Guessing games are fun for the whole family, and are a perfect after-dinner activity that can be shared by everyone to extend meal time togetherness. Spending time as a family is important for bonding and for your child’s social-emotional development.
Draw and Guess games are my favorite because they foster creative thinking. We often focus so much on the importance of handwriting skills, gross motor coordination, and self-care skills that we forget that encouraging creativity is just as important. Creative minds are better able to problem-solve, resolve conflicts with others, figure out how to entertain themselves, and generate new and innovative ideas as kids and as adults.
Up the ante in your guessing games by using different types of materials to create clues! Instead of drawing your clues, create them using pipe cleaners, play dough, modeling clay, or blocks. And instead of using just one type of material, use two, three, or all of them!
One of my favorite materials to create with is the Giant Pipe Cleaner Party from ALEX Toys. Included in the craft kit are 120 pipe cleaners of various sizes: large ones, medium ones, and small ones, giving you even more ways to create!
For basic play, create cards to choose from that dictate what you or your child will create for another person to guess. For an additional challenge, switch to simply placing a category on the card, such as foods, zoo animals, or creatures in the sea.
You can then transition to having your child create a category for themselves or having them chose something to create without a card to cue them. If they need more cues to help them figure out what to make, have them look around the room or in a book for ideas.
The person guessing can then look in the room or book to help them figure out what their partner has made. Be sure to take turns creating and guessing!
Get those creative juices flowing by practicing the 12 various designs in Giant Pipe Cleaner Party using the step-by-step instructional guide. ALEX offers an instructional video to help kids learn how to weave, connect, and combine the pipe cleaners to make an array of creations.
What types of guessing games to you play at home?