File Folder Games , oh my!

Okay. So I usually have a picture to post on my blog about the things I talk about. I may even post a picture later on when I get a moment and its not almost 1 o'clock in the morning.
But I'd thought I'd take a moment and talk about File Folder Games.

I was just looking at our little stack of File Folder games in our living room. Did you know there are tons of free File Folder Games to download and print on the internet? If your really crafty you can even make them yourselves. I'll admit, I'm crafty but not that crafty. No, just kidding. I could do it if I had the time. Between teaching the girls, doing my mom duties, and college school work there is only so much time left in the day. So there are other moms out there that take the time to put these games together and they post them for free. All I can say is bless their hearts that they are actually help make my life a bit easier.

What are File Folder games you ask? They are bascially educational games made out of file folders. Minus the printer ink, they are easy to put together and the kids have fun and learn all at the same time and they don't even know it.
They can be as simple as using a coloring book and crayons, file folder, and glue.
Or if your like me finding premade games so all you need to do is print them , cut, glue and laminate. There are many free ones online and there are some that you can purchase online. I've even found you can purchase them in workbook form so all you have to do is cut them out of the book , glue , then laminate.

Such as this one. I have found Rainbow Resource has great prices on them.
Or better yet,, if you want to skip the whole cutting process and you just want to open and go then something already made for you might be beneficial. Such as these:


I'll admit though that would take the fun of the cutting , gluing and laminating away. For me the very act of sitting down and cutting paper can be relaxing after a crazy day of school.

As I was saying I've accumulated quite a few of these games in the past few years. I counted about 40 of them today. That doesn't include the ones I make for Maggie to sit and play with.
I have found they make great 'distractors' for one child when I am working with another child. Plus I know they are learning something from them in the process. Its much better then having the usual chaos of have the other three running around while I try to teach one of them something.

I'll admit, File Folder games are right up there with making Lapbooks. They are fun for the kids and educational all at the same time. They are very hands on and great for kids who learn best doing hands on things. Even if they don't all children love games.

Here is a list of my favorite places to go for my freebie games:

www.filefolderfun.com
www.preschoolprintables.com
http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/filefolders.asp ( great for toddlers)
http://www.myffgames.com/ ( this one you do have to purchase but they are the only ones at the moment that i know of that have File Folder games up to 4th grade)

http://www.positivelyautism.com/downloads_foldergames.html ( has a few simple games to print out for free)
http://www.gigglygames.net/freebies.htm
http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/ChristianFileFolderGames.html

http://www.biblestoryprintables.com/BibleFileFolderGames.html
http://www.childcareland.com/free.html ( games and file folder games for prek-K)
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/printables/filefolder.htm ( there are three of them on this website)
http://www.filefolderheaven.com/shop/ ( have some freebies)

I'm sure there maybe other sites but these are the major ones that I have been able to find that offer free file folder games.
I do hope in the future that I will be able to find games for children in upper grades. I've made one of my own so far and one of these days I'll have to share it on here so others can benefit from it.