Family Memory Game Cards

Photo memory game cards

My gorgeous little nephew just turned 2 and I wanted to make something for him as part of his present. He's just starting to say a lot more, trying to get our names right and coming up to the age for learning to sit and play a simple game so I thought I could make him some memory game cards from family photos.

It came out kind of cool (if I do say so myself) so here's what I did if you want to have a go.

Let me warn you know there now follows a weird mix of metric and imperial measurement - sorry, I am a UK child of the 70's, what can I say!

You need:

  • A photo of each family member

  • Thick 250 micron A4 laminating pouches

  • Wrapping paper

  • Scissors or a guillotine

  • Corner punch (optional)

I used Picmonkey to get my photos ready. Update : you now have to pay for Picmonkey so I mostly use iPiccy to edit my photos but other site exist. The instructions are not identical to the Picmonkey ones below but it is very similar

  • Open Picmonkey (or your choice of photo editing sites) and select Collage

  • Upload two of the photos you want to use

picmonkey 1 a.jpg

Change the type of collage by clicking the little symbol on the right

picmonkey 1a.jpg

Select "Cards" 5x7 and the one with just 2 photos

picmonkey 2 a.jpg

Rotate the canvas (red arrow) and pull the dividing line to the centre (green arrow)

picmonkey 3 a.jpg

Then you can just drag and drop your two photos, one in each rectangle. Save and then repeat for the next pair of photos.

I had 4 of each photo printed at a photo place. (I thought it would use too much printer ink at home) They ended up with a white border, not sure why but the photo is 5"x7" so each individual picture is 5"x3.5"

photos.jpg

I cut them out with the guillotine, trimming them so they were all exactly 82mm x 122mm

cut out.jpg

I rounded the corners with my corner punch. Next I cut the wrapping paper into A4 pieces and layered them in the laminating pouches with the photos spaced out on the plain side.

ready to laminate.jpg

Then they just rolled through the laminator.

laminating.jpg

I cut them out, allowing an even border round the photos then rounded the corner again.

Then we had a quick play, just to make sure it worked.

family photo memory game
family photo memory game cards

Wooo, it's a pair!

Now I just needed a cute box for him to keep them in. I had a sturdy little box from Ikea, the smallest of a nesting set with a twirly design on the lid. (no before photo sorry, don't know what happened there)

I painted the lid with black paint

Paint the lid.jpg
lid painted.jpg

Then added some writing with a tipex pen

write on lid.jpg
DIY card game in box.jpg

There are 9 in Luke's family and 5 of us so that's 14 people, and I made 4 of each card. 56 cards is plenty. I thought only 2 of each might make the game too hard to play. If you have less people in the family you could have Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles, Cousins etc. 

Don't try to use card instead of wrapping paper, if it's too thick you end up with an air gap all round the photos when they are laminated. I don't think they would last as well.

Make a family photo memory card game

Luke's big sisters have had lots of fun playing with the cards and promise to teach him to play the memory game once he is a little bit older.

make your own family photo memory game

These cards can also be used for simple matching up and grouping games, something like "Find Auntie Julie?", Snap and other things I've not even thought of.

DIY family photo card game

I wondered about doing Domino Cards too but that will only work for 6 people. Unless people doubled up in the photos, humm, maybe next time...

Family Memory Game Cards.jpg

This post is part of a Blog Hop/Series with 14 other amazing Bloggers all sharing lovely Gift ideas that you can make yourself. The collection has all sorts of ideas suitable for all sorts of potential recipients so have a little browse though and see if you are inspired to make a gift or two this year. 

Handmade gift ideas