Family Game Night

So, we're finally doing it.  We're going to have a family game night every week!  We've certainly got plenty of games to choose from at this point (but who couldn't use more?) so it's time we finally start using them on a regular basis.  It's good for the kids, and the adults get to spend some social time.

For the longest time, Trouble was one of the favorites around here. That was, it was a favorite until the board came apart, which occasionally happens with well-loved games. Surviving the move presented another challenge. I'm not sure if it was a matter of letting the kids play unsupervised, since they both wanted to play every chance they could get, or something else, but that poor game got beat up. I suppose that's what happens with kids.  They can be rough on things they love!

This year my daughter got Sorry from her great-aunt and uncle.  I have to admit, I'd never played the game before.  I know pretty much everyone of my generation has.  Even Chesh said he'd loved that game when he was a kid.  He said if she liked trouble, she'd like this, so we gave it a try last game night.  I'll be honest, I wasn't a fan of Sorry.  It seems to be a game where a lot of time is spent sitting around, waiting to be able to do something.  Once people can get out into the board and start doing things, it doesn't necessarily move much faster.  It's not exactly my pace of game, and my little Link didn't seem to think it was his speed either, though we kind of figured that would be the case.  The rules are a bit complex for him, and he gets frustrated with competitive games that he doesn't understand so well.

However, my daughter loved it!  She thought it was the greatest game in the world and just wanted to play again and again.  We really didn't have the time for another play through, but it looks like that one's going to be coming out on our next game night, and every game night after as her choice of games.  As a result, we've decided everyone really needs to pick a game and we'll either go with the two favorites, or maybe we'll just have to dedicate a whole day to games.  Otherwise I get the feeling we'll be playing a lot of Sorry!

The other game we played on our last game night was Apple To Apples Kids 7 Plus, which turned out to be quite amusing.  I really wish we'd had more people to play with, because larger groups only make it that much more amusing.  We've played Apples to Apples before, but it's a game rated at 12+, so we thought a kids' version might be more appropriate.  Added bonus?  All of the sets work together, so while we may have started with this small set, we may end up with quite a set by the time we're done.  Most of my friends love this game, and now my kids love it too, even Link who is too little to read the cards on his own.

So in this case we all sat down to play.  Chesh and I already knew the rules, so it was easy for us.  Bunny Boo did amazingly well with all the reading skills.  Link, though he couldn't read, decided it was fun just to pick a card at random and throw it in, just because it allowed him to play without help.  When it came to his turn, we read the cards for him.  The whole family ended up in laughter at some of the things that got thrown down for each category.  I'm thinking we may have to pull that out at every party we have from now on, at least every party with kids old enough to read.  I might even have to think about packing it in our bags if we can find a way back home for Christmas next year.  I think the family would get a kick out of it.

I'm looking forward to all the other games we pull out of the closet over the next few game nights.  We've got a lot of games in there that have been seriously neglected.  I think it's time to pull them out and let them enjoy the light of day again!

Theme for the Year, Useful Gifts

It's that Christmas time of year again.  Everyone is out shopping.  In our family we don't really do much of a gift exchange with the adults.  I usually exchange gifts with my partner, but that's about it.  However, kids are a very different story.

This year we've decided to go for a break from traditional.  I was originally going to hand-make all of my gifts this year, but that ambitious goal turned out to be too ambitious for me.  I figured that would cut down on consumerism, but the truth is I'll still end up buying things to make the present.  It's not like I have a sheep to sheer, then wash the fleece, card it, spin it, knit with the yarn, and some time in the process, dye it with home-made dyes that I grow at my own home.  The consumer process does happen in there, and while home-made gifts are typically the best, I honestly think there should be a some value placed on time.  Right now, it's something I just don't have enough of.

That being said, I wanted our Christmas present theme to be useful items.  Now, I know I'm going to be expecting some toys for family.  No matter what you say, nor how much you beg people not to, there are always going to be people who insist on giving toys to kids.  I've decided I'm not going to fight it.  More importantly, it's good for kids to receive toys for holidays and birthdays.  How else will they end up with new toys as they outgrow the old?

Every year my aunt has always been fantastic with flooding our house with useful things.  She sends us crayons, markers, and pencils.  There's been drawing paper, workbooks, and coloring books.  There's been crafts to decorate with and lots of other stuff to inspire creativity.  She sends books, which are always good to have.  There's so much variety, but I noticed that most of it has been useful, at least for the older two, even with a good number of toys sprinkled throughout.

Because of my aunt's inspiration and looking at my children's insane number of toys, I decided this year it's time for something different.  Last year Santa was a huge hit for bringing games to the whole family.  This year he's planning the same.  They encourage family time, togetherness, and fun.  However, this year our family is focusing on things that can inspire outside interests, and we're going to carry that through birthdays and everything.  It means knowing a lot more about my kids than what a kid of their gender and age would like.  However, it's totally worth it.  This is what makes gifts that wow.

Taking my daughter as an example, we can see what appeals to her quite easily.  Archery would be a good direction to choose.  She loves it.  She's been begging me for her own bow and arrows ever since she shot her first arrow.  She's all about art, always wanting to draw, paint, color, or otherwise create masterpieces.  I want to pick something that will appeal to those interests of hers.

My older son is really into art and music.  He likes to sing and make music on anything he can make noise on.  He loves to draw and paint too.  I want to encourage him in those fields because he needs to have interest in something other than toys.  He's got to start developing his own tastes.  He also loves science, but finding science stuff for his age isn't something I'm particularly good at.

The littlest one is really only into making messes right now, so it's hard to pick things he'd like.  He's good with coloring and seems to like the idea of painting.  Anything he can squish in his fingers is also good, so soft clays may not be a bad choice either.

I'm starting to realize that my kids have very limited interests.  They haven't experienced life as much as I might wish.  They don't really have much of an idea of what they might like to be when they grow up because they haven't experienced enough to know.  My daughter wants to be an artist and my older son wants to be a rock star, but how do they know for sure?  They haven't really had a chance to dabble in other areas of life.  Maybe my older son will always want to be a rock star, or a musician of some kind.  Maybe my daughter will always want to be an artist, but at least I hope I can open up some other options for them so they know for sure.  More importantly, if they do decide to keep those career choices, at the least maybe they'll know what direction within those careers.  Maybe my daughter will decide she wants to be a painter, an illustrator, or a potter.  Perhaps my son will want to grow up to be a classical guitarist or a musician with the orchestra.  We won't know until they get there.  All I can do is take this time to give them as many opportunities to explore as possible, and Christmas is just as good of a chance as anything else.

I feel pretty good about this Christmas.  I feel like I'm finally doing something better than just getting toys and leaving it at that.  I'm hoping that they find it as wonderful of a Christmas as I'm planning it to be.  After all, if I can't get away from consumerism, I might as well use the holiday season as a time to help my kids advance their own goals or find new areas of exploration in life.  There are plenty of people to make sure they have toys.  I know them better than anyone else, so it really should be my job to pick out the things that will inspire them this year.

The Only Way She Wants to Read

If you've been following along thus far, you already know my Bunny Boo hates to read.  Reading is like a prison sentence to her.  It's the most cruel torture a parent could come up with.  If I ever want to punish my daughter, all I would need to do is sit her down with a book to work on reading.

It hasn't always been this way.  When she was very young, three, I think, she loved reading.  She wanted me to sit down and read with her all the time.  My aunt sent her a book once and she proudly picked it up declaring One, Two Three!  I was surprised when she shoved the book in my face to see that, sure enough, One, Two, Three! was the title of the book.  She was always that way with her books.  I'd pick up a book she was familiar with and as I would follow along what I was reading with my finger, she would break in with the word, reading it for me because she knew what it said.  It made reading with her a lot of fun.  We'd spend a good deal of time reading together until I couldn't take it anymore and wanted to do something else.  After about twenty or so books, I needed a break.  My voice was worn and I was starting to feel like I had no time to do anything I wanted to.  I was just an audio book library for my daughter.  By the end of it I wanted to make that ping sound that those read-along tapes I used to have when I was younger.

Somewhere along the line, things changed.  Reading became "too hard".  Actually, everything was "too hard" if it required any effort on her part at all, even using the toilet.  I'm sure part of it had to do with her father deploying and having a new baby brother in the house, so suddenly all eyes weren't on her.  Though I tried to do special "big girl" things with her, or things her brother couldn't enjoy but was stuck tagging along for the ride, it wasn't good enough.  She's been daddy's little girl since the day she was born, and having me as a replacement for nearly fifteen months simply wasn't enough.  I would try and teach her the alphabet and she wanted nothing to do with it because I wasn't her aunt and she wanted to see her aunt.  Her aunt was the one that did the best "letters" stuff with her and I couldn't compare.  No matter what I tried to do, she always had some reason to be unhappy with it.  She wanted to move out of Texas and go back to "the snow place".  She wanted Daddy to come home right that second.  If that couldn't happen, I had to have her friends over every day.  This was followed by constant string of "I hate you, Mommy!"  Where she learned that, I'll never know, but there it was.  I have to admit, I hated Texas.  I hated the Army.  I wanted nothing more than to go back home to Massachusetts so my little girl could have her family back, even if I couldn't bring her father home.  She seemed better about not having him around when we at least had other family there to keep her mind off of everything.

When Daddy came home things got worse and things slowly went down hill from there.  Separation followed his first year back.  He deployed again and never called to speak to his kids.  We tried co-habitation for everyone's sake, with Chesh and the littlest one when my soon-to-be-ex-husband got back from his deployment, but things got far worse, and Daddy trying to step in and help her with her reading only turned into more of a disaster.  They just weren't a good personality match when it came to learning and she was just too far frustrated with the whole idea.

So with all of this, it shouldn't be surprising that reading isn't something I've had an easy time bringing her around to.  It seems to carry a lot of negative baggage for her for some reason.  However, we've been finding creative ways to get her to read.  She wants to play some of her favorite games, she's got to learn to read.  If she wants to learn about stuff she's interested in, the best thing to do is be able to read about it.  Most of what she wants to do requires reading.  It hasn't been an easy path.

Thankfully, Chesh just jumped on board with the reading.  Bunny Boo loves Pokemon.  She's been wanting to do everything with Pokemon since we got her the DS game she loved so much.  The other day Chesh decided he would teach her to play a card game.  Seeing as we didn't have any Pokemon cards on hand, Chesh asked her if she wanted to learn how to play Magic the Gathering.

Now, to give you a little bit of background, when we have adults over to play cards, we're not playing conventional card games.  More often than not, Chesh is having friends over to play Magic.  When Marrok stayed with us, he played Magic too.  Bunny Boo would often see Chesh sitting over his cards trying to figure out how to improve one of his decks or organizing his cards to put away new cards he got through purchase, Christmas presents, or trade.  He spent a good long time looking up the cards he needed to complete his collections and how much he could expect to look at in purchase cost or trade value.  He's not just a player.  He's also a collector.  On a few occasions I would sit down with Chesh and help him build a deck, or would out and out build a deck for him that he would test and modify as needed, with or without my help.  She'd seen that we both would invest a lot of time on what someone else might find a silly card game.  She'd asked about it several times, but we kept telling her she had to learn to read if she wanted to learn how to play.  Reading is a large part of the game.  True, we also played games like Munchkin, and she's seen a few rousing games of rummy, but Magic was the bulk of the card playing action among adults.

Because of this, when Chesh told her to come out to the dining room and sit down, she was curious.  She knew Chesh had his cards spread across the table for days, having to clean them up every night for dinner.  She couldn't imagine why he would want her out there while he was working with his cards.  I almost expected her snappy, much too early teen attitude response of, "What do you want now?"  It had been a long day and exasperation isn't something I'll ever deny her when she's been dealing with two brothers that want nothing to annoy her all day.  Thankfully, she refrained.

When she walked into the dining room, the cards were still all laid out.  Chesh helped her build her first deck.  Then, once they'd done that, he sat her down and taught her to play Magic.  They played one hand before she had to run off and do something else, but she did really well and almost won!  She read all the cards on her own, with a little bit of help, of course, and he taught her how to use all of the spells and creatures to her best advantage.  She really enjoyed it and hasn't stopped bugging Chesh to play again.

The other day when we went to the library we realized that if Bunny Boo wanted to keep her own library card, she would need a wallet to keep it in.  I had told her we would look for one she liked.  We went to Target, but I didn't realize they didn't have wallets for kids.  We should have probably gone to the mall.  However, she selected one that was just perfect for her.  It's square a square hard case with one of those button latches that you push to open it.  It's decorated with a brightly colored peacock.  I have to admit that I thought she would choose that one.  It was so her.  It's just the right size.  It's got a zip pocket for change, a nice little spot to tuck any money she may carry on her for whatever reason, and a couple slots for cards.  She decided to use the clear ID pocket to put her library card in.  She's so proud of it, but again, I digress.  I'm pretty good at that, aren't I?

While we were looking at wallets, Chesh decided to go look at the Magic cards.  This is a regular routine for us.  Every time we stop at a store with cards or video games he wants to check out the selection.  I didn't think anything of it until he came back with the littlest in the cart and told me to have the kids wait a few feet away because he had to ask me something.  He pointed into the cart and said, "I wanted to ask you first, since I know money is tight and we're trying to save, but I wanted to get that for Bunny Boo."  I looked down and there was a two player starter set for thePokemon Trading Card Game.  He was right.  We were supposed to be saving money.  We probably shouldn't have spent the money on her wallet, but it was something I could justify.  She would feel much more comfortable knowing I didn't have to carry her library card everywhere for her and this way she wouldn't lose it.  Besides, it wasn't expensive.  Neither were the cards, and if it gave her something to encourage her to read, it was worth it.  I know I should have said no to both expenses, but I gave in.  We would find a way to make it work, and it had been quite a while since I'd last splurged on the kids.  My daughter felt pretty left out not that long ago because we had to buy new underwear for her brother and she didn't get anything, and the baby, of course, always gets new things, even if it's just second hand clothes from friends.  She knows it's just because he's growing so fast and needs clothes to wear, but it's still hard for her.  It might do her good to see her singled out for something special.

Wouldn't you know it?  When we got home she kept begging to play her game!  When she was first told we were playing a game tonight she was thinking we could sit down and play Mousetrap or something.  She hadn't thought about her game or Magic.  All she knew was the family was going to sit down and play a game.  Instead, after sitting through reading, she was offered to play Pokemon.  Of course, reading was a stealthy, sly trick to let Chesh figure out the rules of the game before they played!  They played through once to learn how the game was played, and then it was time for bed.  You could tell.  At first she was reading the cards eagerly, but towards the end she was dropping off and getting frustrated.  Still, she was so disappointed that she couldn't play again.  We had to promise her she could play again in the morning.

As it turns out, Chesh was torn between getting her the two player starter for Magic or Pokemon, but Pokemon won out.  He figured it's more age appropriate for her and it would be something special that was just for her.  Once her brothers were old enough, if she still wanted to play, she could teach them to play too.  Given a lot of adults play Pokemon, I wouldn't be surprised if she did still play.  Now she wants to learn to read even more so she can get really good at playing.  It will be easier to win when she doesn't have to ask for help with reading her cards!

Since she started playing, she secretly announced to me that she really liked learning to read for card games. Playing those games makes her actually want to read!  It looks like we have a success!  Now I've just got to come up with other things that will be interesting and engaging enough to encourage her to read.  If she'll read for things that are truly fun and engaging with someone else, maybe that's our foot in the door.  Maybe that's all she needed to turn her focus to reading!

Playing Games with Kids

I'd completely forgotten how much fun it can be to play games with kids.  I mean, we've played a lot of board games lately.  We've played a number of card games too.  It's been a while since we'd played any video games together.  I forgot how much I missed it.

Yesterday we pulled out our Wii Fit Plus again.  We used to use it all the time.  My older son's favorite game was the one with the penguins.  My daughter likes the hula hoop.  We used to play together to see who could get the highest score.  It was one of those things we used to play that was actually good for us.  While the game focuses most on balance, it certainly does make for a lot of fun.  We all laugh a lot as we watch each other play the games miserably!  I think the kids are actually better at this than we are!

After that we switched over to Sports Resort.  The two boys were asleep, so my partner played 100 pin bowling with my daughter, then they did some sword fighting.  Again, it's something active that we could all play together.  It was a nice day, so we could have spent it outside, but there was way too much to do around the house, so we opted to stay in.

I'm just glad we're having more opportunities to do something as a family.  It's nice to be able to enjoy our time with the kids.  Not enough families take the time to enjoy some time together.

Finally Busting out the Game!

As I believe I mentioned before, my daughter was given the Made for Trade game by her dad for Christmas this year.  I had given rave reviews of loving that game incredibly much!  I had such horrible visions of busting it out and hating the game because it was nothing like I remembered.

Well, let me tell you, we all loved it!  We used the simplest level of the game since my daughter really isn't ready for all the reading that comes with the second level.  They say the lowest level is good for ages eight and up.  The next is for ten and up where you start as an indentured servant and shop from your list.  The third is for ages twelve and up where you make your own lists.  I honestly don't think my sister and I ever made our own lists, but I do remember insisting that you had to buy everything on your list as part of the game so we could make the game last as long as possible.

So we played through the game.  With what many of the reviews said, I expected the game to be quite long and drawn out.  I was expecting to be circling the board for a couple of hours at least, but the game was quite short!  I was a little disappointed by how quickly it sped by.  I can imagine with event cards and shopping lists, it takes a good deal longer.  Still, it was a good introduction to the game and the board.  Because it's so quick and easy, this could easily become a game that's brought out any time we don't have time for a huge ordeal of a game, but want something to pass the time.

Most importantly, my daughter had a great time with it!  She loved the whole feel of the game.  Given the game uses two dice instead of one, it's also a good chance to work on her addition skills, even if it is only between two and twelve.  She was working those reading skills too!  It wouldn't have been so bad, but reading has been rough for her.  I'm thrilled that we were able to pull out those skills in a format other than traditional schooling!  She was pretty pleased with herself too!

This game has gone back up on the shelf for the night, but I don't think it's going to be one of those games that stays there for long.  I have a feeling this game will come down again and again as it's quickly becoming a household favorite already!  I didn't have much doubt on that one!

An Educational Card Game?

My daughter got this game a while back, I think for her birthday, but that should show you exactly how well used this game has been to this point.  It's largely been forgotten in all the moves we've had over the past year.  We decided on New Year's Eve to break them out and give them a try.  I gave the directions a read through, and since my daughter still swears she can't read, decided I would read the trivia cards and she would get to answer the questions.  Her goal was to get all the cards in the end.  It turned out to be educational, informative, and a lot of fun!  I can only imagine how fun this game could be with several players.

So what was this game that was so great for my family?  There were actually two games, Professor Noggin's Earth Science card game and Professor Noggin's Outer Space card game.  The game is fairly simple to play.  There's a six sided die with each game, though it only uses numbers one through three.  The cards all have pictures on them with the name of the subject the questions will be on, such as stars, Saturn V Rocket, astronauts, comets, etc for the Outer Space version and rain, continental drift, rain forest, etc for the Earth Science version.  There are two levels of play on each card with three questions in each level.  If you answer the trivia question right, you get the card.  If you answer it wrong, the correct answer is read aloud and the card goes to the bottom of the pile, recycled back into play.  Each player rolls the die and is given the corresponding question on the card, 1-3.  You can choose the harder or easier level for knowledge, or mix the levels to allow those who are more knowledgeable to play with those who are less so, like parents getting the harder questions and children getting the easier ones.

I have to admit, I expected my daughter to do a lot better on both trivia sets than she did.  In part, it was late and we were both tired, but I was also surprised at how hard some of the easy questions were!  Well, it's not so much that they were hard as some of them were answers I didn't even know, like the Russians being the first country to have a manned space expedition, or that the first creature to orbit earth was a dog.  In some cases, these were things I feel I should have known, but must have forgotten somewhere along the line.  I didn't take a look at the harder trivia questions, but I'd be curious to know.

While I do think the subjects were great as stand-alone games, I did think about how fun it would be to play a mixed category kind of game with cards from each of the subjects they offer (and there's a lot of subjects!) to create some larger game, though working through all the questions would surely take forever.  I do think the idea of having mixed genres for information would be a lot of fun.  It would also take slower to cycle through the cards.  Once the child knows the information fairly well and the trivia starts to become easy, you can then go on to the harder questions, or you could add it to the list of those to use for mixed trivia to keep the brain sharp, jumping from subject to subject, something I always enjoyed as a child.  I have to admit, collecting all the sets could become quite pricey, but if you use them regularly, it would be a good investment.  It's also yet another fun game that can be played as a family.  While the younger ones may not be ready to tackle the harder questions, by listening in as the parents try to answer the questions, or have the right answer read to them, they'll start to pick up on the answers themselves!  It's a great learning tool that the whole family can be in on (and learn something from!) which is also excellent!

My family does best with learning in a fun and engaging way, such as playing games.  Because of that, games such as these are perfect!  They take subjects like science out of books and turn them into something really fun and interactive.  Unlike science experiments, these games allow the family to work with trivia that can open up the curiosity to expand deeper into the subject or not as the child chooses.  Science experiments are also wonderful, but take time, resources, and typically a lot of clean-up!  The card game can be opened up and started in less than a minute and goes away in slightly longer than that!

I love these games.  I'm really looking forward to being able to make the investment on more in the future.  We haven't been working on them long, but this has been a great way to learn some new, fun facts for my daughter!  Who knows?  It may start with these card games, then end up with a love for something even more challenging, like Trivial Pursuit!

Expanding on Family Time

Given it is the holiday season and all, and everyone's already well into their Christmas shopping, I wanted to throw out a few suggestions for family oriented presents this Christmas.  I don't just mean gifts for the whole family.  I mean gifts that promote family time.  Family time is one of the things I feel is most missing in your average American household!  For many families, the only thing they do together is watch television.  That dynamic has to change!

When I was a kid, I remember spending all kinds of time playing video games and board games with my dad.  The whole family would sit down and work on puzzles.  We would build extensive Lego houses.  While it wasn't always that way, we did spend some time as a family, doing things together.  In truth, I think the biggest thing I regret about my childhood is that we didn't do it more often!

Some of my fondest memories as a child were playing games with the family.  I remember my sister and I got Cooties and Don't Spill the Beans one year for Christmas.  Those were long-time favorites of ours.  We would play them for endless hours.  It was right up there with a game called Don't Wake the Dragon that's no longer made, but I wish they would bring it out again!  With Cooties, each player is trying to build their Cootie.  They have to roll to get certain parts and the object is to be the first to get all your parts.  Don't spill the beans is a balancing act where you've got to try and put all your beans up on the pot without it tipping over if it spills, you've got to take all the beans.  We loved that game!

My friends used to love playing games that seemed so much more pointless.  Hungry, Hungry Hippos was a favorite, and I have to admit, I still like that game today.  It makes for some silly, crazy family time.  We used to have this game called Pig Pong, which was a ping-pong like game where you hit the ball over the net by puffing air from a plastic pig.  It was pretty funny.  I think my mom and my sister still have some of the pigs!  A friend of mine had the all time best game, or so my friends were concerned, called Mall Madness.  Apparently nothing speaks to girls more than shopping?  We also had a lot of crazy games of Twister!  Who doesn't remember Twister?  (Who hasn't been somehow injured playing Twister?)

I know I've mentioned Made for Trade yesterday.  That was one of our favorites right up through Middle School.  It's right up there on educational value as Oregon Trail, Amazon Trail, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, and to a certain degree, Civilization and SimCity.  These games are not only fun, but do teach children.  In my family we used to play these games together, even the computer games.  In Oregon Trail we would all create family members and make decisions together.  In Civilization my dad and I would try and take over the world together.

I think my favorite games of all times were ones based on role playing games.  My favorites were Dungeon Quest, Hero Quest, and Talisman.  We never played these games alone.  Usually my dad played with us, but sometimes we could get my mom in on it too.  These were my favorite games because they were my parents' favorite games.  I've found that's what makes a game the most popular with kids.  If the parents love it, so will the kids!

My mom was always bringing us home sets of cards too.  We had a card set for Rook.  There was a fish themed set for Go Fish.  I think we had a Safari Rummy set too.  However, my favorite card games were always Uno, which we played all the time with the girl who lived in the apartment downstairs, and Cribbage, which we played with my aunts, uncles, and grandparents at every major gathering.

My family was all about the games too!  I loved going over there because it meant there was always going to be something to play.  Just ask anyone in my family about Passtimes and the potato questions!  Now that I think about it, I want to pick that game up again.  It could be a great teaching tool with the kids as it's a wonderful history trivia game!  However, the ultimate family game we played was Trivial Pursuit.  We would all sit around, broken up into teams, racing to complete our pies!  I think part of the reason this was so much fun was the teams, but with such a big family and so much variety in ages, it was kind of necessary.  Each team usually had at least one kid and one adult.  I have to say, my all-time favorite was when we would play with the Christmas Questions.

Now that I'm on my own with my own children, I've tried to revive the tradition of game time, but it's so hard when everyone is so busy.  It sometimes seems like there's no time to sit down to a game!  We've played Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders when my daughter was younger.  We hope to get my son into it as we settle in a bit more.  We've played the Game of Life Twists and Turns with my daughter.  It's unique version of the Game of Life, but I think I would have preferred it if it didn't do all the math digitally off a credit card.  We did have one day where all the adults got together to play Nintendo Monopoly.  The adults have also played Risk, including the Lord of the Rings Edition Risk, and rummy.  I think it's important that my kids see that not only do families play board games together, but adults play games like this together too!

It's not just board games that we play.  We got a Nintendo Wii for the purpose of having something to do together as a family.  Because we got it used, it didn't come with Wii Sports, but we did get some games the family can play together.  Our first "family" game was Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a game my daughter loves playing with my partner!  It may be a game of pointless violence to some, but to watch them play together, you wouldn't think anything of the sort!  They're both really funny about the whole thing and play in good humor, not competitively at all!  Since then we've also picked up Wii Fit Plus, which turned out to be a great investment!  Not only does it help the family to stay in shape, but it's got a bunch of fun balance games that the whole family can enjoy!  Wii Sports Resort has also provided a good number of games we can play as a family, either competitively or cooperatively.  The kids love competing with each other for the speed slice challenge in the sword fighting, and it teaches co-ordination!

So why all of these links and recommendations?  Yes, part of it is because I'm an Amazon Associate and buying through my links makes me money.  However, I think it's far more important to get you thinking about what you can do to improve your family time this year!  Whether you buy from Amazon or your local game supplier, picking up family games will give you one more thing to do together as a family.  Family time is so forgotten about in today's modern society that I think of this as doing my small part to inspire those around me to spend more time with their kids!  With Christmas coming up, what could be better timing to pick up a game the whole family can enjoy?

Made For Trade, Enhancing Learning with Family Games

Years ago (it seems like forever) my mom got this game for my sister and I at a company called Learning Express.  The game was called Made for Trade.  I don't know if the company still exists, but that game has stayed with me forever.  I still remember all the days I used to play it with my sister!

As the game starts out, you're an indentured servant that is working off your passage to America.  I think there's some description in there about real indentured servants, but I don't remember for certain.  Then, once you've served out your time as an indentured servant, you make your way around the board trying to become a successful merchant and trader in the new world.

While I don't remember the game being incredibly historically accurate, it did help foster concepts of life in "the new world" back in the colonial era.  I think it would be a great addition to any lesson on colonial America.  It's also a great way to get back into family time, something that I know has been lacking in most American households!  What better way to both educate your children and spend some great family time together?  It can also be a lot of fun for older children to play alone, as my sister and I did.  I honestly don't think I ever remember my mother or father playing with us, but we did play with friends.

I think for many families they associate board games with being "bored".  I remember my boyfriend joking, "That's why they call them board games, because they're boring!"  However, his mood has since changed.  Board games are now starting to become things we do when we're bored and want to have some family fun.

Having done a little research on the game, I've found one wonderful piece of information!  The game is good for 2-6 players, which is more than your standard American board game, which is only good for up to four players.  With a family of five, it would be difficult in the future for everyone to sit down and play, not that it matters now as the baby is much to small to get in on board games!  My older son is a bit young for it as well, as it's recommended for ages 8 and up, but it's still nice to think of the future of our family when shopping, and for recommending games to other people with larger families.

On Amazon I've seen a variety of reviews, some good, some bad.  It seems the majority of the bad reviews have come from the company the product was ordered from, and not necessarily Amazon.  One of the reviews listed it as not being fun and very heavy-handed on history, but I don't remember that at all.  I remember loving the game and wanting to play it all the time!  I've also read that the directions are hard to understand, but I believe I was 10 when we got the game and my sister and I were able to understand and play the game without much help at all.  However, there was also some positive feedback from families that loved the game as my sister and I did.  I think it really depends on the family.

I'm looking forward to getting this game again to share the experience with my daughter.  It will be interesting to see if I still love the game as much now as I once did, and how my daughter takes to it.  Christmas is right around the corner!  I'm not going to say anything about knowing for certain, but that game was on my daughter's Christmas list...and I do believe I heard rumor on the breeze that she just might find one under the tree this year!

Remember Memory?

My kids pulled out one of their games today, a Disney version of Memory.  It's a cute game, though the kids are missing two of the pieces.  I'd forgotten exactly why I hated memory so much!  The game seems to take forever and can get kind of frustrating!  However, the kids loved it.

Memory is a pretty good game, but definitely not one to pull out unless the kids are well rested and ready to play.  My older son was so cranky.  Even so, they were really funny about the whole thing.  My older son kept finding funny ways to say everything he found.  He kept turning the same cards over again and again, just because he thought it was funny and he liked looking at them.  He looked so sad when his sister matched one of them in a pair!  Who says winning is the only goal of playing a game?  He was having fun!

I forgot how much fun it can be to play games with the kids.  I haven't really put much thought into my son being ready to sit down with something that could take a good while.  He's got a very short attention span these days.  Maybe it's time we start busting out Chutes and Ladders or Candyland.  Sounds like we've got some game playing in our future!