Monday, February 23, 2009

Magnetic File Folder Games!

My sister-in-law gave me some file folder games for Christmas that are amazing, and the neatest thing is...they are magnetic! I've been wanting to post about these for a while, but the website of the company where she bought her magnetic backing has not been working. The other day I thought of trying to make my own with magnets I have around the house and a file folder game I have had for a while and never put together. Here's what I did:

-I always keep the thin magnets that come on the front of phone books (I'm not sure if this is the case everywhere) because they might come in handy sometime. I dug them out and used them for the magnets behind my file folder game. They worked great because they are so thin.
-For the detachable past of the game I used contact paper and then attached normal magnets with a hot glue gun.
-The fun thing about magnetic file folder games is that they are quiet (no Velcro attaching and detaching) and if the child gets the object in about the right place, it stays!
-Here's what "Grandpa's Garden"(a color matching game) looks like with the magnets (the first picture shows the sizes I cut to go behind the paper, the second picture shows the little magnets to hold the pieces on).

Hopefully the website that sells shim, a paper thin roll of metal, will be up and working soon. Until then, good luck making home-made magnetic file folders!

PS: The games I received were printed from a CD by Finch Family Games. You have to buy the CDs for about $15 dollars each, but they are amazing! Almost all of them are religious in nature, and teach basic skills. For example, "Time to go to the temple" has the kids match up a clock face to the typed time...something that took me a long time to learn!