Make holiday match game

Ready for a game of concentration? When the weather brings kids indoors, or the big kids are off playing sports and your preschoolers are left behind, this match game is as much fun for them to make as it is to play.

It will keep everyone entertained on a family game night, too.

First, your children get to go hunting through holiday cards, photos, gift wrap and stickers to cut and paste images onto game cards. Then it’s time to put their whole minds – and yours – into it! But watch carefully as you play. You may not be a “match” for them in the end. Sometimes I think our grown-up minds are just a bit too cluttered to ace this game.

Here’s the stuff you’ll need:

•Eight to 16 2-inch-by-2-inch squares cut from poster board, or use smooth-sided juice lids from frozen juice cans

•Four to eight matched pairs of cutouts from holiday cards and photos. Or use stickers, images from gift wrap, used postage stamps, tickets and even coins

•Household glue, a glue stick or double-sided tape.

Here’s the fun:

Glue each item onto a square, making sure that there are identical items to make a pair. Make as many pairs as you wish.

To play the game: Shuffle the cards and arrange them face down on a table in rows.

The first player turns over one card. The player then turns over a second card. If it doesn’t match the first card, the player turns the two back over, and the next player begins.

If a player matches the two cards, he or she keeps them and takes another turn. A player’s turn ends when he or she can no longer make a match. The object of the game is to get the most matches.