Green Daily

If you're looking for a simple, homemade present for a young child, a recycling activity or a learning game, this DIY memory game is for you. You can use a wide variety of papers and materials to make the game and customize it to suit your child.

Directions for a simple color-matching game are available on Eco Child's Play but once you have the process down you can adapt the game in all sorts of ways. I have a 6-year-old nephew and here are the ideas I have had so far:

• matching words with pictures
• matching "heroes" with what they do - Tony Stewart with a race car, Peyton Manning with a football, etc.
  
• matching pictures of family - find two pictures of Grandma.
  
• letter cards to collect and make words with - sort of like Scrabble. Draw four, make a word or discard one or two, keeping the others to build words on other turns.
  
• holiday sets - matching Christmas pictures or Halloween pictures.
  
• matching symbols - recycling logo, McDonald's sign, church logo, and others.
  
• matching foods or making a "complete" meal

The possibilities are pretty limitless. I would use magazines or mail and newspapers (already in the recycling bin) to find my matching pictures. With the age of my nephew I would think two Christmas trees would be okay even if they weren't identical. I could also look through my fabric stash for possibilities. For that matter, the entire set of cards could be made from fabric.

I have some large sheets of wrapping paper in the recycling bin that I could use to make matching backs. If that wasn't available I would consider using newsprint so it was relatively uniform. If I was still a teacher I would put the little cards along the edges of things i was already laminating but since I am not, I am thinking this might be a good way to use up an old roll of not quite sticky enough for mailing packing tape and make square cards.

If you want to keep your kids busy, let them come up with their own game ideas and hunt for pictures.