Games We Play

I was thinking recently about all the games I've played with my children. I'm not sure why that's something we've always done, but I think it has something to do with one of my ideas about motherhood. I think I've just done with my kids the things I like to do. That's a good philosophy. I think if mom is happy and doing some of the things she loves, then that will naturally be a joy she shares with her children and her enjoyment will be contagious!

My mom always did that with us. She loved crafts and art, nature, reading and she passed on those loves to her children. Of course, not all her passions caught on. She also liked to sing and sang every song on the face of the earth to us. Well, that little pasttime did not stick wtih me...


So I love playing games. Here's a few ideas that might inspire you.
For younger kids - card games - concentration, finding matches, war, uno, go fish. For older kids - scrabble,boggle, trouble, and yahtzee are a few we love.

Puzzles - Growing up I used to love doing puzzles with my aunt kathy. Now that's one of our favorite things. Especially in the summer we like to have an ongoing puzzle set up on a table.

Scavenger hunts - I've always done this with my kids, even now and they love it. When they were younger, I would draw a picture of a couch, for example, and they would have to find a clue at the couch. etc... I'd usually end with a piece of candy or a quarter. As they got older, this was a great game for teaching reading. I'd stop drawing the picture, and they'd have to read the clue. Sometimes the treasure is freedom from a chore, or maybe a reward of extra tv time.
Another fun scavenger hunt is the "out of place" scavenger hunt. Put something out of it's ordinary place, the phone in the fridge, for example, and then they'd find something out of place where the phone goes etc.

Charades - a great one for even little kids. Little kids can act out simple things like "baking a cake." Older kids can learn the real deal of charades. This is a game we always played on family vacations growing up. I can still laugh really hard remembering my parents acting out the song "Papa get the hammer there's a fly on baby's head" - or something like that!

We have had many picnics with the stuffed animals. Stuffed animals can be used in many ways - a puppet show behind a big chair or couch; one time we made a graph of all the different kinds of stuffed animals.

For the more active types - bowling with empty 2 liter bottles and any kind of ball; long jump down the hallways; cooking with cheerios and pots; indoor tennis with a baloon; and of course a nerf hoop indoors, like us! Building forts with blankets and pillows is fun, too. And add a flashlight and your kids could be happy for a long time!

Just a few ideas... let me know if you have any good ideas.