Category Archives: Games

There are all sorts of word games you can play, which can be lots of fun, especially when you need to fill in some time quietly.

One of Janelle’s favourite pen and paper games when she was a young girl was the Word Pull-Apart game.  Not that she called it that!  She doesn’t know if the game had a name, but she certainly can’t remember it, if it did!

So we got our thinking caps on, and the dad here came up with the descriptive name, ‘Word Pull-Apart’, because that’s what you do… pull a word, apart!

Here’s how to play!

Aim of the Game:

To make as many words as you can from one long word.

What You Need:

• Pencil and paper
• Be able to read and spell words.

Rules of Play:

1. Choose a word that has seven or more letters in it.
2. Write the word at the top of a piece of paper.
3. Pull the word apart and see how many words you can make from it, using only the letters in that word, and list them on your paper.
4. Words need to have three letters or more.
5. You can scramble (jumble) the letters.
6. Names, abbreviations (shortened words), or acronyms (first letter of each word -an initial, in a group of words) are not allowed.
7. This game can be played by yourself, or with two or more people.  When there are two more, you can have competitions to see who can make the most words.
8. The Word Pull-Apart game can be played in the car without pen and paper, and you could use words from signs outside the vehicle.

This game is great for getting your brain to think differently about words and is a good word-building exercise!

Here is a large word to get you started:

CREATIVE

and we have made the first word for you:

‘car’

We would love to know how many words you can make from the word ‘creative’.  Can you beat Janelle?

Pop over to our Facebook page to find out how many she has made!  It’s lots!

And while you’re there, let us know how many you found.

Have fun!

Recently, JJ went for a 20-30 minute drive in the car with some friends, who have more children in their family than we do!  We think they might like simple, creative, cheap fun as much as us, because they introduced JJ to a fun travel game!

Introducing their, what we have called, ‘Batty Backronyms Travel Game’.  ‘Batty’, means a bit crazy, but what is a ‘backronym’?

You may have heard of an acronym which is the first letter of each word (an initial) in a group of words – so for ‘Batty Backronyms Travel Game’ the acronym would be ‘BBTG’.

Well, a backronym is when you start with the initials and come up with words to fit those initials.  For instance, ‘GDSD’ could be ‘Good Dogs Sit Down’, or ‘Great Days Stay Dreamy’ or something else that you might come up with.

Here’s how to play!

Aim of the Game:

To come up with some interesting and funny backronyms or phrases (groups of words) to go with letters found on number plates.

What You Need:

• A vehicle to travel in
• Be able to recognise letters and know the first letters of words

Rules of Play:

1. Find a number plate on a vehicle that has at least three letters.
2. Backronyms – using the letters (in order) on the number plate, think of a word that starts with each letter, so that you come up with a silly phrase (group of words).  For example, one of the number plates we found was ‘KNJ’, which JJ turned into ‘Kangaroos Never Jump’, but you may have come up with ‘Knitting Nice Jumpers’!
3. Once you are happy with your phrase and had a laugh, start again with a new set of letters from another number plate.
4. This game can be played by yourself (in your head so that you don’t disturb anyone else), or with two or more people.
5. No rude phrases allowed.
6. As a variation (another way to play) you could work as a team on the same group of letters and see how many different phrases, or the funniest phrase you can come up with.
7. Always remember not to be too loud, as this can distract the driver.

Try this fun travel game for yourself and enjoy!  See our other travel games on our Free Stuff page… we will add some more over time.

If you are not out and about but want some free fun with a batty backronym now, head over to our Facebook page – we have one there ready for you!

Welcome to Free Fun Friday!  Sometimes we come up with ideas that don’t fit in our magazine Imagine. Make. Believe, because they don’t suit the theme or we already have enough projects.  We decided we would like to share some of these ideas with you on Fridays, for free, and for fun!  They may be a game, a craft, a sewing project, or a printable, or something completely different, so come back every Friday so you don’t miss any… and tell your friends about Free Fun Friday!

Most Friday nights we travel about 15 – 20 minutes in the car, to drop one person at youth group, and the rest of us go to a friend’s house.  This isn’t very far, but it is the end of the day, and the week, so some of us are feeling a little tired and grumpy.  Sometimes, when one person gets bored in the car, they may annoy their brother or sister or parent, just for the fun of it.  This is never a great idea, because they will probably get in trouble, and it is not normally fun for the other person, especially when they are tired and grumpy.   We came up with this fun Alphabet Travel Game to fill our Friday car trip, which is great because it keeps eyes and minds busy, and is a fun way to practise the alphabet.

Aim of the Game:

To be the first to complete the alphabet by finding letters on signs or number plates.

What You Need:

• A vehicle to travel in
• Knowledge of the alphabet and be able to recognise letters.

Rules of Play:

1. Starting at the beginning of the alphabet, call out the first letter when you find it on a sign or number plate outside your vehicle.  For example if I saw a sign that said ‘Brainy Soup’, the first letter of the English alphabet is ‘A’, so I would call out ‘A’, and then, ‘B’ because that letter is also on the sign.  There is no ‘C’ on the ‘Brainy Soup’ sign, so I would have to wait and find ‘C’ somewhere else.  Another person in the car may not see the ‘Brainy Soup’ sign, but they may have found a different sign that said ‘You can buy it now!’, so they would call out ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ because all those letters are on that sign.  They would then have to wait and find a ‘D’ somewhere else.
2. Each person is trying to complete their own alphabet, and they call out the letter they are up to, when they find that letter.
3. Letters can not be found on or in the vehicle you are travelling in.
4. You have to see the actual letter to call it out.  That means you can’t guess, and you can’t remember letters from another sign that you saw earlier.
5. Once you have completed one alphabet, you can keep going onto your second and third alphabet.  Sometimes one person will be on the first alphabet, when you are nearly finished your second.  It can be really easy and quick to catch up though.
6. If no-one else in the vehicle wants to play, you can play the game by yourself, but don’t call out the letters, as that can be annoying to others when they are not playing.  Say them in your head, and see how many alphabets you can complete before you get to your destination.

Have a fun Friday!