Tag: play

How to play cards with kids

I come from a long line of card players.  Some of my first memories of my Grandfather was playing cards.  He was a dreadful cheat. This is how he used to babysit us.  I learned how to play cribbage from a very early age and so did many of my 22 cousins!

We’ve recently started introduce our 5 year old to a variety of card games.  Snap, Go Fish, Memory and Old Maid.  Have you ever tried playing cards with a 5 year old especially when it requires them to hold a mittful of cards?  She is forever dropping them all over the floor and becomes increasingly frustrated.  Bless!

But then I discovered, thanks to the net, this handy little trick.  It’s pure genius.

How to Play Cards with Kids

It’s so simple.  Just using a clothes peg, then they can hold the peg.  Problem solved!

Do you have any other tips when playing games with kids?  Please do leave them in the comments.

If you’d like to learn how to play Go Fish here are the rules.

Pushing kids too hard too early

I’m not a fan of ‘Hothousing kids’ an 80s term for pushing your kids to learn beyond their cognitive age.  My daughter is only 4 and I’m a strongly believe in her learning via play at the moment; whether it’s a gentle introduction to Maths via board games, a Science lesson by walking through the park collecting leaves, fostering an interest in Literacy through bedtime stories and trips to the library, a Geography lesson when Daddy is watching the rugby, History by telling her about her grandparents, or ICT by letting her have a bit of screen time.

Why I worry

I understand that parents want to prepare their children for school but I do worry about the pressure they’re putting on their children, as research has shown that pushing children at an early age can have detrimental affects to their learning down the road.  I see it all the time:  signing 3 year olds up for piano lessons,  Baby Yoga, Baby Signing, daily flashcard sessions and of course don’t forget the Baby Einstein series.

Am I a hypocrite?

However, I had a chat with Madame on Friday night, amongst our normal bedtime routine and she declared that she doesn’t like school, it’s boring.  Of course, I asked her why and she said it’s because they ‘won’t let her learn letters and numbers’ and asked me if I would teach her.

I appreciate why the nursery is not doing this at the moment as their ethos is learning via play which I like, however they do send homework sheets home on a Friday.  But as an ex-teacher, I’ve humoured her and printed some hand-writing sheets.  She absolutely loves doing them and seems to have the fine-motor skills and stamina to do it.

Was this a bad idea?  I wouldn’t have done it if she hadn’t asked…..

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  Is this another result of ‘competitive parenting’ ? Will my daughter be left behind if I don’t do it?  What’s the worst case of Hothousing you’ve seen?