Waiting with Kids…2 Simple Games to Entertain

Monday nights are swimming nights at our local recreation centre. However, the class is only for my eldest daughter. Which means my 7 year old and I have to sit in the bleachers and watch swimming for one whole hour. Now, I enjoy watching…but for a 7 year old…it can get a little boring. So, once we’ve eaten all the snacks and caught up on our chit-chatting we like to play these simple games. Put away the iPhone and the iPad and pull out a pad of paper and a pen…that’s all you’re going to need.

Goal of the game ~ To create a picture based on a few simple shapes. One player draws 2 or 3 random shapes on a piece of paper. The other player must turn these random shapes into something…anything. This game is great for little ones who cannot write words yet. A variation is to draw the outline of something and have your child draw the details…for example, draw the outline of a house and see what they think the details of the house should be.

These games are so simple that they can be played anywhere. We’ve played in the hospital waiting room, at the pool and they even work for long drives. Our kids don’t have the option of playing games on an iPhone…we don’t have one…so I love the back-to-basics nature of these fun games. 

Do you have any games that you play while you sitting and waiting with your kids?