🌮🐱🐐🧀🍕- why simple games matter in contact visits

This week’s post looks at a small card game we often see used during contact visits, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, and why games like this can be helpful for children during contact time.

It’s a fast, light-hearted game that doesn’t require preparation, reading, or strategy, which makes it accessible for a wide range of ages. (and now available for loan by request through your contact worker)

In contact visits, having a shared activity can help children settle into the time more easily.

A game with clear rules and a predictable rhythm gives everyone something to focus on together, without the pressure of filling space with conversation or directing the interaction.

For many children, that shared focus helps the visit feel more manageable.

Although the game looks chaotic, it involves waiting, watching, turn-taking, and stopping and starting again.

Children practise:

• paying attention

• managing small frustrations

• recovering quickly when they make a mistake

These moments happen naturally, without being pointed out or corrected.

Not every child enjoys fast-paced games.

If a child becomes overwhelmed or loses interest, that’s useful information. Slowing the pace, changing the activity, or taking a break can help the visit stay steady and responsive to the child’s needs.

The aim isn’t to complete the game. It’s to support a visit that works for the child on that day.

Simple games can do a lot of quiet work.

They create structure, reduce pressure, and allow connection to build in a way that feels ordinary and safe for children.

That’s often enough.