Make your own memory game
Entertain and amuse your children with a customized game
By Julie Stoyka
Like all new moms, Christina Topp spent most of her maternity leave feeding, changing and caring for her daughter. But she also decided it was the perfect time to start a side business and jumped on board with Discovery Toys, a company that sells quality educational toys and games through informally hosted gatherings.
Over the last year, the most important lesson Topp has learned is that the best educational toys are open-ended products that grow with the child. While babies love simple lines and bright colours (see our mobile for newborns article), older children need meaningful and fun activities to keep them engaged. For this reason, favourites like the traditional Concentration card game are still being played. "Pattern and matching games are excellent ways to teach children pre-reading and math skills," says Topp.
Microsoft Home Magazine has created a simple template to help you make your own customized memory game on your computer. It’s a simple family project that takes little time and only a few supplies to create.
Learn the easy rules of Concentration
In the game of Concentration, players try to collect pairs of matching cards.
- All of the cards are placed face down on a flat surface.
- A player turns up two cards; if they match, they are collected by the player and he or she goes again.
- If they don't match, the cards are flipped over and it's the next player's turn.
- The player with the most matching sets of cards at the end of the game wins.
Supplies
- cardstock
- art paper or stationery (available at art supply stores)
- colour printer
- sharp-edged utility knife or scissors
- glue stick
- self-laminating sheets or adhesive vinyl (optional)
Step 1: Select bold images
Concentration teaches children to identify similar objects and develop pattern-recognition skills, so when selecting images, keep them simple and bold. Use high-resolution images so your child can easily identify the object. Experiment with Clip Art or even scanned photos of family members, pets or your child's favourite toys.
Topp notes that colour plays an important role in pattern recognition. "It is important to have a variety of colours, because that's one of the ways kids learn to read a pattern, which is a pre-reading skill." Another way you can enhance the colour is by adjusting the hue and saturation of the card frames in the memory card template. You can do this easily with your photo-editing program. We used Digital Image Suite.
Step 2: Download and customize the template
Click here for Microsoft Home Magazine's Concentration card template. A new browser will open. Right-click the image and save it to your desktop. Open the template in Digital Image Suite.
- Select the image you wish to replace.
- Choose Format > Replace Picture and add your images to the document.
- Replace the other images in the template.
Quick tip: To change the hue and saturation of the frames for your matching images, select the image then go to
Touchup > Color and Saturation.
- Insert a sheet of cardstock into the printer. Select Print and follow the instructions on the left sidebar. Print at the high-quality setting.
Step 3: Cut out your cards
- Using a utility knife, trim the edges of each card.
- Glue each card onto art paper and another sheet of cardstock. This will ensure that no one can see through the card while playing. Choose art paper with vibrant colours or simple black and white patterns.
Quick tip: You can also use the memory card template to create a standard design for the reverse sides of your cards and insert text that says Concentration.
Step 4: Preserve the deck of cards with lamination
Lamination ensures that your cards will last for a long time. Most office-supply stores offer an inexpensive laminating service. You can also do it yourself by purchasing self-laminating sheets or adhesive vinyl — make sure to cover both sides. Trim a few millimetres from the edges of each card.
Once you've finished the project, sit down and play!
All styling and inset photography by Julie Stoyka of Zariel Creative
