Old School Fun — Playing Cards with Little Kids

We were thinking of saving this one for Passover and Holy Week since many of us will be spending time with family, but there is just too much going on in April, and since we are avid Anglophiles, Kate and Wills and all things English will have to take priority over most of April’s tips. But frankly I have such a wonderful and fun memory of our mom waking us up early to watch Lady Di become Princess Di, all cozy on her bed in the grey morning light, that it reminded me of so many other good times I’ve had with my family over the years. So we share them with you in this second week of Spring…in case things are still miserable outside and you need something to do!

Playing cards is an extremely ancient past time, but the oldies are always goodies and this one holds up. Once children hit three or four they can usually keep up with the old standbys, Go Fish, Crazy Eights, Old Maid, etc. What’s great about these is that you don’t have to have a big group to have fun and it’s a good learning and bonding experience with the kids.

BUT. We’ve got a game that just rocked our world when we were kids. And the more people around a big table the better. We’ve noticed that Smarts tend to avoid this kind of play because, well, it’s not very sophisticated or smart. But once they can get into the competitive silly fun, they won’t want to miss it. 

The game is Pig. I don’t know why but that’s what we call it. You need a deck of cards, a group of enthusiastic kids and adults and a nice big table for everyone to fit around. First you need to go through the deck of cards and take out as many four of a kinds as there are people. So if you’ve got eight players then you need eight different four of a kinds — four Aces, four Kings, four 2s, four 4s, etc… Shuffle extra good and pass them out. To the left, always. After you’ve dealt, each player should have four cards.

The object of the game is to get four of a kind. SO with that in mind with each play you discard an unwanted card to the player on your left as the player on your right passes one to you. Each turn of play goes like this until someone gets four of a kind.

Yes. Pretty simple. And we bet some sophisticated 3 year olds might be able to catch on quick. It’s very simple to play and have a nice conversation going because the fun part doesn’t really begin until someone gets four of a kind. When you have gotten four of a kind you don’t call it out like Uno or Gin. Nope, you very quietly and rather slyly put your finger alongside your nose and try very very hard not to giggle. Because with Pig, there’s only ONE loser and that’s the person who doesn’t notice that everyone has their fingers alongside their noses and are trying very very hard not to laugh.

I have to say that most likely detail oriented personality types like Funs and Classics will probably always do really well at this game, but for those Smarts and Organic “space cadet” kids out there, it’s great practice to help with their lack of attention to detail. Plus as you can see from the photo, it’s just the best and most fun EVER!