a special game of memory
Country Living featured this version of a homemade memory game in the December issue.
Since my little potty-mouth loves playing games, I thought it would make a special christmas gift. After thinking through different objects I could use on the cards, I decided on a photo of each of the kids in our extended family. Then I figured I should create a game for each of the families and the idea for cousin memory was born.
There are 11 cousins {with one more on the way} so I used a photo of each little darling on two cards each.
A combination of photoshop, illustrator and digital printable papers {plus the cousins’ cute faces} made for a colorful and special memory game.
I followed the instructions from Country Living {printed the images, cut to size, used spray adhesive to attach to mat board}. I probably should have sealed them with mod-podge, but I didn’t finish the games until the night before our family christmas celebration, so I skipped that part.
The kids think it is fun to see their faces on playing cards.
You could do a similar project using any image or clipart that is meaningful to you:
memorable locations {first date, vacation, first house} for a special game for your spouse
favorite toys for your kids
items around the house to help a toddler learn objects
colors
shapes
gardening images for a gardener in your life
I could go on and on. But I’ll stop.
All to say, it is a simple and inexpensive project that makes a delightful gift.
You can read the original Country Living article here.
Ktez
Delightful!! I shall be making these as a gift for my little nieces. Many thanks Emily for all your creativity xx
Andrea
What a great idea. My little one would love this!
Katy
ADORABLE! I used to love playing this game as a kid. Definitely a great project to make for my son!
Mandy
Your game is adorable! I did something similar s few years ago because I had a great coupon for a website that sells playing cards with photos on the front. They had the option of leaving off the numbers so one side was blank and the other I included a bunch of random photos of family. I think I paid $5 a piece for them and there were 52 cards, of course. That’s a BIG game of memory. This past Oct. when my papaw died, we found the set we made to keep at his house tucked in a drawer. I wonder how often he looked a them? What a great keepsake this makes.
jordan
this is so cute and thoughtful! I bet your siblings thought so! How many siblings do you have?
emily
I have two sisters {one older, one younger}. I grew up with my cousins being like siblings too. Only one of the cousins has kids so far, so his are included.
Sarah B Design
I think this is a fantastic gift idea! I dont think anything beats a thoughtful, homemade gift and this one could be altered to fit any occasion or be a gift for anyone you love! This might be something I do for my fiance for V-day
Spark*Amy
What adorable cousins! Such a great idea for all of them! And you have a built in gift/project every couple of years as they change!
Kandi
LOVE! What a wonderful idea! My sister lives many states away and I worry than my 2 year old and 4 month old (eventually) will not know their cousins by names and faces…I will definitely be doing this. And I agree with the Mod Podge idea, my kids are hard on things.
Lynne
Emily!
You always make me smile!
Too cute!
~Lynne
[w/L]
Tara
Love this idea! My son only has one cousin so maybe we’ll reinvent it with all the members of our family. Thanks for the idea!
Kacey
This is too cute!
Mary
LOVE THIS!
There are 19 cousins (and one on the way) in our family. This would be so fun to make and keep at Grandma and Grandpa’s. As always, everything you do is so beautiful!
rachel in Cali.
Suuper cute! What type of cutter did you use to cut the foam board?
emily
The matting is thick, but i just used my regular paper cutter and it worked great.
Aja
What a fun idea! And as always, I love the way yours turned out!
Super cute.
MelissaJane
WOW, I pinned this on Pinterest before I even finished reading the post! I love this – and it’s what my boys and nephew are getting for Christmas next year!
Hayden
My little guys would love this! They love seeing pictures of their cousins, aunt, uncles, and grandparents. Might have to give this a try!
Seriously Sassy Mama
That is too cute!
{darlene}
I love this idea! Such a special way to keep your family on your children’s hearts throughout the year.
Kim
This is beyond brilliant!
Chantalle
So clever! I love it. Can’t wait to whip one up myself!
Maren
This is such a great idea! There are 30+ cousins for my kids to get to know and sadly we are able to get together only once every couple of years. I’m going to make this our “off year” project so that each of the families still have a way to remember their cousins
Christene {Author of Nowhere Else to Run}
What a beautiful idea! I’ve seen things of this nature before, but they still strike me the same. Most of our cousins are far away on the east cost (we’re in Vegas) and we miss the pleasure of close relations for our little ones. This is another great way to keep loved ones close and make them more familiar for when we do get to meet up. Lovely!
emily
One set of the cousins live in San Diego and so I love the my kids can still see their cute faces even if not in real life.
Jaclyn Bishop
such a great idea! i love this blog!
Meg
This is going STRAIGHT to my pinterest board!
Brianne Hanson
Good idea. My son has been enjoying matching games on our computer, but I would much rather have him play it with something real. I love the personal touch it adds to put loved ones on the squares. I will have to give this a try.
Mary-Frances Kenney
I LOVE this idea! My husband’s family are spread out and the kids don’t get to see each other very often. I would love to make this for all the kiddos. Your link for digital printable papers isn’t working though…help?
emily
Sorry about that. You can click on the shop menu item and the papers are in there. I’ll go fix the link now.
Catherine at Design Editor
This is precious! My girls are really into doing “roll call” and naming everyone in our extended family-this would be so fun.
Leslie
I am a preschool teacher and we’ve made a set of class cards for each of my classes. The children love to play memory with their friends’ faces and it helps them learn each others’ names.
CaroleB
So Darling…I’m going to make one for my grandchildren. I love your great ideas.
charis
that is so cute! i want to make it!!
my recent post: how to change what your heart loves
Tricia Lynn
This is such a great idea for kids (or a gift for someone with kids)! Letters, numbers and colors would be great for babes and you could even do simple and advanced shapes for geometry! The opportunities really are endless… sweet! Thanks for this tutorial (and for being one heck of a mom from my vantage point)!
Karena Kreger
This is so great!! I came from a very large family – roughly 50 cousins on each side of the family plus second cousins galore! When we traveled back home for the occasional visit as kids we never remembered who was who. I’m just laughing at the thought of playing this game to have a quick memory jog before the awkward biannual visit – that would have been hilarious!! And it would have been a long game to play!
Marisa
My husband, 4 yr old son, and I just moved cross country away from all of our families. This would be a great way to prove to the doubtful family members that he isn’t going to forget them!
Tami
Just stopping by to let you know that I’ve featured your craft on Family Fun Crafts! You can see it here:
http://funfamilycrafts.com/game-of-memory/
If you have other kid friendly crafts, I’d love it if you would submit them.
If you would like to display a
featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above.
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