The other day a friend asked me what games we play at home, since he was looking for a gift for his daughter.  

Since I told him already what we play with our 5 year old at home. It was only a little effort to share it with you as well.

Some of these games are not only fun for your children they are also great for our seniors to keep their mind, problem solving and fine motoric skills in shape.

Bear Bells

For last year’s christmas performance at the music school of our daughter, she had to play 3 desk bells to match with the song they were singing. We got a cute “Bear Bell Set” for her to practice at home and in the meantime the set is on her desk and she practises every day her all time favorite ‘O Christmas Tree’. This helps your children  with the early music childhood education and introduce music to them.

Balloon / Soft Ball

As our apartment is quite narrow and everywhere is something standing around and also our cat has her sleeping place in our living/dining area we start playing football or handball with a very soft leather ball and when it gets too exciting we change the ball for a balloon. This supports beside hand eye respective foot eye coordination some exercise when you are at home.

Coloring Book

As most girls who have seen Disney’s Frozen, she loves to color Anne, Elsa, Christop, Sven and Olaf. Coloring helps your children with their fine motoric skills, hand eye coordination and teaches how to hold a pen or pencil. 

Puzzle

Another favorite of our daughter are Puzzles with her favorite characters. We have puzzles with 49, 60 and 104 pieces and the ones with more pieces are prefered. Most of the time  when we are puzzling she picks a piece up, where I can barely recognize what it is and she just puts them at the right place. This is also great for playing with grandpa and grandma and trains as well their hand eye coordination, fine motoric skills and concentration.

DIY bracelets and necklaces

After that I got a few different pearls, hooks and rubber bands from a handicraft shop, we are quite well equipped and it’s fun to make some as a little gift for her friends, grandparents, mom and herself. Playing with pearls supports your children’s fine motor skills and hand eye coordination and you can wear everyday a different bracelet or necklace.

Board Games

What we can play for hours in the family at the weekend is Labyrinth. After getting hooked over Christmas at my mom’s place, our daughter got quite well in pushing the cards carefully over the board.  Find the right way through the labyrinth and move to the next item. During the last weeks she improved her play so much that I really need to pay attention in order to keep up with her.

First Game Collections

Actually we have two first game collections. “My First Game Treasures” and “4 First Games”. Both collections are great and also quite suitable to keep our grandparents busy and train their memory and fine motoric skills as well. 

Funny Bunny

As the standard rules are too common our daughter set up her own rules about how we should play the game. And the biggest fun is when your child is twisting the carrot and your  bunny falls in the trap.

Memory

You guess what theme is the favorite of our daughter? No this time it comes in only in 2nd place. Her favorites are the cute animals from the “My First Game Treasures” collections and I always need to barter my rabbit and cat cards. And who wins most rounds, correct it’s her. How about your memory are your children beating you as well on a regular basis?

The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game

This is a game we play already for a long time and will still get it out at least once per week and train the fine motoric skills as well the hand eye coordination of your child.

These games are great to support the development of your children, because they train not only one skill at the time, they even keep your children happy and busy for hours without getting bored.