Dominoes?

[celticdragonfly]

One of the presents the kids got for Christmas is a set of "Double Six" dominoes - largish white ones with the pips a different color for each number value.

Maggie wanted to play with them. I'm all for there being a game other than just Candyland that we can play with her. But I never really played dominoes before. There was an instruction booklet with them - with a whole bunch of different games described, all of which sounded really complicated, certainly too complicated to teach a 4 year old.

The box says "Age 4 and up", so surely there must be a dominoes game a 4 year old can reasonably be expected to follow? Help?

Comments

[macgyvergal.livejournal.com]

You can try one I learned early on- matching the number of dots to make a train. The first double is turned sideways and can be used to branch off in other directions. All end dots are counted and multiples of 5 are counted as scoring. First one to 300 wins.

[tepintzin.livejournal.com]

That's the only way I know how to play, and in Latin countries dominoes are more common than cards.

dominoes

[bkseiver.livejournal.com]

Sure, that's why we got them. First of all, they are great for "building" with - standing up strings of dominoes and knocking them down. Second, the game is simple: Everybody draws a given number (6?) from the "bone pile". (Ideally, you stand your dominoes on edge so that your opponents can't see them, but that won't happen at first with kids.) The largest double number, such as double six, double five, etc. anyone has begins by putting it down. Then you have to have a piece with that number to play next to it, say 6/2. The next player then can play if they have a 6 or a 2. The first person to use all of their dominoes wins.

Re: dominoes

[rlseiver.livejournal.com]

We played a variation where any double was turned sideways and you could play off of either the side or the ends. That leaves more opportunities for play and might be less frustrating for the little ones. Downside is that it produces complicated chains that tend to run into each other.

Re: dominoes

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

The first person to use all of their dominoes wins.

Yeah, at Maggie's age I wouldn't bother keeping score.

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

Line-em-up and knock-em-down?