By age 4, most kids are getting ready to embark on the big adventure of school. Playing educational games with 4-year-olds is one way to help them understand the basics of their school subjects. Kids can learn skills like matching, counting, rhyming and other basics that will help them in kindergarten and beyond. Playing educational games for 4-year-old kids also helps teach them that learning is fun.
Matching Games
Matching games help 4-year-olds learn how to compare and contrast elements of a symbol. According to BabyCenter, they can be a helpful way to teach young kids the basics of reading, which requires children to compare letters and sounds to determine how to pronounce words. Concentration is a popular matching game for 4-year-olds. To play, you'll need 12 to 20 cards, consisting of six to 10 pairs of matching images. Shuffle the cards and lay them facedown. On their turn, players turn over two cards, attempting to find a match. If the cards match, the player may keep them. If they do not match, the player turns them over again. The object of the game is to find the most pairs.
Bigger or Smaller
Bigger or Smaller is a numbers game that involves both counting and an understanding of which numbers are larger or smaller than others, an important skill when children begin to learn addition and subtraction, according to Scholastic. To play, choose a number between 1 and 10. Then, tell your 4-year-old player that you're thinking of a number between 1 and 10 and ask if the child can guess what it is. After each guess, tell the child whether the number you're thinking of is bigger or smaller than his guess. The object of the game is to find the number in the fewest moves possible. Once the child guesses your number, have him pick a number and help you try to guess the number.
What Word Sounds Like
What Word Sounds Like is a game that helps children learn how to match sounds, an important step in learning to read, according to Family Education. To play, simply ask your child to give you a word that sounds like any word you choose, such as "cat." Answers might include "bat" or "hat." As your child gets familiar with the concept of the game, she can provide words and you can offer words that rhyme. Reading rhyming children's books together is a fun way to help develop your child's vocabulary of words that sound alike.
