Games + Activities

It’s nearing the end of half term – perhaps your patience is running thin and your ideas are cruising to empty? Well, have you got a box knocking around? Then I can help!

So exactly as it says in the title. This isn’t an advert (although I do love free food, wink wink!) but a very good friend who’s also a Mum of two recently recommended Hello Fresh! to us and it’s great for busy people who like to cook from scratch – I love it. BUT more importantly, it comes delivered in a BOX to our door every week. The box is the perfect size for games so here are 10 easy Five Minute Games that we have played with ours.

*Obviously ANY large box will do!

1. THE SLEDGE. Pierce two small holes in one end and tie a bit of rope through them. Place child, sibling, teddies, shopping, snacks inside and pull. Fun, fun, fun.

2. TORCH FORT. Put pillows and books inside. Throw a blanket over the top. Get a torch. Kids get in and I lie on the floor with my head and arms inside the blanket and we read books with a torch.

3. GUESS THAT TOY. Cut one or two arm size holes in one edge of the box. Place 5 random toys in it. Shut the box. Get your children to guess which toys are in there. Get them to try describing/counting them. Then it’s their turn to choose 5 toys for you.

4. TRAIN RACE. Cut the box so it makes a long flat piece of card (or two pieces if you have two kids!) Draw a ‘START” and “FINISH” line at either end. Choose two different coloured vehicles and make them race. Let the kids keep tally of the score. First to get to 10 wins. Or practise colours with little ones like Flo.

5. THE TUNNEL. Open the top and bottom of the box to make a tunnel. Turn your lounge into an obstacle course with cushions for stepping stones etc. including the tunnel to run through. Say you will time them and count each time out loud. They have to try and beat their time.

6. JUNK ROBOT. Get some masking tape or sellotape and dig out anything from your recycling bin like milk cartons or cereal boxes. Stick the boxes together to make a “robot” – use the milk bottle tops for “buttons” then get stickers and felt tips out to let them finish it off. Can they think of a “R” name for it? Ours was Rafi!

7. LETTER BOX. Cut a letter box flap into the top end of the box, and a larger low down flap on the reverse side (as per pics). Get out pens, post its and envelopes. Stickers as stamps if you like. Write letters to post! Get them to write their name or one letter from the alphabet on a post-it before they can pop it in an envelope and post it. Then they can be the postman and get them out the flap at the back!

8. MINI KITCHEN. Make four small holes in one end, draw a “hob” circle, then get out real saucepans, muffin tins, utensils, and dried pasta and let them “Cook”!

9. ALPHABET CAR PARK. Use a large piece of the card to draw a big grid with toy car size rectangles. Write the alphabet and get your kiddy to park the cars in the letters – can they make their name disappear?

10. PINBALL. You need a couple of empty toilet or kitchen rolls, some masking tape and a bit of foil. Knock up a quick Pinball board as per the photos and write in numbers your child finds tricky or is currently learning. Throw, roll, shoot the ball and see what you get. First to circle all the numbers wins!

***BONUS GAME*** When playing the MINI KITCHEN, my kids invented their own game of posting the pasta through the little holes to each other. It kept them entertained while I cleaned the entire kitchen!