Category Archives: Games

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Tuesday Tips for Parenting – Play a Game

new logoThis tip is so basic, I feel a bit sheepish posting it, but I still think it’s worth sharing.

Take the time to play a game with your child.

That’s it.

Ignore the mess in the family room. Let the dirty dishes sit in the sink for an extra hour or two. Don’t worry about folding laundry. Screen calls and allow the answering machine to do its job.

Put on the kettle and make tea or hot cocoa. Pop some popcorn. Turn an everyday, average afternoon or evening into Game Night.

I know it’s difficult to set aside time with dance, gymnastics, and sporting events eating up the week days. And don’t even get me started about homework. What joy, however, to carve an hour out of the day to sit together and play a game. The laughter and time spent as a family will create precious memories and a legacy for your children.

For a great collection of game reviews (complete with pictures and detailed information), go to Callapidder Days. Katrina regularly share games that her family enjoys. I’m planning to plunder her site for Christmas gift ideas this year.

Games don’t have to take hours and hours. Gamewright sells dozens of card games, almost all of which can be played in less than 40 minutes, many in only 20 minutes. The website sorts the games by recommended age and is a wonderful resource of kid friendly games.

shall we play?

We played Citadels this evening, one of Joshua and Tim’s favorites.

Another excellent source for games of all kinds (with categories for card games, children games, dexterity based ones, 2-player games, party games, and on and on) is Newspiel. We have purchased many games from this company over the years and been consistently pleased with their prices and selection.

We are always looking for new and fun games to add to our collection. Leave a comment and share your family’s favorites.

Kathy
Project 365 – Day 281

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P365 – Day 102 Webkinz Hit Our House

The children have a new obsession – Webkinz. They heard about this new, exciting entertainment from some friends. It’s as if Beanie Babies married a computer programmer (a gamer, no less). You buy one of many adorable stuffed animals and with it (on it’s sacred tag) comes a code number. This number allows you to log on to the webkinz website and create a world for your pet. You play the games in order to earn money (realistic, I must say, that’s what we all know Tim is doing at work – playing games on his laptop). With the money you buy furnishings and other things for your pet. I’ll have to see if Daniel and Rachel will post a blog about their newfound fun.

daniel and david

I thought this sounded like a fun new game but didn’t give it much thought beyond that as we do not have ANY money in our budget these days for more stuffed animals (even if they do come with cool computer/web access). Lo and behold, we had visitors to our house and what were they hiding behind their backs? Not one but TWO Webkinz animals. One for Daniel and Rachel! Wow! What a huge gift! Thank you, Julee and girls. You are too kind.

So now Rachel and Daniel are extremely motivated to clean their rooms and do other chores as well as finish their school in record time, all in order to get time on the computer. Rachel told me, “I guess I won’t be a chip horder any more, Mom, with this fun game to play.” Joshua, who is NOT a stuffed animal lover and generally eschews these type of childish interests, has been seen helping Daniel with his pet for long periods of time. No doubt just doing a little consulting work on the side, I’m sure he isn’t really interested in the games. :)

Anyone else in on this craze? I felt vaguely comforted when the women’s ministry’s director of our church came over yesterday and immediately recognized the Webkinz game page. “Oh, do you guys have Webkinz?” She then launched into a long description of one aspect of the game. No doubt, like Joshua, she’s just “helping” her kids play. Nice to see people being so considerate. Lol!

Kathy

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