Blog Archives
Badge: Printables – My Games
Creativity is needed to create your own games. You can incorporate standards such as cards and dice. Or you might choose to create your own accessories. I’ve provided some printables to start creating your own printable games. The end product is up to you.
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Steps
1. Type of game.
Not all games are created equal. Your game might work well as a board game with rewards for landing on certain spots. Perhaps a quiet word find is more what you are looking for. Look through these choices to start determining what type of game you would like to create.
- Indoor / outdoor
- Quiet / active
- Limited space / unlimited space
- Length of time
- Themed game / one-off filler
- Individual / pair / group
- Learning / just for fun
2. Theme.
Your choice of theme will help determine your colors, style and even how it might be played. You can look for free graphics online to include or even create your own. Determine what your theme will be. Create a color scheme. Collect / make graphics you intend to include.
3. Purpose.
What is the purpose of your game? Adding dice and counting spaces can help lead into a mathematical game. Trading cards can feature historical facts. Decide what you want your game to do. Incorporate these ideas into your theme.
4. Templates.
Templates are a great way to start designing your game. Sometimes you’ll use the template as part of your game, sometimes as a design tool for experimenting with ideas before creating your game. Of course, you can find templates for dice, spinners and other accessories as well.
The AEP supplements for this badge program have a variety of templates you can start with. Start your own archive of templates specific for game creation.
5. Rules.
You’ve played a lot of games. Your kids have as well. Create a list of rules from other games and place into a file so that you have an idea file. You can sort by the types above (Step 1) or any way that makes sense to you.
6. Distribution.
Using the Adobe Acrobat PDF format, distribution is easy. You can keep a clean original and distribute it as well. Create an organization system for your archiving your printable games.
Put it together
7. Rules only.
Some games do not need accessories. For example, “Rock, Paper, Scissors” needs no additional parts. However, a set of rules is a good thing to have on-hand when introducing this game. Brainstorm games that only need a rules sheet. Create one.
8. Printable boards.
Blank board templates can easily be adapted to any theme. By saving the board you create, you can reuse it. Reuse a board game for:
- Birthdays
- Holidays
- Meetings
- Events
- On-hand filler
Take a blank board and create a printable board game you can use more than once. NOTE: You can make your board game more sturdy by laminating, adhering to foam core, etc.
9. Super-size boards.
Looking for a way to direct traffic at an event? Stuck inside with a group of hyper kids? Create a life-size game board. With paper, one sheet counts as a space. You can just use sheets of colored construction paper or mix it up by printing special instructions to mix amongst your regular “spaces.” For younger kids, add a dice with colored sides instead of numbers to your construction paper board.
For fun, AEP has three supplements that are single-page printable spaces to use for life-size games. Incorporate one (or more) of our sets into a game or create your own and play it with your kids.
10. Dice, spinners and numbers.
Dice, spinners and other number generators can be used to move around the board, draw cards, do actions, etc. These items can be adjusted for the age level of your group. For example, young children may find it easier to work with dice that have colored sides instead of numbers (Step 9).
Brainstorm other ways you can have kids include numbers into a game by using paper-created items.
11. Cards.
Cards can add variety to a game — from movement to special effects. They can also be utilized as a trading card. Our ATC template is a great way to create cards. In fact, you might even have each participant at your event create their own unique card and have everyone exchange them as part of a game. Look at how cards can be used as games or incorporated into games.
12. Money.
Putting a monetary twist to a game is another way to change an ordinary game. What would Monopoly be without the money? You can personalize money for an event with a photo, like a birthday party. AEP has a template you can use for this or create your own.
13. Counters and playing pieces.
Depending on your game, you might need counters in a variety of types:
- Individually designed counters that represent players
- Groups of counters, like checkers
- Sets of counters, like chess
Explore ways to create / find your own playing pieces.
14. Mazes.
Mazes can be created simply with a sheet of paper, ruler and pencil. You choose to make it easy or difficult. You can also use a template sheet under a blank sheet and trace the lines you want. Try creating a maze and have someone solve it.
15. Words.
Word games are not only easy to create, there are a plethora of Web sites that allow you to create them. Create the same word game online and by hand. Which do you prefer?
16. Origami.
Folding paper is a great way to create a printable game. From paper airplanes with contests for flying feats to paper footballs, we’ve all played with games and toys we’ve created with paper. Try creating your own cootie catcher / fortune teller.
What’s next?
17. Play test.
Just making a game isn’t enough. You need to test it to make sure others understand your rules, you have all the pieces you need and . . . most of all . . . it is enjoyable. Get a group together to play test one or more of the games you created
18. Party!
Host a party with printable games. These can be ones you found, created yourself, or have everyone create a game at your event.
19. Share.
Share the printable games you find and those you create with others who are interested. Be sure to include the rules and any accessories needed.
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Supplements Available
SUPP_Bingo_Blank.pdf
Blank BINGO-type game cards, 4×4, 5×5, 6×6 — each in two sizes.
SUPP_Boards_Blank.pdf
Blank page-size game boards for customization — 22 to choose from.
SUPP_Boards_SS1.pdf
Page-size spaces for a person-sized game — standard set of 10 spaces.
SUPP_Boards_SS2.pdf
Page-size spaces for a person-sized game — active set of 14 spaces.
SUPP_Boards_SS3.pdf
Page-size spaces for a person-sized game — chaos set of 18 spaces.
SUPP_Dice_Six.pdf
Template and two samples of six-sided dice.
SUPP_Maze_Templates.pdf
Two maze templates to draw your own maze with.
SUPP_Money_Templates.pdf
Eight denominations of play money from $1 to $500 to use as-is or to personalize for your game.
SUPP_Spinner_Templates.pdf
Ten spinner templates . . . from fully blank to ten divided sections.
SUPP_Word_Blank.pdf
Three word game templates — a scramble and two word finds, 10×10 and 15×15.
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Sites to Explore
boardgamegeek.com
boardgames.lovetoknow.com/Create_Your_Own_Printable_Board_Game
jc-schools.net/tutorials/gameboard.htm
www.boardgameswithscott.com/?p=5
familycrafts.about.com/od/printablegames/Printable_Games.htm
www.discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker/?CFID=736793&CFTOKEN=71752708
freebies.about.com/od/teacherfreebies/tp/word-search-makers.htm
www.toolsforeducators.com/bingo
www.wikihow.com/Hand-Draw-a-Maze
www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Trading-Card-Game
www.ehow.com/print/how_5000381_create-own-printable-board-game.html
www.ehow.com/print/how_4500679_make-folded-paper-game.html
www.ehow.com/print/how_4868894_make-magnetic-games.html
www.ehow.com/print/how_5196792_make-fake-printable-money.html
Badge: Printables – World Games
Game printables are ideal for travel or as additional activities at events or meetings. A simple sheet and a few counters can go a long way to keeping kids, and even adults, occupied.
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Steps
1. Purpose and theme.
From hosting a World Game Night to celebrating a holiday like World Thinking Day, world games can be part of the activities or encompass the entire event. Determine your theme. Decide how you will use your game printables.
2. Preparing for multiple uses.
Many printables are created to be used once and discarded. With games, you may choose to use a game board multiple times. Laminating (clear contact paper) or placing your prints into plastic binder sleeves will help protect it for many uses.
If your game is for single use only, be sure to note that the original sheet is the “MASTER” so that others make copies of it and don’t destroy the original.
NOTE: Always keep digital masters of the printables you create.
3. More parts.
Many games need more than just a board to play. These parts can also be made out of paper. See what you can find online or create your own. Parts may include:
- Counters
- Playing pieces
- Dice
- Spinners
- Score sheets
What other parts could you include?
4. AEP printable sheets.
Explore the printable games and puzzles listed in the AEP Supplement list below. Find one or more that look interesting. Try the game(s) yourself. Do you think others would enjoy it?
5. Web finds.
Explore the Web for additional printed games and puzzles. Make sure each item includes instructions. Teacher sites have many theme-driven printables. Try one or more games that you find with others.
6. Adapt a game.
Find a non-printable game that you can adapt to a printable version. Recreate it as a printable. Include all items needed to play the game. Track the steps you take creating your game so you can do it again. Play test your game.
7. Create your own.
Create your own game using AEP Supplements, from other printables or your own imagination. Create rules and any additional parts you need. Play test your game and track feedback to improve your game. Release it to others.
If you really enjoy creating games, check out the AEP badge program “Printables: My Own Games.”
8. Creation challenge.
Challenge others to create a printable game based on a theme, existing game or other topic you wish. Create guidelines for creating the game. If you wish, also create guidelines for the game itself. Some things you might want to include are:
- One part should be printable
- Rules must be complete
- All play parts must be included
- Length of play
- Places it should be able to be played
- Ages of players
- Physical storage area
- Your additional rules
Host a play test night with score / comment sheets.
9. Make a night of it.
Host a game event / night featuring your printable games. Be sure to include instructions. You can have a variety of games or one game and declare a champion.
10. Share with others.
Create a binder, box or other way to distribute printed world games. Be sure to include the additional items needed to play such as counters and dice. A few places these might be enjoyed include:
- Camp library
- Service unit library
- Council library
- Day care centers
- Nursing homes
- Activity centers
- School library (to do when kids can’t go outside)
Donate your created materials at one of the locations above or a place of your choosing.
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Supplements Available
SUPP_Game_Achi_GhanaNigeria.pdf
Achi — reusable game board. Known as Achi in Ghana and Nigeria, Picaria in the Southwestern US.
SUPP_Game_Battleship_USA.pdf
Battleship — paper version of the popular board game.
SUPP_Game_Categories_USA.pdf
Categories — word game.
SUPP_Game_Cootie Catcher1.pdf
Cootie catcher / fortune teller — positive version.
SUPP_Game_Cootie Catcher2.pdf
Cootie catcher / fortune teller — positive version.
SUPP_Game_Cootie Catcher3.pdf
Cootie catcher / fortune teller — yes / no version.
SUPP_Game_Dots_Squares_USA.pdf
Dots — create squares by drawing lines between dots.
SUPP_Game_Foldovers_USA.pdf
Foldovers — different people draw the head, chest/arms, stomach/hips and legs/feet for crazy creatures.
SUPP_Game_FriendshipCode_USA.pdf
Friendship Code — make your own code with the English alphabet.
SUPP_Game_Hangman_USA.pdf
Hangman — sheet to play this word game.
SUPP_Game_Jan-Ken-Pon_Japan.pdf
Jan-Ken-Pon — play “Rock-Paper-Scissors” as they would in Japan.
SUPP_Game_KimsGame_England.pdf
Kim’s Game — 4-up sheet for writing down ten items only. You’ll need to provide the rest.
SUPP_Game_LenChoa_Thailand.pdf
Len Choa — reusable game board. Known as Len Choa in Thailand, also Hat diviyan keliya in Sri Lanka.
SUPP_Game_Nim_China.pdf
Nim — reusable game board.
SUPP_Game_Quoits_AlaskaAleuts.pdf
Quoits — outside ground game adapted to paper.
SUPP_Game_Seega_Egypt.pdf
Seega — reusable game board.
SUPP_Game_Tanagram_China.pdf
Tanagram — cut the pieces apart to reuse.
SUPP_Game_Tanagram_Diagrams.pdf
Tanagram Diagrams — a few diagrams to try with the tanagram pieces.
SUPP_Game_Tapatan_Philippines.pdf
Tapatan — reusable game board. Also known as Noughts and Crosses (Roomans) and Tripp Trapp Trull (Sweden).
SUPP_Game_UR_Iraq.pdf
Ur — reusable board game. Also includes sheet of dice. Adapted from the ancient board game.
SUPP_Game_WanTuZum_Malaysia.pdf
Wan Tu Zum — another variant on “Rock-Paper-Scissors”, this one from Malaysia.
SUPP_Game_Why_Because_USA.pdf
Why? Because! — Writing game where one person writes the question and another the answer.
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Sites to Explore
jc-schools.net/tutorials/gameboard.htm
familycrafts.about.com/od/printablegames/Printable_Games.htm
www.toolsforeducators.com
familyfun.go.com/printables/printable-games-and-puzzles
www.freeprintable.com/free-printable-games
www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Board-Game
antidote.hubpages.com/hub/makeyourowntradingcardgame
boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Print_and_Play_Games
ravensblight.com/papertoys.html
Badge: Creating Printables
Anyone can create printables. The most difficult step is knowing your audience and what they need in a printable. Printables can cover everything from games and puzzles to decorations for cupcakes or door hangers.
To see a badge program created on a specific theme, see one of our “Printables” programs to see how the steps below can be customized.
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Steps
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Preplanning printables
1. Audience.
Who are you making this for? What kind of activities can your audience do? Will there be a language barrier? Ask yourself questions so you can define your audience and create printables that work for them.
2. Purpose.
Do your printables need to be educational as well as fun? Are you trying to keep someone busy? Are you trying to entertain them? Are you using your printable for a decoration? Advertising? If you know what you want your printables to do, it is easier to create them.
3. Theme.
While you may create a series of basic printables to use when you need an activity available, such as icebreakers, you’ll often want to give your printables the cohesion of working with other activities. To see themed printables, check out AEP’s Harry Potter or Girl Scout Traditions badge sets.
4. Reproduction.
You need to think about reproduction. How are the people who use your printables going to print your files? While your printable may look really good with colors, will your end user be able to afford printing 100 color copies for an event? Will they be forced to spend hours printing on an inkjet printer? How will it look coming off a 20-year-old photocopy machine?
Black and white is the easiest to reproduce on a photocopier or standard printer. It also prints faster. Including screens and photographs works great as long as it doesn’t interfere with your message and the quality of output. These items can increase your printing time, and possibly make your printable impossible for others to print.
If you do not know who will be reproducing your images, try to create standards to make sure your printables can be used by the majority of people. For example, AEP badge programs do not have screens and the badge sample has very strong colors. They are sized 8.25 x 11 so they can be easily used printing on US letter-sized or A4-sized printers.
5. Distribution.
How are you going to get your printables to the world? Are you creating these for a single event and they possibly won’t be used again? Are you sharing with others? Are you making it downloadable by anyone who wants them? Do you intend to sell them to help offset costs?
Here’s some distribution possibilities to get you started.
- Print yourself, do not share
- Send to a single person / group to print with verified software compatibilities
- Document in Word, Excel, etc.
- Acrobat PDF to keep prints consistent
- Graphic JPG / PNG with enough resolution to be readable
Places you can distribute include:
- Scribd
- Google documents
- Flickr
- Etsy
- Email groups
- By request
6. Availability.
So you’ve created your printables. You’ve printed them. You get to the event and realize they are sitting on your dining room table. Or the person who was printing them has a family emergency and is not coming with the prints.
Copying the files to a memory stick allows you to have them for quick printing at a local office supply store. You can also carry the files to people who have a computer but may not be the most savvy with it.
Email the files to yourself at an online email provider such as Gmail. Then, no matter where you are, as long as you have access to a computer or an office supply store, you can get to it.
What other ways can you make sure your files are available no matter where you are?
7. Back it up!
There’s nothing worse than remembering that you created a printable only to realize you didn’t keep a back up copy . . . or two. Organize your printables so that you will be able to find them next week or next year.
Keeping a print with the filename on it will give you an extra way of searching in the future as well as knowing what you’ve already done. Write the name of the final file on the print. You can also use your prints for inspiration.
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Creating printables
8. Printables for young children.
Color sheets can be created from clip art, rubber stamps, photos or any digital image you have. Review the copyright on these items before deciding to use them in color sheets. Create one or more color sheets.
Dot-to-dot sheets can easily be created by placing the dots on a color sheet and then removing the parts of the image you do not want. Take one of the color sheets you created or a piece of clip art you have and create a dot-to-dot sheet.
9. Word games.
You can create your own word games or use creators found on the Web. Word games can include:
- Boggle
- Crossword
- Cryptogram / cryptics
- Find-a-word / word search
- Mad libs / fill-them-in tale
- Word scramble / jumble
10. Writing games and puzzles.
Some games need copies for each participant. Here are a few to think about.
- Friendship questions
- Matching
- Mazes
- Quizzes
- Sudoku
Try creating one or more of these.
11. Reusable games and puzzles.
Taking a non-paper game and converting it into a reusable game allows you to place the sheet into a binder. You may need minimal markers or game pieces to play which can be included in your binder or in a separate container. You can then take them when you travel or use them as an additional activity. Explore the AEP supplements listed below to see some printable games.
12. Icebreakers.
Icebreakers are activities that allow you to learn about yourself and others to help you get comfortable in new surroundings with new people. Check out the AEP supplement SUPP_Icebreaker_Sampler.pdf and make a printable from one of those ideas or create one based on your own idea.
13. Miniatures.
Whether making a dollhouse, SWAP or a small item to create a mixed media work, miniatures on paper can be anything from your favorite box of cookies to piece of furniture. Explore miniature printables on the Web. Can you find any that fit into your theme?
14. Crafts.
Whether ephemera, clip art or directions, many craft items can be shared via printables. Some items may include:
- Bookmarks
- Cards
- Door hangers
- Drawing
- Ephemera
- Frames
- Kaper / chore charts
- Mini-books
Then, search the Web and find what others have created in a craft you’d like to do. Try their printables. Is this something you can do?
15. Templates.
Templates might be for boxes, cards or even puppets. Templates allow you to give basic directions while encouraging creativity. Find templates online and see how you can incorporate them into your own activities. Would this be something you could create and share?
16. Forms.
From calendars through to do lists, forms are a great printable that can be reused indefinitely. Brainstorm what forms you might find helpful, whether generic or specific, and create one or more. This might include checklists for materials, timelines for advertising, grocery list, etc.
17. Lessons / worksheets.
If you look through teacher sites, you’ll find a plethora of lesson plans and worksheets. Often, these go with a specific piece of literature or thematic unit. Sometimes a little tweaking is all you need to create something less “homework” oriented and more fun. Find at least one worksheet that incorporates your theme and adjust it to work with your event, party, etc.
18. Awards and certificates.
Awards can be given for perfect attendance, participating in a service project or even for a giggle. Look online for awards that you would like to give others. After you’ve looked, brainstorm your own ideas. Create and share at least two unique awards.
19. Endless possibilities.
There are too many possibilities for printables to name them all. Start archiving items you find for ideas to use later. Keep your own list of items that you would like to create. Enjoy making and sharing your own printables.
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