Games for Kids- Uno

For Christmas this year my Dad made my son (3) a wooden card holder. With small hands it’s pretty hard to hold more than one or two cards in your hand. So before, we were playing things like Go Fish and Ticket to Ride with all of his cards laid out on the table for all the world to see. Now that we had something to help him manage cards we decided to introduce him to one of those classic kids games; Uno.

Some of my fondest memories of my “Papa” (grandfather) are of playing Uno with him. Now it was my parent’s turn. And boy did he make them play the hell out of it.

Uno is one of those games that kids just seem to universally love. I don’t really know what it is but they get an incredible amount of joy out of laying down a “Skip” card. A Draw Four is like pure ecstasy for them. And it’s not just the relatively simple and fresh perspective of a three year old either. My nieces, 11, 10, 7, all enjoy playing it as well.

What’s really funny is that he’ll eagerly anticipate getting to play a card like a Skip. If the color changes to be the same color as the Skip in his hand he’ll get excited. And then when it, inevitably, switches colors again he’ll ask everyone to change the color back. When after several rounds he’ll finally get the chance to play it, he’ll laugh maniacally. Then, he’ll say, with complete sincerity, “But I don’t want you to get skipped.”

Probably the source of the appeal for kids is the relative simplicity without appearing simple. For young ones, they need to know colors and numbers and be able to follow changing patterns. The Reverse is a concept that can actually be tricky to grasp when you’re just learning the idea of going around in a circle, everyone getting a turn. Especially when it starts bouncing back and forth a few times. While simple, it seems more complex.

For the littlest ones you obviously don’t want to keep score. Once they’re old enough it’s a great way to practice math skills but they really need to be able to do addition before you introduce it. Even without keeping score, learning the tactics of how to try and go out is good for developing advance planning. Do you play your last red or do you play your blue 7 because you have five blue cards? And because the game ends up being pretty random there really isn’t a wrong choice. But it’s a great way for the kids to feel like it does.