I found the Uno cards while we were packing things up in preparation to tear out the kitchen the other day (don’t ask me why the Uno cards were in the kitchen… I have no idea). We taught the big kids to play Uno around about this time last year and it was a huge hit, so I dumped the Uno cards in the ‘I’m bored’ toy bag that lives in my car for those moments that I find myself stuck with cranky bored kids and nothing to do. During this past week the Uno cards have been out on several occasions, and only once of those times did we actually play a game of Uno!
I have discovered that Uno cards are good for more than just games of Uno. There are loads of other games you can play with Uno cards!
Basic Colour and Number Recognition.
Noah is just starting to learn the names of the colours and will happily sit and turn over cards, getting you to name the colours. I’ve also started labeling the numbers, though Noah is a way off being ready for that. Morgan has a good grasp of numbers 1-10 so to make it trickier for him we turn over two cards, place them side by side and get him to say what number both of them make up. For example : a two card and a three card make 23.
They are also good for sorting into piles of colours or sets of numbers, or both! And you can make simple repeating patterns for the kids to continue – red 1, yellow 2, red 2, ?
Simple Card Games.
A simple set of Uno cards is great for playing snap or memory. In many ways they are easier for young players to use because the they are just matching colour and number, not colour, number and ‘suit’ like when you use a regular set of playing cards.
When playing memory we made up a new rule that if you matched a pair of skip cards it skipped the next persons turn, and if you matched a pair of reverses it revered the turns. This is a simple way to introduce the rules of Uno and makes it a bit more exciting for older kids.
You can also play lots of other simple card games like snap and go fish.
More Difficult Card Games
Flip Ten is kind of like Memory but involving maths skills. We played last holidays and it’s quite challenging… especially if you have terrible maths skills like I do!
War! You can play this game with Uno cards just like you do with regular cards. You can make it more interesting by leaving in the non-number cards and making up your own rules about them, or by turning over two cards at once and having to add them together or even multiply them to see who has the higher number.
Crazy Things to Do with Uno Cards
A well worn set of Uno cards is great for making card houses out of. My kids LOVED doing this even though it was quite a challenge to get them to get started and to get them to stay up long enough to build anything with.
We’ve also played silly throwing games with the cards. The classic ‘throw the card into the hat’ type games as well as seeing who can get their cards to go the furthest when thrown. Games like this with a little more action are good for small people who are not so great at sitting still!
So… have you got a pack of Uno cards sitting in the cupboard? What great games can you play with Uno cards?
{disclaimer: I was not paid, nor asked, nor compensated in anyway to blog about Uno cards. The opinions and ideas expressed in this post are purely my own.}
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Great ideas – i am starting to compile my packing list for our 6 week overseas adventure and you just bumped UNO cards onto the “pack” list – thanks – i always try to take versatile toys and games we won’t bore of easily.
You are endlessly creative, Kate. What a great post. I love UNO, but those cards deserve more of an outing. x
I grew up on UNO…love those cards and enjoyed reading your creative ways to extend the fun! It’s up to us to make sure these simple pleasures for children don’t disappear i think!
Perfect timing. Freya has discovered Uno over our holidays and weve been playing endless games each night.
We got Annie some of those personalised Uno cards for last Christmas and she is still struggling to figure out how to play Uno properly.
My girls took a while to figure it out too.
We play endless rounds of open hands or in pairs so that everyone can get their head around the game. We also don’t play the cumulative draw 2s and draw 4s cause that causes too much angst!
Great post! Love it! Thanks!
I love Uno I love to play games with the kids. I believe it is a great teacher It is definitely lots of laughs.
We like to play a game called SPAZ with our uno cards. Each color represents a pose (like sticking out the tongue) you get to pick them as a group. Pass out all of the cards to each player. With out looking at your cards, place one card face up in the discard pile. When two cards of the same color are put into the discard pile each player must make the pose that goes along with the color. The last person to make the pose takes the deck. The winner of the game is the firsts person to go out of cards. Best played really late when everyone has the giggles. You’ll laugh your pants off! BTW with playing with wilds, the person laying them down picks the color. Skips and Reverse have no meaning other than their color. Happy playing!!!
Oh wow that sounds like the coolest game ever!! Thank you so much for sharing!
My boys just discovered our old UNO cards and insisted on playing all weekend plus dividing up the cards between each other.
Great ideas thanks Kate.
Thanks for sharing ur ideas. It sparked an idea to use the UNO cards as part of my son’s first birthday party. 1) adults can play UNO, 2) use the blue cards for a “pin the ONE” on the clock game (for adults and kids), and 3) use the flip 10 game (reverse of ONE for the honoree) for the 4+ attendees.
Thanks for the inspiration.
That was really cool for UNO cards
Who doesn’t love Uno? Great post. I remember playing cards at school – closest to the wall, leansies, knock ‘em down and the happiest, or saddest part of all depending on where you landed, winner takes all. Thanks for this…
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