Tag Archives: waiting games

Penny Football

Summer travels often bring some unexpected down time. Penny football is a good game to fill up some moments. Since this is a casual lunchroom developed game, there are several versions of rules. All you need to play are three pennies, two players, and a table. A smallish table works best. You can still play on a large table, but you may want to state boundaries so that the coins don’t get to far off track. Flip one of the coins to see who goes first. The winner of the coin toss places the three coins in a triangular formation … Continue reading →

The “I Spy” Books

We have a lot of books and games at our house. And we have a lot of “I Spy” books. These books are more like games than stories. They’ve gotten our family through many a doctor’s appointment, road trip, and sick day. The I Spy books are large, on each two spread there is a large photograph. The photographs show things like a collection of toys, or a sand castle covered with toys, or a ton of stuffed animals on a shelf. At the bottom of the page is a simple rhyme about what things you should look for on … Continue reading →

Ideas for Waiting

Posted on by

The last few weeks of school are a crazy time of year. We seem to be doing a lot of waiting too, as all these extra activities are taking place. We are waiting for extra meetings to be over, waiting for practices to end, waiting for our family members turn at the talent show. Waiting doesn’t have to be boring though. If you are outside, you can go exploring. If you are in the car, you can play I Spy, or twenty questions. I also like to ask the kids questions. Things like – “If you had a million dollars … Continue reading →

An Anytime Anywhere Game

I’m usually good about planning activities ahead of time. But sometimes we end up waiting much longer at the doctors than we had planned, or flights get canceled, or the restaurant is packed, or the movie is sold out and we have to wait for the next one. And so, we are stuck—waiting, with nothing to do. Here’s a game to play that takes no special equipment and can be adapted for small children all the way to adults. Take a few things out of your pocket or pocket book, or the restaurant table. Examples are a few coins, a … Continue reading →

Christmas Tree Games

We have a pickle hanging on our Christmas tree. Don’t worry, it’s actually an ornament—not a dill. According to the paper that came with the ornament, this is an old Bavarian custom. Parents are supposed to hide the ornament on the tree, and the first child to spot the pickle gets an extra gift and good luck for the year. Apparently though, no one from Germany has actually heard of this custom. And it may have originated instead in a Georgia Civil War prison. Or maybe a manufacturer thought of it and thought they would sell more with a legend … Continue reading →