Guess Who? President's Edition

"Who is the 12th president, Mommy?"

"Millard Fillmore?"

{snickers...} "No Mommy, it's Zachary Taylor."

Nothing like getting drilled from the back seat while running errands.  Even the four year old has memorized most of the presidents by face and can recognize their numbers in our little flip book that we keep in the car...

As the presidential election nears, we've been learning about our nations' presidents.  What better way to test our new-found knowledge of these presidents than with a game!  I was inspired when I found a similar version on pinterest.  Sadly, it did not contain all of the presidents and so I set out to make our own set.

I'll be honest up front and let you know that it isn't perfect.  After spending HOURS working on this, I printed it out the night before our cabin getaway and discovered up there that they were a bit too small.  Thankfully, we were able to slip the cards under the prongs on one end which actually makes it easier to swap out as we mix and match the different presidents to make an always changing game board. 

Because we aren't total presidential trivia experts, I put together some information pages to aid in asking and answering questions.  We did not allow questions on appearance, but focused on facts.  Something along the lines of "Is your president a Republican?" is usually one of the first questions, followed by "Did he serve in the military?" or "Did he die in office?" or "Was he a vice-president first?" "Does he appear on a US coin or currency?"

It is nice having the answers handy!

We borrowed this version from a friend, so if we decide to buy the game ourselves, I'll probably update this to fit the newest version.  In the meantime, I'll include a link to download our cards if you have an older version or can find one at a thrift store.

Here is how we play it:

• Print President cards -  1 large set and 2 small sets. Laminating or using contact paper will help these last longer
• Cut out cards.  We colored the back of one set to help keep the two sets differentiated.  If I had thought about it, I would have printed this on scrapbooking paper that was white on one side...
• Print the info sheets (included with the download for the small set) for help with narrowing down the field. 
• Select 24 presidents for each board and slide them into place.  Gather 24 corresponding large cards.
• Each player selects a president.
• The questions begin.
• Must be a question that can be answered with a yes or no.
• No questions based on appearance as in the original "Guess Who" game.
• No guessing of presidents.  Must narrow it down to one by asking questions based on what you know about that president.
• Be prepared to play over and over and over again!

{As a courtesy, please do not link directly to the download files.  Feel free to pin or link to this tutorial if you want to recommend it.}

Ok, I'm off to bed.  My poor little girl is trying to cut those first teeth and it's been keeping her up at night...

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