My family loves playing board and card games. Especially around the holidays, it is not uncommon for all my brothers and sisters to gather at someone’s house to play games all day before the holiday dinner. Kids included. However, Corinne and William seldom want to play the preschool games I bring for them, instead they want to play the games of their older cousins, like the game of Uno. But for my preschool aged children to play Uno with their grade school aged cousins, we have to tweak the rules a bit.
The first change we make is that each player begins with only five cards, instead of seven. We place them face up. Yes, this means that everyone can see one another’s cards, but it also eliminates trying to keep all the cards organized in the hand, which is a common frustration for young children.
We lay out a mat for the draw pile and the played cards. This helps William and Corinne to differentiate their own cards from those that have already been played. The skip, draw two, wild, and reverse cards are briefly explained before the beginning of each game, but the older players help explain to the younger players how to use the cards as they are drawn. When several cards have been drawn, and the hands get big, just layer the cards on top of one another.
The game is played, of course, by ridding your hand of cards that match the top card of the communal discard pile by number or color. This is an excellent exercise for toddler and preschool aged children. They are more than capable of making those matches, and playing this modified game of Uno is a fun way to reinforce their number identification and color recognition skills. After a few games, you’ll find your youngest kiddies will be able to play in this modified fashion by themselves. William is four and Corinne is two and a half and they it very well together, taking turns and encouraging one another.
Enjoy!
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I am Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home mama of five! I am the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught range of levels, including preschool and college, and a little bit of just about everything in between. Right now, my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction
Victoria says
April 7, 2014 at 3:40 amHello,
thank you for this wonderful game!!! My daughter si 4yo and she loves playing cards. She’ll be excited to play Uno like adults.
I have severav questions though. When a child draws +2 ou +4 do they add carts to their lines or they just turn over two additional cards? What about the change of colour? And who is the winner? The one who gets more cards?
Thank you once again,
Victoria
Sarah Punkoney says
April 7, 2014 at 11:41 amOur rules of the game when playing with the kids remain basically the same as the original rules. Colors change as the original rules dictate. When I child draws +2 or +4, our kiddies put the card into their hand to save it for play on someone else, but my kids also find it hilarious when someone (including themselves) have to draw cards. We even abide by the “Uno!” call-out when a player only has one card left. The child who gets rid of their cards first is the winner.
Sally Forte says
July 16, 2014 at 4:51 amGreetings! I’ve been reading your blog for a long time now and finally decided to go ahead and give you a shout out from Texas! Just wanted to say keep up the great work!
Jessica says
December 9, 2014 at 3:34 amThank you so much for sharing! I’ve been struggling find color/ number identification activities and this is perfect! Thanks again. 🙂
Teresa says
August 22, 2015 at 8:39 pmSaw this come up as a recommended pin on pinterest, and wanted to come comment that we taught uno to my oldest right before she turned three and she LOVES it. It really is a great homeschooling game for numbers and colors!
Sarah Punkoney says
August 25, 2015 at 9:00 pmIt is a favorite at our house, too. Especially during the winter when it is difficult to be outside and it gets dark really early.
Tina says
November 14, 2016 at 7:26 pmI play this with my class and they absolutely love it!:Much easier from them!