20 questions which only require a yes or no answer, to guess a person, place or object that the person being questioned is thinking about.

• Hide and seek – one person counts to a particular number, or waits a set time while one or more other people hide. Once the time is up, the person counting calls out “ready or not, here I come” then sets off to seek those who are hiding. The first person found gets to be the seeker next.

• I spy – one person says “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with the letter….”. They select any item which is in view of all players and say the first letter of that item. The first person to guess gets to “eye-spy” next.

• Lost and found  - similar to hide and seek, but instead an object is hidden and one or more players need to go and find it. The person who finds the object gets to hide it or something else next. As the players move farther away from or closer to the hidden object, the hider can call out “cold”, “cool”, “warm” or “hot”.

• Peek a boo – infants enjoy a parent or carer coming out of “hiding”. Hold you hands together to cover your face and say “where’s mummy?” then move your hands apart and say “peek-a-boo”. This can be done from behind hands, a blanket, book or door.

• Simon Says – one person get’s to be “Simon” or that person’s own name can be used. Other players must follow all instructions preceded by “Simon says” such as “Simon says hop on one foot” or “Simon says touch your knees”. A player is “out” if they follow an instruction not first preceded by “Simon says” such as “Touch your head”. The last person “out” gets to be Simon next.

• What’s the time Mr Wolf? – one person plays the “wolf” who stands facing a wall or fence with their back to the other players. Several other players stand several metres away behind a marked or imaginary line. The game starts with the players calling out “what’s the time Mr Wolf? Mr Wolf’s response will be any whole number from 1-12 o’clock. That number then dictates how many steps forward the group takes. So if Mr Wolf say 5 o’clock, the group take 5 steps forward towards Mr Wolf. When Mr Wolf has decided that the group has gotten close enough, instead of saying a time he calls out “it’s time to eat you”, turns around and chases the group back to the starting line. The first person caught then becomes Mr Wolf.