We are almost half way through the long Summer holidays. It’s no surprise that I, as well as hundred of other parents have already heard those dreaded two words multiple times – “I’m bored”. Holidays can be fun, going on trips, playing out and doing things with the family outdoors, but it can get expensive and of course the British weather can and does often let us down.
So what do we do, with our beloved bored children when the weather is a bit rubbish? Many kids (like mine) will happily sit for hours glued to the screens of phones and tablets or sit watching tv all day, but we all know this isn’t good for them. Back in my younger days, if we couldn’t play out, then we played inside and we played with toys or we played games. Playing games is good for family time and for communication skills and no one is ever too old to join in and play.
Our newest game is a simple card game which reminds me of a few I used to play when I was younger. And surprisingly my (almost 10 year old) also enjoys playing it.
This is matching pairs. An old fashioned easy card game which has never really died out. These cards come from Aura print who design custom greeting cards amongst other things, and have recently launched custom made playing card decks too. This means people or companies can design there very own card decks, be it traditional playing cards, top trumps, tarot or kids card games etc.
Our matching pairs cards have been designed and made by Aura print. They have a Summer holiday theme with images of things that children may see whilst on their holidays or day trips. Things such as passports, deck chairs, seagulls and ice cream are on the cards. There are 40 cards in this pack with two cards having the same print.
There’s a few ways that matching pairs can be played. The traditional way, which I remember from my childhood is to spread all the cards out on the floor, face side down. Then each player takes a turn. They turn two cards over on each go, then everyone tries to remember which matching cards are where. If the player finds a marching pair, they keep the cards and have another turn. The winner being the one with the most pairs, once all the pairs are found.
It can also be played a bit like the card game snap. The cards get dealt out equally to all players face down. Each player places a card in a pile one at a time face up without peeking. If two cards in a row match then a player can shout snap as loud as they can. They then take the whole pile of played cards. The winner in this game being the one who has all the cards at the end of the game.
This simple game can also be taken on holiday. It’s a fun game which gets kids off electric devices for a while.
