Games

I grew up playing various forms of solitaire and card games since we traveled and camped a lot. We didn't do a lot of board games since they were difficult to take in the car for camping. My daughters and I played a lot of card games and did puzzles while they were growing up. Others in the family played board games and dominoes. We also played video games. Which games did you play as a kid? Which ones do you love and miss? Which ones don't you want to play ever again? Why? Dust off old games. Pull out a puzzle. I played a math-based solitaire game with the littles the past 2 days. They love that they are playing a game to learn factors of 10. They also know that once they get it down fast, they will work on factors for 11, 12, and 13 (adding face cards to the game). They were playing games that have math in them. They love learning new games, so giving them games with math is easy. They are reading the instructions with me. We've done some simple science experiments, too. Kids are usually curious, so use that to your benefit. Lots of science videos and Sesame Street for screen time. Lots of educational video games, too. I want to find Between the Lions for reading. I also played Cooties with the littles. It's a basic game to learn patience, take turns, and learn dice. They loved it. They got to play with the creation of their cootie while learning patience because the dice son't give you or others the number you want to get the piece you need. It's anyone's game. I'll be introducing them to storytelling and basic D&D type gaming because they love stories. One little realized that the milk cartoons have jokes on them. I read one to him, and he guessed the answer after having read the other 2. He giggled because he figured out the word play. "what starts with T, ends with T and has T inside?" ... "A teapot" He read it and giggled because he understood it. "Why did the monster get a tummy ache?" ... This one was harder for him. "It was goblin its food." That one was a vocabulary lesson. Daddy has lots of monster posters. He hadn't heard the term "goblin." "Why don't strings ever win a race?" .... He thought about this one. I waited. I asked him about different kinds of strings and led him to shoelaces. Asked him what they do and why they wouldn't win a race. His face lit up when he told me, "They tie!" Then he giggled when I told him he was right. He looked shocked until I showed him that the carton showed, "They always tie." If you are dealing with little ones, remember the games you loved as a kid. Dust them off. If you play games with them already, find new lessons to incorporate into the game play. If you don't have kids at home, pull out games, books, puzzles. One of my daughters and I always play card games when there's a storm going on and we lose power. There are lots of reasons to teach kids about the value of games and books. Use this time to rediscover the ones you loved as a kid.