Invent Your Own Game

Instead of playing a game off the shelf, the child makes one up — and decides the rules. It might be a throwing game with a laundry basket, a made-up board game drawn on paper, a tag variation with a silly twist, or a card game with rules only they understand at first. Inventing the rules — and revising them when they don’t work — is sophisticated creative thinking dressed up as play.

  1. Spark the idea: “Want to invent a brand-new game? One nobody has ever played?” Offer a starting ingredient — a ball and a bucket, a deck of cards, some chalk, a die.

  2. Let the child decide the goal (“how do you win?”) and the rules (“what are you allowed to do?”). Ask gentle questions to help them think it through: “How do we start? What happens if you miss? How do we know who wins?”

  3. Play it — for real, following their rules exactly, even the odd ones. Playing their game seriously tells them their ideas matter.

  4. Notice together when a rule doesn’t work (“it’s impossible to win!”) and invite them to change it: “How could we fix it?” Revising is part of the design.

  5. Give the game a name. Teach it to someone else — a parent, a sibling, a stuffed-animal tournament.

Variation: invent a new rule for a game they already know (“what if the floor is lava on this board?”). Design a game for a specific person (“a game baby brother could play”). Draw the board and make the pieces from loose parts or junk-modeling bits.

Requirements

  • Space: Depends on the game — a tabletop for a quiet game, a room or yard for an active one
  • Surface: As needed; paper and floor or table for board games, open space for movement games
  • Materials: Almost anything as a starting prop — ball, basket, cards, dice, chalk, paper; or nothing for a made-up running or guessing game
  • Participants: At least 1 adult or peer to play with and to test the rules; small groups make rule-negotiation richer
  • Supervision: Light to moderate — closer for active games to keep play safe and help mediate rule disputes

Rationale & Objective

Inventing a game asks the child to imagine a system, set its rules, test it, and revise it — a complete cycle of creative problem-solving. HighScope’s Approaches to Learning indicators name exactly these moves: making plans and following through (planning), solving problems encountered in play, and reflecting on experience. NAEYC’s 2020 position statement lists games with rules among the central forms of play through which children develop, noting that play “promotes joyful learning that fosters self-regulation, language, cognitive and social competencies.” Vygotsky (1978) showed that rule-making is the hidden heart of children’s play, and that games with explicit rules push children to subordinate impulse to an idea they have agreed on. Negotiating and revising rules with a partner also stretches social cognition and flexible thinking. The activity targets the subdomain marker “invents a new game with rules” and the EYFS characteristic of creating and thinking critically (having their own ideas and choosing ways to do things).

Progress Indicators

  • Early: makes up rules on the spot and changes them constantly, often so they always win; the rules may not be consistent or fair yet, but the inventing impulse is there
  • Developing: sets a basic goal and one or two rules that mostly hold for a whole round; can explain how to win; needs help noticing when a rule doesn’t work
  • Proficient: designs a game with a clear goal and consistent rules, teaches it to another person, and revises a rule when it breaks down; accepts fair rules even when they lose
  • Advanced: invents games with several interacting rules, balances them so the game is fun and fair for everyone, anticipates problems like the need for a tie-breaker, and adapts the game for different players or spaces

Safety Notes

  • For active invented games, clear the space of trip and collision hazards and set a few safety limits up front, such as no pushing and no throwing hard objects at people
  • Keep thrown items soft, like rolled socks or a soft ball, and aim at targets rather than faces
  • Mediate rule disputes calmly — frustration runs high when a child’s invented rules are challenged, so coach turn-taking and fair fixes
  • Match physical challenge to ability to avoid falls, and supervise any game involving stairs, height, or running indoors more closely
  • Watch for choking parts if homemade pieces are small and younger children are playing

Hints

  • Playfulness: play the child’s game with full commitment and theatrical defeat (‘you beat me with the lava rule!’). Your willingness to follow their rules is the whole magic.
  • Sustain interest: keep a running ‘family game we invented’ that grows new rules over weeks, or hold an invent-a-game afternoon; let the child be the referee and rule-keeper to deepen ownership.
  • Common mistake: correcting their rules toward a ‘proper’ game, or refusing to play because it ‘doesn’t make sense’ — let the game be theirs, and use ‘I wonder how we could fix that’ instead of ’that’s wrong’ when a rule breaks.
  • Limited space / no equipment: invent a guessing or word game with nothing at all, or a quiet game with a single die; one ball and a bucket makes a dozen possible games.
  • Cross-domain: scoring and keeping turns builds early math; explaining and defending rules grows language and reasoning; active games build gross-motor skills; negotiating rules with others develops cooperation and conflict resolution.
  • Progression: add a new rule to a known game → invent a simple game with one goal and one rule → build a game with several rules and teach it to someone → revise rules that don’t work → design a game tailored to a particular player or space.

Sources

  • Resnick, M. (2017). Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity Through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play. MIT Press
  • NAEYC (2020). Developmentally Appropriate Practice position statement (play, including games with rules, as central to development)
  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press (rules in play)
  • Head Start ELOF — Goal P-ATL 12 (child expresses creativity in thinking and communication) and Goal P-ATL 13 (uses imagination in play)
  • HighScope KDI 2 (planning), KDI 4 (problem solving) and KDI 6 (reflection)
  • UK EYFS — Characteristics of Effective Learning — creating and thinking critically