Soon the most magical night for the little ones will arrive: King’s Night. Although Santa Claus has been helping the Three Wise Men to distribute toys for a few years, surely all the little ones in the house (and those of us who have been) remember this night as one of the most special of the year. For all this I wanted to make a game with recycled elements as a DIY gift idea.
This game can be played in different ways, mainly consists of catching fish, each of them will have a number that will be added, subtracted, multiplied or divided and in the end the player with the most points will win. You can make several fishing rods and play several players at the same time, or take turns of games limited to a time (for example, one minute to catch as many fish as possible). The mathematical operations must be done following the same extraction order, so, for example, if the values of the fish that have been caught are +5 -3 *2, the final result will be 4.
As you see This game will not only keep the little ones entertained but will also help them learn math., because there is no better way to learn than playing. In addition, most of the materials that I have used can be replaced by others that we have at hand, it is also important that we teach our children the value of recycling.
The materials that I have used to make this game have been the following:
– A glass jar. It could be replaced by a cut plastic bottle.
– Eva rubber or foam to decorate the jar. If we don’t have EVA foam on hand, we can also decorate the jar with colored cardboard or even permanent markers.
– Metallic clips or safety pinsIt is very important that they are made of metal.
– A pencilalthough a craft stick or wire, for example, can also work.
– washi tape or fabric tape to decorate the pencil.
– A strand of wool. It can be replaced by thin rope or narrow ribbon.
– decorated cardboard. If we do not have decorated cardboard, it can be replaced by colored cardboard or by cardboard that we can paint later.
– double sided tape although any adhesive for crafts will also work.
– magnetic vinyl or a magnet.
– Scissors.
To make this game we will follow the Next steps:
1º.- Make the fish
On the decorated cardboard we will draw two fish joined by one of the parts, as if it were a book. Next we will cut them and in the inner part we will write a value that will add, subtract, multiply or divide.
Next we will close the fish and we will put a clip in the part of the mouth, in this way when all the fish are mixed we will not know what the value of each one is.
2º.- Make the fishing rod
To make the fishing rod we will attach a strand of wool or cord to a pencil, for this I have used double-sided adhesive tape.
Next we will make the hook, for this I have cut two small pieces of magnetic vinyl that I had left over from other jobs and I have attached them to the wool strand with double-sided self-adhesive tape.
Finally I have decorated the pencil/fishing rod with fabric tape.
3º.- Make the fish tank
To make the fish tank I used a glass jar (you can see more ways to recycle glass jars here) and EVA foam in two shades of blue.
To decorate the glass jar we will cut the EVA foam simulating the waves of the sea and we will stick it to the glass jar with double-sided adhesive tape.
Now all we have to do is put all the fish in the tank and let’s play!
4º.- Wrap the gift
To wrap the gift this time I bring you a very simple idea that I have seen on the blog I little craft in your day and that is also inspired by recycling. As you can see in the following image, recycled kraft paper has been used and some ornaments have been painted with a felt-tip pen. I think it’s a very fun idea and a very appropriate wrapping for a boy or girl’s gift.
With this DIY gift it is shown that you can make a educational game with recycled elements For the little ones, using glass or plastic containers and pieces of cardboard or cardboard, the important thing is to make the most of the elements that we have at home.
Furthermore, with a game of this type we can instill in our children the habit of recycling and show them that a toy is not better because it is more expensive, that they can have as much or more fun with games as simple as this one.
I hope you liked this last DIY gift idea for this season and if so, I would appreciate it if you would share it on your social networks.
