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    You are here: Home / Games / Five Thinking Games for Kids

     

    Five Thinking Games for Kids

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    Thinking games for kids are some of the easiest indoor activities you can find. They also work when you are out of the house, too. Ever been waiting in line, or driving in the car with kids who cannot keep still or stop whining? Need some new thinking games other than "20 Questions" and "I Spy With My Little Eye..."? I thought so.

    Fun thinking games for kids.

    It's easy to pull out the iPhone or GameBoy to keep your kids busy, but much more rewarding to engage with your kids. So next time you are waiting to pay for groceries, on a long car trip or, like us, waiting for the bus or subway to arrive, try one of these five six thinking games to keep their minds occupied and their brains exercised. As an alternative, try some tongue twisters for a quick entertainment fix.

    1. Imaginary Traveler. Taking turns, and continuing with consecutive letters of the alphabet, kids imagine where they might go and what object they want to take along on their trip. For example, "I'm going to Aunt Amanda's and I'm taking my Aardvark." "I'm going to Bermuda and I'm taking my Blue Balloon." Encourage participants to be as silly as possible.

    2. Story Time. One child begins a story with a single sentence. Building upon that sentence the next child continues the story with his own sentence to continue the story. You can vary this game so that the story is told with alternating words, phrases, sentences or paragraphs.

    3. I See A Rhyme. Taking turns, complete the sentence "I see a ____." Each player must rhyme the last word with the previous player's word. For example, "I see a bat", "No, I see a hat", "But I see a cat!" When you've exhausted one rhyme, start with a new word!

    4. Fortunately/Unfortunately. This game is inspired by Remy Charlip's book, Fortunately. One player starts a story with a sentence such as "Fortunately, the bus is coming." The next player counters with a sentence such as, "Unfortunately, it turned into an airplane and flew away!" The next player starts again with "Fortunately..." My boys love this one.

    5. Name Five. Choose a category such as states, flowers, animals and going through the alphabet, each player must name five things in that category. For example, if animals is the category, the first player may say aardvark, antelope, ant, anteater, ape. The next player starts with B: baboon, bee, bear, bullfrog, bird.

    6. Timed Categories. The cell phone in your pocket probably has a stopwatch. Pick a category such as animals, games, plants, purple foods and challenge you children to see how many items they can come up with in that category in one minute.

    Don't forget to factor in the ages of your littlest participants. Each game can be altered accordingly. Name Five might became "Name Two," for example. And don't be surprised if your kids want to make up their own thinking games. It's a sure sign that their brains are in good working shape.

    More super fun ways to stretch your brain and improve thinking skills:

    • Symmetry paper trick
    • Quick brain teaser
    • Fun and amazing brain teasers for family gatherings
    • Turn two circles into one square!

    Family brain teasers for parties and gatherings.

     

    Thinking games for kids build brains!

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    « Best Picture Books of 2012 (So Far), Part 2
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. The Iowa Farmer's Wife says

      July 09, 2012 at 1:10 pm

      great ideas! will be using some of these on our road trip tomorrow!

      Reply
    2. Mom and Kiddo says

      July 09, 2012 at 2:01 pm

      Here's hoping for a sane and safe road trip!

      Reply
    3. Raising a Happy Child says

      July 11, 2012 at 5:19 pm

      Great post! We play story time a lot, but it's time to introduce other games on your list!

      Reply
    4. Malia {Playdough to Plato} says

      July 13, 2012 at 12:56 pm

      I can't wait to try these out with my oldest son. I have a feeling that the Fortunately/Unfortunately game is going to be a huge hit. Pinning it!

      Reply
      • Mom and Kiddo says

        July 13, 2012 at 1:37 pm

        Thanks Malia! I hope you have fun playing the games.

        Reply
    5. Mackenzie says

      July 21, 2012 at 7:34 pm

      Great ideas! My little guys would love these! We'd love to invite you to join us at Saturday Show & Tell on Cheerios and Lattes! I know everyone will love your great kid-friendly ideas! Have a great weekend!
      Mackenzie 🙂
      http://www.cheeriosandlattes.com/saturday-show-tell-20/

      Reply
    6. childrens party supplies says

      August 16, 2012 at 3:46 pm

      This are good tips and ideas! I was thinking about some theme for my kids party and this seems pretty interesting.

      Reply
    7. Susan says

      April 11, 2013 at 5:57 pm

      I have a few I like that I keep in my Bag of Tricks - http://www.thebookchook.com/2008/12/book-chook-bag-of-tricks.html. My Aunt Likes is an all time favourite. So is Hink Pink.

      Reply
      • Erica MomandKiddo says

        April 11, 2013 at 7:14 pm

        I love those games, Susan. You've given me some ideas about games that I did as an actor and to try and adapt them for my kids!

        Reply
        • Susan says

          June 14, 2013 at 6:26 pm

          An actor? How cool! I taught drama for many years so my games are influenced by that. Fortunately/unfortunately is one we used to do - I think it may be from Theatre Sports/Improv. Maybe we can get our heads together one day and write something for our blogs.

          Reply
          • Erica MomandKiddo says

            June 16, 2013 at 6:35 am

            That would be fun, Susan. I'll give the idea a think to see what we could do.

            Reply
    8. Patrick says

      September 26, 2013 at 1:41 pm

      These are great Ideas! I shared them with my fans on facebook - http://www.facebook.com/uswoodtoys. I'm sure they will be used. Thank you for sharing.

      Reply
      • Erica MomandKiddo says

        September 27, 2013 at 12:09 pm

        Thanks, Patrick!

        Reply
    9. Emma @ P is for Preschooler says

      June 24, 2014 at 8:54 pm

      Love these! *Stealing* these ideas for our upcoming road trip! (I could have some fun with that Fortunately, Unfortunately one, lol!)

      Reply
      • Erica MomandKiddo says

        June 25, 2014 at 6:11 am

        That's a fun one!

        Reply
    10. Daniela says

      July 15, 2014 at 10:31 pm

      Awesome!! Very good actibity ideas for traveling in the car

      http://www.aznannies.com

      Reply
    11. Vickie maduzia says

      January 13, 2015 at 10:28 pm

      I will be sharing these fabulous ideas with my "RidesRUs" business! I work for a lady who employs 17 moms around in our school district, we shuttle kids to school and then take them to their homes after school. We all LOVE what we do, and love any ideas on how to engage the kids while we have them in our vans! Thank you so much for sharing these fun games!!

      Oh --and you asked what other kind of thinking games we do? The only ones I know of (before reading this blog post!!) are:

      1) I SPY. Where you pick out something in the room you're in, and the other people have to ask yes/no type questions to guess which object you're thinking of.

      2) Fifteen Questions. Similar to I spy above --- but the object can be any random thing! We played this in the car today and the objects today were: Tomato, George Washington and a KNEE!! Start off with "is it animal, vegetable, mineral, or person?" And then ask questions about SIZE of the object (smaller than a car? Bigger than a basketball?) and questions about where you would find it (is it in my home? Does it live in the jungle/desert/ocean) etc. The main rule is, whoever is IT has to write down the object first! On a scrap of paper -- so they don't change their mind halfway through the questions haha

      Thanks again for your fun ideas, I can't wait to try these with my RidesRUs kids -- and they will be such fun games on road trips with my own family!

      Reply
      • Erica MomandKiddo says

        January 14, 2015 at 8:29 am

        Great suggestions.

        Reply

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