Flip, Clip, Save--Magnetic Silly Faces

Did you receive this in the mail recently? This is the second time I've received a coupon book like this one from Target, so I have to assume others are getting them too. Well, if you're like me, you won't even come close to using all the coupons in this book. I decided to use this book to make a little game for my little ones instead.

Here's how I did it: Each page pictures a face that is divided into three perforated sections; the top section is the hair or hat, the middle is the eyes and nose and the bottom is the mouth (on the back are the coupons). I tore out each section and took them off to my local Kinkos to laminate them for durability. Once laminated, I cut out the sections again and used sticky-back magnetic tape on the back of each section. The result? A magnetic silly faces game for my kids. The cost? Less than 5 dollars! Can't beat that!

If you didn't receive this booklet and would still like to make a game like this, you could use images taken from the web, or your own personal digital images. Just cut them into thirds and proceed as described above.

Children can play with these magnetic faces in a variety of ways. They can mix and match the parts of the face to make silly faces or they could try to find the matching parts of the face. My kids like to make faces with two sets of lips or eyes; they think that is really silly! You could also have your children create faces and then use a small, child-safe mirror for them to practice imitating the facial expressions on the cards. Your children will discover all the neat ways their face can look and how to control the different muscles that we use to change the expressions on our faces. Another idea is to have your kids identify how they think the person in the picture is feeling (happy, silly, serious, bored). Ask them how they know what emotion the person is feeling just by looking at their facial expressions. Have your child show you different emotions using only his facial expressions.

You can use your fridge as a game board for this activity, or you can dig out a cookie sheet and have the child sit at the table to play. At our house, we have a playroom, and I used sticky-back Velcro to attach a cookie sheet right to the playroom wall. The kids can sit on the carpet and play this and other magnetic games with the game board right at eye level!