The holiday season is here! Now's the time to gather with family and friends to celebrate the season and create memories. As you do, consider how games can bring you closer to the people that you care about the most and help your children learn and grow.
Read on to learn about free games that you can play with family and friends this holiday season. We'll also share games that can be fun and educational holiday gifts for young children.
Playing Games Is a Lot of Fun for Young Children (It's a Great Learning Opportunity for Them, Too)
The power of play is significant. To understand why, consider Simon Says, which is free to play at any time and benefits children in a variety of ways.
When children play Simon Says, they listen and follow instructions. This promotes cognitive skills like attention, self-control, and memory. At the same time, children are encouraged to communicate and cooperate with their peers and the adults playing with them. They're also encouraged to let their creative juices flow as they come up with unique commands to give others when they play the role of Simon.
For example, the player acting as Simon can say something like, "Simon says: Grab your right ear." The players listening to Simon will then have to grab their right ear to continue in the game.
However, if the player acting as Simon gives a command without saying "Simon says" at the beginning, any players who follow the command are out of the game until the next round.
The last player left to listen to Simon is the winner and becomes the new Simon in the next round.
There's a lot to like about many other free games that people of all ages can enjoy during the holiday season, such as:
- Hangman, which can help a child strengthen their vocabulary, memory, and recall.
- Charades, which can improve a child's communication skills and emotional intelligence through non-verbal expression. For children who can't read, you can play charades by purchasing or making cards with pictures to let them know what to act out.
- I Spy, which can foster a child's attention, memory, and other cognitive and language skills and social skills like turn-taking and following instructions. With this game, one player acts as the "spy" who chooses an object visible to everyone around them and uses "I spy with my little eye" phrases to give other players clues as to what it could be. For example, the spy may say, "I spy with my little eye something green." Other players will guess the object, and the first one who's correct becomes the spy for the next round.
- 20 Questions, which can improve a child's problem-solving and critical-thinking skills and promote a growth mindset. With this game, one player thinks of a person, place, or thing, and other players can ask up to 20 yes or no questions as they try to figure out the answer. If a player asking questions gets the right answer, they get to come up with the next person, place, or thing and have others ask questions of them. Or, if no one figures out the answer in 20 questions, the player receiving the questions shares the answer, and in the next round, another player receives questions.
- Sardines, Tired of hide and seek? Play Sardines. With this, one person hides, and everyone else searches for them. Once you find the person who's hiding, you hide with them until the last person tracks down the group.
If you want to take your gaming experience up a level this holiday season, there are games that you can put together from scratch that'll allow you to do just that.
DIY Holiday Games That You Can Enjoy at Home
Below, we've put together a list of fun, family-friendly holiday games that you can make on your own, won't take long to set up, and won't break your budget:
- The Flour Game: Put a mound of flour on a plate with a coin or piece of candy on top. Each player uses a spoon to remove flour until the coin or candy falls.
- Balloon Volleyball: Play this game by using a balloon as the volleyball and placing a piece of string or tape across a room to serve as the net.
- Tic Tac Toe: Use a piece of cardboard for the tic tac toe board and coins or buttons as game pieces.
- Minute to Win It Challenges: Participants can compete against one another by stacking cups, moving items with a straw, or other one-minute challenges.
Give the Gift of Games for the Holidays
Searching for the perfect holiday gift for a young child? Here are games to consider for children 3 and up:
- The Ladybug Game: Invented by a first-grader, this game allows children to guide their Ladybug home to the Rose Garden. Along the way, children have plenty of opportunities to learn to count and read.
- Candy Land: This "sweet" game is great for teaching young children to take turns and requires no reading or number recognition, simply color matching. You can also practice counting and dealing with the emotions of setbacks and shortcuts.
- Zingo: Zingo combines the excitement of Bingo with teaching children to identify words and pictures. With Zingo, no reading is required, and the game can help foster word recognition.
- Hi Ho! Cherry-O: In this game, children take turns picking fruit from a tree as they build their math skills.
- First 100 Words Activity Game: Based on the First 100 book series, this is a terrific first game for children 2 and up. To play, children can roll soft, chunky dice and look for Picture Cards featuring words and images across Animals, Things, and My World categories. Or, after children roll the dice, they can choose their own rules and enjoy the freedom and flexibility that comes with not having to do the exact same thing after each turn. Along with these things, this game also helps children learn early word, color, and number fundamentals.
- Hoot Owl Hoot: This color-coordinated matching game encourages players to work together to help owls fly back to their nests before the sun comes up, so everyone can win! It helps teach children how to strategize, follow directions, and take turns. Meanwhile, it promotes healthy emotional development, shared decision-making, and creative problem-solving.
- Feed the Woozle: This game is monstrous fun, as players win together by feeding the big-mouth Woozle chocolate-covered flies, hairy pickles, and other silly snacks. During gameplay, players balance snacks on a spoon and perform various movements, which promotes the development of fine and gross motor skills. Plus, players can learn basic counting as they count the snacks they put on their spoon. There's also different movement levels, which can help children become more aware of their bodies.
Give these games a try during the holidays. They can bring people together and add a hint of excitement and entertainment to holiday gatherings. Maybe one will become a new family tradition!
Mark Your Calendar! Enjoy Holiday Festivities in Worcester
There are also many fun things to do in Worcester - many of them free - this holiday season, such as:
- See the Santos family light show at 60 Pasadena Parkway.
- Check out the Festival of Lights featuring holiday light displays, ice skating, food vendors, community organizations, and performances, which takes place December 5 from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Worcester Common Oval.
- Enjoy the Canal District Holiday Stroll, a self-guided event featuring photo opportunities with Santa Claus, a tree lighting ceremony, and much more, which takes place December 6 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Bring your child to the Worcester Public Library to create a DIY cocoa kit or gingerbread house, decorate cookies, and enjoy other holiday-themed events.
- Celebrate Winter in Wooville, as Polar Park transforms from a baseball stadium to a winter wonderland where visitors can make holiday cards, watch live performances from local choirs, dance groups, and musicians, see spectacular lights displays, and much more; Winter in Wooville is free for kids 2 and under, with ticket prices ranging from $12 to $18 for kids over 2 and adults.
From all of us at Edward Street, we wish you a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season!
We're committed to promoting early childhood success and are proud to provide helpful guides like this to parents, caregivers, and other members of the Worcester community
Next year, expect more community resources from us that can empower a lifetime of success — stay tuned for more details.