Toddler Monopoly – Toddleropoly

We love board games and loved playing Monopoly with family and friends. So why not have some fun with your toddlers in a different version of the game… Toddleropoly, or Coloropoly! :)

What you’ll need:

1. 1 White Poster Board ( 2 for 1$ at the Dollar Store).
2. Sheets of construction paper (2 of black, 1 of each color: purple, light blue, pink, orange, red, yellow, green, darkblue and white (off-white))
3. Printer to print the Toddleropoly_spaces.
4. Black marker
5. Glue
6. Scissors
7. Sippy Cups, or pacifiers, or some other toddler toy for the game pieces
8. ToddlerToddler Money ( click here for that activity to print out)
9. ToddlerToddler Big Dice ( click here for that activity to learn how to make)

Here’s how to make the board:

1. Take 1 sheet of one of the colored construction paper. Fold it in half both by length and width. Then cut on the lines so that you have small 4 rectangles  (about 4 1/4 inches by 5 1/2 inches). One of the four small rectangles will be the place on the board, the other three will be the cards in the pile. You can do this for all the colored sheets of paper, except black.
   
2. For the black corner squares, fold the paper in half top to bottom (lengthwise).
   Then take one of the small rectangles that you made in the above step to measure where to cut and cut across and then cut on the fold so that you have two squares.
   See the photo and cut so that you have squares that are about 5 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches. Do the same with the other piece of black construction paper, so that you end up with 4 squares.
3. On the Poster board, place 1 of each of color of the small rectangles you created in Step 1.
4. Place 2 of the white/off-white in the middle on the long sides
5. Place 4 black squares in each corner.
6. Then glue into place.
7. Print out the sheet of Toddleropoly_spaces, and glue to the spaces as shown in the photo.
8. When glue is dry, you can take a ruler to outline the colored rectangles with a black marker, if you like. :)

So we all know how long a game of real Monopoly can go for, and we all know the attention span of a toddler, so naturally this version will be different and it will ultimately be up to you and your toddlers to decide how to play:

• Get your Big Dice to roll, and use just one die.
• Let your toddler roll the Big Die
• Count the dots on the top side
• Let your toddler move her sippy cup on the game board jumping around the number of spots on the die. Starting at GO ( be sure to say Go and point to the word)
• Then whatever square she lands on, say the color and then have her find the card in the pile that matches. She can keep the card and hand over some Toddler Money and put it in the middle.
• Now it’s your turn!
  • When someone lands on a Train, everyone goes “Choo Choo”! and then it’s the next persons turn.
  • When someone lands on the Cat or Dog, everyone starts making the sounds that a cat or dog makes!
  • When someone lands on Free “Stroller” Parking, that person gets to take the money out of the middle.
• You can keep going until all the cards are gone from the pile, or when your toddler decides that the tv remote control is more exciting. lol.

Of course, you can come up with some of your own rules for play. Maybe your toddler will just like to roll the big dice and move the pieces around the board. Maybe you will put different animal pictures on the squares, instead of the dog or cat. It’s up to you! All in all, it’s about having some fun and also a teaching moment to let your toddler understand what it means to take turns. Depending on how old your little one is, you will probably adapt the game in different ways to make it fun and enjoyable for all. :)

Let us know how you end up playing with this! I’m sure others would love to hear what worked for you. :)

~Jennifer

Related posts: