Tuesday Tips & Tricks

Instead of tying a blindfold, use a pull up diaper.

[Straight from the box, of course...]

DIY Sound Memory Gam

On a cold, inside winter day, make a memory game with your little one in which players attempt to remember which two items make the same sound by picking up two cups and shaking each one. If a match is suspected, the player can turn the cups over to see if the images on the bottom match.

Collect 12 plastic restaurant cups with lids. Place matching objects in each of two cups. Some ideas for objects are: jingle bells (one in each cup); paper clips (4-5 in each cup); rice (a small handful in each cup); dried beans (any small beans will do); a string of three linked plastic beads (any kind will do); pennies (two in each cup).


Place matching stickers over the straw hole on the lids of matching contents in the cups so the child will know if they have a match without opening the cups. Then seal the lids on with heavy duty tape.

Now it's time to see if the kisa can match the cups by listening to to sounds when they shake the cups.

In the Country

Teaching kids to appreciate where food comes from and how it comes to be will play an important role in raising a generation able to live more sustainably than ours does. Haba's In the Country game links farmyard activities, simple recipe building for kids, and the company's time-tested use of high quality yet simple wooden game pieces to create a captivating game that helps kids think about how their food gets to the table while helping them to develop some complex "habits of thought" at the same time.

Poketo Balancing Blocks

If you were ever mesmerized by the beauty in the precariousness of the balancing rocks, these Balancing Blocks are made for you...

Camping and Outdoor Games

Next week we will be camping with our married kids and grandkids. Here are some games I found to play while driving and camping...

The Car Next Door

Come up with stories about the people in the other cars on the road. Pick a car and glance at its passengers. Then have everyone take a turn telling something abou the life of the people in the "car next door."

Who Am I?

One person thinks of a person, place, or thing that everyone can recognize. The person thinking of the subject will give one clue at a time. For example: 1) I am bigger than a horse, 2) I live in water, 3) I was in a movie... (answer: Free Willy). After each clue, anyone can guess. The first person to guess the person, place, or thing is then "it" and gets to think up the next subject.

Animal Battle

Everyonone gets to create an animal by combining two real or imaginary creatures. For example: a snonkey (snake-monkey), an elephino (elephant-Rhinoceros), or a unifly (unicorn-butterfly). Then everyone takes turns defending why thier animal could win a battle against the other imagined animals. Include ruels against graphic descriptions to keep it light and fun.

Shave Mr. Balloon-face

Everyone needs to draw a face on a balloon that has been blown up. marker. Apply shaving cream to the balloon's cheeks and chin, and use a plastic knife or safety razor to shave with. Start the race, and the first person to shave Mr. Balloon-face without popping him is the winner. Make this even more risky (and fun) by shaving water balloons!

Tree Hugging

Split the group into pairs. Each pair chooses one person to be blindfolded, and one person to be the guide. The guide leads their partner in a roundabout way to a tree (maybe having them duck under imaginary fences, jump over imaginary streams, etc.). At the tree, the blindfolded partner inspects the tree (with blindfold still on(. You can hug the tree, trace its bark with your fingers, touch the ground and roots, and touch the branches and leaves – anything you want without looking. The guide then leads the blindfolded partner back (again in a roundabout way) to the starting point. Then the blindfolded partner takes off the blindfold and tries to find the correct tree.

Frisbee Golf

This game is best played in a large, open field. (Each person needs a Frisbee.) Choose around six or seven objects as targets for your golf "holes." Players will then take turns tossing their Frisbees toward the target. Keep track of how many throws it takes to hit the target. The player with the feewest throws at the end wins.

Memory Moment

Start off the game by telling one of the children three things that happened throughout the day. Then, have them try to guess which one was most exciting for you, and why. After he or shee has guessed, tell the child which event was ore exciting for you then the other two and why. Next, it's the child's turn to think up three events, and your turn to guess. The child will enjoy sharing, and you will learn at least three things he or shie did that day.

Smarter than... Who?

As the children to quiz you on things they learned that day. For example they might ask you what kind of fish they caught today. You answer, and they tell you if you are correct. Have them keep asking questions as long as they have questions, or until bedtime.

Constellation Creation

Start the game by pointing out one of the well-known constellations to the group, and then tell the mythological story behind it. Then, have everyone take turns making up new constellations and stories to go with them. For a tricky twist, have each constellation's story build off the last one told.

Thanks to Ashton Kelley

Rev Up Game

"REV UP" by Haba is a game for pre-schoolers that encourages cooperation, instead of competition, to get the "unassigned" cars to the end of the race track.

When participants make a match of the cards, like in the game of Memory, they move the cars through the race.

If a match is not made, then the player must wait for the next round to try to make a match and move a car.

There are no time limits or restraints to make the game a competition between players.

Young children will enjoy the sense of suspense as the cars get closer and closer to the goal, and they can play as long, or as short, as their attention spans lasts.

Get "REV UP" and other cooperative games by Haba at Amazon.

Let the 2009 Games Begin

NAMiTS

A fun and educational word games for kids of all ages
for families, classrooms, and travel...

NAMiTS Original - ages 4 to 100

The 5 national award winning game of creative brainstorming for answers to open-ended questions such as Name things that... fly. Over 165 different categories on 22 waterproof, tear-proof cards, gathered on a cable-lock ring. Great for anytime kids must spend time waiting — car, errands, appointments, restaurants...

NAMiTS Junior - ages 3 to 8

Language-building game for fun on the go. Created in collaboration with a reading and learning expert. Contains over 150 categories like Name all the things you would see at the circus, and Name all the things that have a button. Builds skills proven to benefit reading and school success. Consists of 24 durable waterproof, tear proof cards on a cable-lock ring. Developed as a tool for parents and teachers to support language development in children, this Junior game builds specific skills that are proven to benefit reading and school success.

Each color section of NAMiTS Junior builds a different set of skills:
Yellow Section - Wired for Words: develops vocabulary. The more words children hear determines how many words they will know and use.
Blue Section - Opening Windows to the World: encourages use of more complex language, stimulates extended conversations, and takes the child out of the here and now.
Red Section - Structured for Sound: focuses on awareness of letters and sounds.
Green Section - Digging and Discovering: Promotes opportunities for rich discussions on topics of science and our world.

Research-Based: The content for this Junior game was developed using Scientifically Based Reading Research done by Harvard Graduate School of Education in their Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development. Of all the factors included in the study's analysis, the strongest predictor of children's literacy development was support for literacy in the home.

Building Language Together: The Home-School Study is the basis for Building Language Together (BLT), a family literacy project. BLT informs parents about the best ways to support their child's learning. It allows parents to become directly involved in activities that help foster specific language skills that support literacy development.

Families Make a Difference: Parents are the first and best teacher a child can have. No one person knows a child better, cares more deeply for that child, or has more at stake in their healthy development.

Proven Benefits: NAMiTS Junior provides a fun, interactive way for parents and teachers to build skills critical to future reading and academic success. Play the game and watch the child's vocabulary grow!

NAMiTS Challenge

An extra challenge NAMiTS version of the original game of think. Players brainstorm answers to NAMiTS questions like Name things that crumble, and Name things that are unlikely. Over 165 different categories included on 22 colorful, durable waterproof and tear proof cards gathered on a cable-lock ring.

Get your NAMiTS games here for $9.95
or, at Amazon for $8.49
or, at Day's Market in Provo for $6.95
Day's is open regular hours today...

Diaper Dilemma

The kids and parents of a "soon-to-deliver" teacher
threw her a baby shower the last week of school.
They made her a cake out of baby diapers...


I walked in on them all playing a game with diapers.
It's probably an old game, but it was new to me...


One of the moms had taken various kinds of chocolate candy bars,
melted them in the mircrowave , and then put them in
newborn-size diapers. (Let me tell you, it looked real...)


The object is to guess what kind of candy bar is in each diaper.
You can look, smell, or even taste to get it right...


If you don't think you can handle the diaper thing
try this Candy Bar Identification Quiz instead...

(I missed one on the quiz. How did you do?)

Croquet

When I was a kid, my brothers and I had so much fun playing Croquet all summer long with our friends and with each other.

We always had a Croquet set around that had nine metal wickets. (Sometimes we forgot a wicket in the grass and it would get run over by the lawnmower.)

There were two stakes with color bands from the top to the bottom showing the order of play:
top color went first. (Of course that was always the oldest person playing.)

Six people could play at one one time, unless you had two different croquet sets. Each player had one ball and mallet of a matching color.

The first person around the course was the winner, unless we played Poison. Then it took longer. (Our courses were never exact. It was just how big the yard was.)

Croquet, Anyone?