Spice Up Your Holiday Party

You don’t have to serve alcohol at a holiday party in order for your guests to have a good time. There are plenty of ways you can keep your friends and family members entertained without busting your budget on a bunch of booze. Rather than stocking your bar before your guests arrive, have several games and activities on hand to keep everyone busy. Just be sure to have a variety of fun things to do so all of your guests can participate. Also, game directions should be clear and not overly complicated. Avoid forcing your guests to play long … Continue reading →

Winter Storm Sanity Savers

It’s funny how Mother Nature tends to dictate a parent’s schedule. For example, I have a slew of family members living on the East Coast who are bracing for a major winter storm. Significant snow is predicted to make traveling a nightmare for residents in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and New Jersey. The storm has forced my cousin to cancel a business trip to Boston. Instead, she’ll spend the snow day trying to figure out how to keep her four kids entertained indoors. If you are looking for ways to keep the kiddos from contracting a severe case of cabin fever, … Continue reading →

Mission: Possible

Last week, we took my brother and sister-in-law out for a night on the town. It was our Christmas gift to them – dinner, ice cream, live music and whatever else came up while we were downtown. Over an amazing meal, they relayed a story of a game that they play with their kids, ages 6 and 8, which was sparked by a recent viewing of the new movie Night at the Museum. I was fascinated by their story. I thought it was a wonderful and unique game, and I promptly obtained the green light to pass this creative idea … Continue reading →

Tangrams

Tangrams are an ancient Chinese puzzle. They are also called the Seven Board of Cunning and the ingenious puzzle figure of seven pieces. A square is cut into seven geometric shapes – two large right isosceles triangles, a medium triangle, two small triangles, a parallelogram, and a small square. Each of the seven pieces is called a tan. The shapes are rearranged to form familiar objects like cats, candlesticks, bridges, diamonds, hexagons, and birds. Using these shapes or tans to make other shapes is a great exercise in spatial pattern recognition. It challenges the player to think in new ways, … Continue reading →

The Quiet Game

What parent wouldn’t love to have children play the quiet game sometimes? We all need a little quiet time, but this game is actually about challenging your child. Remember when he or she was really little? Children find imaginative ways to communicate before they learn to speak. While crying is of course only one of the options, do you remember any of the other ways you child got your attention or made you understand what he wanted or she needed? Did your little one point? Maybe he or she made up words to indicate certain items if the actual names … Continue reading →

Boredom Busters: Simple Games

With a little imagination, nearly anything can be made into a simple game. You can use kitchen items and dried foods, or coins, beads, and recyclable items. These types of simple games make great boredom busters any time, but they also work great to fill time or keep kids busy while you make other preparations during parties. Penny Pitch *Supervision is required for young children due to the use of small items that could be swallowed. Use large muffin tins as game boards and have children pitch pennies into the muffin cups. There are different ways to play and different … Continue reading →

Prettiest Checkers Ever

Is your little girl all about pretty princess details? Help her make her own stylish checkers game. Items Needed: Thin craft wood or a piece of Plexiglas Craft paint Paintbrush Pink and purple fabric (solid or print, your choice) Glue Ribbon Flat lace (1” wide or less) Scissors Ruler Indelible marker 16 plastic caps from soda bottles Instructions: *These instructions are for a pink and purple, 12” x 12” checkerboard, but you can make it any size and colors you like. First, measure and mark off a 2” border all the way around the board. Within the border, mark off … Continue reading →

Popping Bubbles Game

Sure, you can always chase each other around blowing bubbles and trying to pop each other’s bubbles, but there is no mess involved in playing this game. No mixing of soap and water, no spilled bottles of bubbles, and no bubble wands needed. You can play it indoors, and in fact, can play it nearly anywhere. This game is similar to the old favorite Battle Ship, but you can play it with just paper and markers, crayons, or colored pens or pencils. Mark off a grid, eight squares up and down and eight squares across on each of four separate … Continue reading →