Create a bean bag toss game that helps instill a variety of mental and physical skills. On index cards, write letters, numbers, shapes or anything else you want to teach children. Spread the index cards out on the floor and provide children with a bean bag. Instruct students to toss the bean bag, one at a time, onto an index card. Have them remove the bean bag and identify what is written on the card. If a child is able to identify the object, he takes the card. If he is not able to identify the object written on the card, he removes his bean bag and the next child takes a turn. The child with the most cards wins the game.
Send children on a hunt to search for particular items. For example, if you are teaching letter-sound recognition, ask children to search for an object that begins with a specific letter and have them share the items they find. If you want to reinforce color recognition, ask children to look for specific colored items and have them share the items with the class. Another option is to write letters or numbers on index cards and hide them. Have children search for the index cards and arrange them in alphabetical or numerical order.
This classic game is more than just a way to keep children entertained; it promotes listening skills, vocabulary development and gross motor development and instills the importance of following directions. To play the game, have children stand up and listen while you slowly state directions to them, such as touch your toes or jump up and down. Say "Simon Says" before giving directions you want children to follow, and simply state the command without saying "Simon Says" for the directions that you do not want children to follow. Slowly speed up the rate at which you state the directions as you progress through the game. If children are caught doing something that Simon did not say to do, they must sit out of the game. The last child standing wins.
This card game promotes an awareness of greater than and less than. Shuffle a deck of cards and deal out the entire deck among a small group of children. The children place their cards face-down in front of them. Players flip over one card at a time and the player who has the higher card takes all of the cards that have been turned over. If the cards that have been flipped over are equivalent in value, then children flip over another card from their piles. The child who has the most cards at the end of the game wins.