Primary Games: Educational Games and Activities for Young Children

What Types of Games Are Good for Primary Grades?

Children in primary grades (generally considered to be kindergarten through third grade) typically have a short attention span, but educational games and activities give students opportunities to learn and have fun at the same time. Kids this age love interactive games that allow them to move around, touch and feel things and maybe even get a little messy. Creating educational games for primary grades takes some innovation, but incorporating food, play dough and crafts in the classroom or at home can help kids develop a love of learning.

Estimation

This activity will teach your child to estimate the weight of her favorite items. Get a small scale and have her pick three items out that she would like to weigh, such as a stuffed animal, a box of cereal and a shoe. Before she weighs the objects, have her estimate the weight of each of the items she chose and write the numbers down. Next, have her weigh each object and compare her estimation with the actual weight. You can also make it into a game if you have a group of children by seeing who comes closest to estimating the actual weight of the objects.

Your child can also practice her addition skills by adding the actual weight of the three items she chose and confirm her answer by putting all the items on the scale. Subtraction skills can also be practiced by finding the difference bewteen the estimated weight and the actual weight.

Eating Shapes

You can help your child recognize shapes with this fun cookie activity. Make or buy some cookie dough and flatten it out with a rolling pin. Then, get cookie cutters in various shapes, such as triangles, stars, circles and squares. Cut out at least two of each shape. Have your child group the different shapes into piles.

Then, tell him to put a particular shape onto the cookie sheet, which will help with shape recognition. You can also have him create various patterns on the cookie sheet. Finally, put the cookies in the oven and bake them.

Crackers

In primary grades, students are learning relationships between different shapes and sizes. Get 8-10 plain crackers and a handful of flavored crackers, both shaped like a square. Have your child make as many different sized rectangles as possible without breaking any crackers. Encourage your child to make a pattern using the different types of crackers. If you have a group of kids, this can become a contest on who can come up with the most rectangles.