Picture lotto upside down

We tailored the rules of the game for the smallest (up to 5 years) in such a way that they weren’t stressed out from the competition, were able to calmly learn the game and all in a good atmosphere.

How can one reduce rivalry and stress, not suppress empathy, not create a means to cheat, not induce greed and not devastate children’s self-confidence? You can even the chances to win by the following rules, which don’t violate the main principle of picture lotto which is to train the memory:

• Prepare the game in a way that each player can obtain the same number of pairs.
• Place the cards face down.
• The player who starts turns the cards face up until he finds a pair, which he keeps. The rest of the cards are again turned face down.
• The next player again searches for a pair until he finds one, etc.
• When a player insists on gaining a specific pair of cards, he can continue searching until he finds it, even though other pairs are visible.
• When one player wants a picture from the other player, he can propose an exchange. (Thus, the disappointment of the players, who don’t have their favourite picture is eliminated and it doesn’t ruin the atmosphere of the game.)

Children who are purged of their thoughts on winning, are stress-free:

• Take note of the pictures on the cards (The Czech - English sea world), thus children learn in a friendly atmosphere.
• Focus on remembering the positions of cards.
• Exercise empathy when exchanging cards.
• The game should be a pleasant experience for them where they can talk about other things connected to the theme.
• Be happy and be equal. They aren’t too disappointed by losing and not overreact while gaining cards.
• When I gave them the choice of, how they want to play picture lotto, they picked the face down variation.

More on the topic of games for children can be found in the feuilleton A good game, unconditional self-acceptance

Author: Lenka Míkovcová

Translation: Marek Hubbell