Conference moira::parenting

    
    We started playing "Chutes and Ladders" when our oldest
    was around 3.   It's a good game for young children as
    it requires no reading, counting is to 6 but there is
    number recognition up to 100 (I think), and reinforces
    the idea that good behaviour/deeds brings reward (up 
    the ladder) and misbehaviour brings punishment (down
    the chute).  
    
    cj/

    Our three year old loves to play Candyland. Involves counting the
    number or color squares on your card or matching a picture.
    

    
    My daughter is 3 1/2 and following are the games we have and what
    I think of them:
    
    	CANDYLAND: A must have in any child's life. Based on colors and
    		   some picture mapping.
    
    	BAMBI: Not sure of the exact name. For 2 players only. No concept
    	       per say of your turn my turn. You spin the color dial (4
    	       colors) and then go to the magic color wheel to see who
    	       gets to move. There's a basic version and an advanced
    	       version that you can play. Basic version is winner is
    	       first one around the board. Advanced version is winner
    	       is first one over the log (starting point) and has collected
    	       4 clovers.
    
    	First Games by Ravensburg: Found this in Hollipops in the Harbor
    		Village Shoping Mall in Townsend. This comes with 2 game
    		boards with a different game on each side for a total of
    		4 games in all. The die used is either a color die or a
    		shape die. There's the Flower Game (be the first to get all
    		five different colored flowers), the Hotdog game (this one
    		involves colors), the Castle Game (very similar to
    		CandyLand), and one other that also involves moving about
    		on colors.
    
    	Disney BINGO: Plays just like BINGO. Each player gets a BINGO card.
    		Spinner tells you where to place token (Blue Pluto, Purple
    		Mickey, etc). Winner is first with 5 in a row (up, down, or
    		diagonal).
    
    	Disney Yahtzee: Plays like regular Yahztee, except you're rolling
    		for 3 Daisys or 2 Mickeys, etc. This also works on playing
    		card like BINGO. I don't remember the specifics. My nephew
    		has it and I think I'm going to get if for my daughter.
    
    	Sesame Street UNO: Plays like Uno. You have to match the color or
    		the number in the discard pile. This might be difficult for
    		little kids since you have to be able to recognize a wild
    		card or a draw 1 card. Also it's hard to hold the cards.
    		Unlike regular UNO, if you can't play a card you only have
    		to draw one card, not keep drawing until you can play.
    
    So there are some ideas. I would love to hear others.

    
    Another vote for Candyland.  My daughter got it last
    year and she was almost 3.  
    
    We have Sesame Street Bingo.  It helps teach letters.
    It's an electronic game with Bingo Cards.  One side
    has the pictures and words, the otherside just the
    words.  You hit play and "Big Bird" asks if you have
    a Key.  If you have the key on your bingo card, you 
    cover it.  You keep hitting play until you have Bingo.
    When you have BINGO, you hit the BINGO
    button and it reads back all the words it had said.
    This is nice because Allison can play by herself
    or with others.
    
    The other game that Spag's has a million different
    versions of is the Memory Game.  We have one
    that does numbers and letters.  It's a matching game
    like Concentration.  
    
    The new game we got that has no educational value but
    my almost 4 year old loves is Hungry Hippo.  Hippos
    eat the marbles.  It's a physical game.  
    
    Another game we made up for birthday parties was
    to have a bag full of things, balls, little cars,
    a spoon, a block and legos, etc.  Each person
    is blindfolded and they reach in and take an
    object and try and guess.  This was really popular.

No one mentioned the one my step-daughter and my nephew both loved,
though I found myself bored almost beyond tolerance when playing it 
with them.  Its called Crackers in Bed, and would probably be 
appropriate for the 4 - 7 age bracket, give or take a year.  

Its sort of a kid's version of concentration - remembering where a certain
item is located.  The game board looks like a quilt with slots in it for the 
pieces which have different cracker designs (only half the cracker) on them 
and tabs of different colors.  When put into the slots, only the colored tabs 
show.  At one end of the board is a face with a wide open mouth.  Each player 
gets little cards with half a cracker image on them.  Taking turns, the players
spin the spinner which indicates a color.  Then you pick one of the pieces,
which has the color the spinner landed on, from the game board, and if the
1/2 cracker on it matches up with a half cracker on one of the player's cards,
the player puts both halves through the mouth on the face, and spins again.  
If they don't match, you put the game piece with the colored tab back into its
slot in the quilt, and its the next player's turn.  First person to have 
gotten rid of all their cards wins.

    I'd recommend looking at the Ravensburger line of games. I bought 2
    when my daughter was 2 1/2 and another for this Christmas. 
    
    The games are pricey but worth it. The quality of materials stands out 
    so you and your kids get to use things that look and feel good. Also,
    the game can be played in any of a number of ways depending on level of
    the child. For example, we have a Mothers and Babies game featuring
    several (maybe a dozen) 2 piece jigsaw puzzles. I deal the pieces like
    cards, five each. Then, looking at my mother horse piece, I say "I need
    a baby horse". If she has it, my daughter gives it to me and we're both
    happy because the mother and baby are together. Then she asks me or one
    to match hers. I do it with all the cards face up. we have fun and she
    is doing a jigsaw puzzle, learning animal names, noting size, and
    learning to give up something without feling like she's losing.
    
    We  have a snail race game in which the snails rather than the people 
    compete. Roll the die (with colored not numbered surfaces) and move
    the colored snail toward the finish line. It's not clear whether it is
    good to be the first snail across or the last snail to go to bed in the 
    box.
    
    Someone has put some thought into how parents can play board games with
    kids without getting frustrated at kids inability to follow rules. And
    kids don't have to worry about losing; the focus is oon following
    directions, learning, and spending time with Mom.
    
    Enough advertising..I'm enthusiastic. I found them at Learningsmith and
    at Hammet's.  
    

    I'd add a vote for snakes & ladders, but before that I had a magnetic
    fishing set. For the very young this introduces the concept of 'turns
    each', without added complication of dice rolling. I suppose any
    physical game would do this (eg tiddlywinks)
    
    Andy

    My 3 1/2 year old has 2 favorites not already mentioned.  He plays with
    "Ants in the pants" and "Don't spill the beans".  Both were fairly
    inexpensive.  "Ants" is a game where you play with others or by
    themselves.  It's like tiddlewinks where you flip the ants into the
    plastic pair of pants.  If playing with others, the first person to get
    all 4 of their color ants into the pants wins.  Builds motor skills and
    coordination.  Fun and quick to play.  "Beans" is a game that you pile
    the beans in/on the pot until the pot spills with the beans.  The
    person who tips the pot over with his/her bean loses.  Again fun/quick
    game that builds eye/balance coordination.
    

    One game not mentioned that I bought when my son was 3, Hi Ho Cherry O
    Very simple game, requires that they can count to 4.  Object to get all
    ten cherries from the tree into the bucket. All the kids at his daycare
    enjoyed playing.
    
    Sue
      

Thanks to all for all the good ideas!

I have to swing by my local toy store to see if I can find
some of these games.

With family coming for the holidays and staying several
days, some games sounds like a good idea to amuse us
and a way for all to take part, including Jonathan.


Happy Holidays to all!

/Malin

	Discovery Toys markets a game that doesn't require counting
	or color recognition.

	It comes with cards that have pictures of kids making silly
	faces.  One kid picks a card and tries to make the silly
	face.  The other kids look at a game board and try to guess
	which face the kid is making.  If you guess right, you get
	the card, then you get to make the next face.  

	Whoever has the most cards at the end wins.

	Karen

    There was a great game out a few years ago which I can no longer find -
    it's called Pizza Party. It's great for 2 1/2 - 3 yr. olds because they
    can put the toppings on their own pizza. I bought extras and gave them
    out for 3 yr. old birthday presents as my friends' kids turned 3. Now,
    I'm at the point where I'm tempted to call Milton Bradlee and ask why
    they stopped marketing it. It's really a great game for that age group.
    

    A general word of advice...don't buy just 1 game, buy several so that
    you can alternate among them. Speaking from experience, Candyland can
    get just a wee bit boring after the 7th or 8th consecutive time...:^)
    

We like variants of memory.  There is one game made by a German company, called
"My House".  Each player (up to 3 of them) gets a house and an attic.  There are
pictures in each room.  There are separate cards that have the same picture as
the pictures in the room.  You can play different ways; one way is to memorize
the house you chose, turn the house and roof over, then start picking up cards
to match them with what you think is in your house.  When you have used all the
cards, you turn everything over to see if you have the same pictures as are in
your house.

Beryl

        My youngest kids (now 6 and 7) have worn out two Candylands.  Well,
    actually they destroyed the boxes and lost too many of the cards.  They
    also liked memory type games, which are, by the way, a wonderful rainy
    day project.   Cut construction paper into little cards, and have them
    draw pictures.  The hard part being to get a preschooler to draw two
    identical pictures.

    Anyone have any brilliant ideas for resurrecting or replacing a
    demolished game box :-)

    They could also cut pictures out of magazines instead of draw.
    A lot of magazines have the same types of ads.
    
    Instead of restructuring the box, try putting all of the 
    pieces into a shoe box or small storage box, write the
    name of the game on it.  Write the  name on the game board
    also.  Or you could use matching symbols on the shoebox and
    game board.  Hope this helps.
    
    Pam

    
    I'd like some game suggestions for 5-7 year olds - what's
    next after Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Jumpin' Monkeys, 
    etc?  We have and enjoy Operation.  I'm looking for games 
    that required some, but limited reading/word recognition.  
    I'd prefer games that don't require batteries (i.e. not
    loud and obnoxious - no Snaardvark!) 
    
    How is Monopoly Junior?  
    
    Thanks, Carol   

My daughter, now 7, has enjoyed Monopoly Junior greatly.  It's another one of
these games that are almost completely determined by the throw of the dice
(i.e., essentially no strategic decisions to be made), which can be a plus. 

She's now an aggressive player of regular Monopoly.

						Brian

    There is also a junior version of Yatzee and Uno.  My kid love these
    (ages 7 and 8).  And a bonus - they are interesting enough that I can
    play with them without losing what little sanity I have!

    Sort of a modified board game, by my daughter (soon to be 5) loves
    playing the memory game.  Playing with all 64 tiles is even a challenge
    for me at times.
    
    Irene

    
    My daughter also loves Monopoly Jr., she's allmost 7.  Another good
    game is Scrabble Jr.
    
    Kirsten
    

'Sorry' is a big hit with my nephews (5 and 8).  Once they've learned the
options for the different numbers (1 and 2 let you get out, 4 makes you go 
backwards, 7 can be split between two of your guys) there isn't any reading
required.  It's a lot of luck and a little strategy, so the eight year old
stays interested but the five year old is not at too big a disadvantage.

Card games are also popular with them.  When they play together, 'War' is
usually the game of choice.  When I'm playing with Brian (the eight year old)
we play 'Crazy Eights', 'Kings in the Corner', and 'Rummy'.

							Tracy

    "Sorry" has been our favorite game for years (Alex is now 10.5), with
    Chinese Checkers a close second.  To even the playing field on Chinese
    Checkers, I used to play two triangles to her one--but she's gotten
    much better lately, so now it's one-on-one with me not concentrating as
    hard as I might :-)
    
    "Clue" might be a good game for 5-8, especially if it's played
    one-on-one.  (Is there a "Clue Junior"?)
    
    Leslie

Also Clue Jr. is great ...

Stuart

    re .20
    
    We have some memory games - which one do you mean?
    
    
    

    There is one particular one call The Memory Game.  It is a set of 64
    cards of dogs, butterflies, hamburgers, flowers, etc.  You lay all of
    the cards face down in an 8x8 matrix and take turn turning two of them 
    over.  If they match, you get another turn.  If not, put them face down
    again and turn passes to the next player.
    
    Irene

    My 5-year old is really into card games.  We got a rule book and
    frequently pick out a new game to play.  She plays the typical ones
    like War, Crazy-8s, and Old Maid, but also plays Rummy.  We are
    creative about helping her hold/hide her cards (behind the top box of a
    board game).
    
    She also loves Memory games, which we have created from photocopies,
    bought at yard sales, and the like.  (How DO kids manage to be so good
    at this game?? I can't concentrate nearly as much...) 
    
    judy 

    
    For "memory" you can use a regular deck of cards (in the 'olden' days
    when I was a kid, that's what we used (-;).  Same idea - lay them down
    face down, match 'em up.  To make it harder, make it so you have to
    match the suit COLOR as well as number.
    
    Uncle Wiggly was popular (with them, not me (-;), and my 7 yr old is
    *QUITE* the chess player, while the 10 yr old constantly beats me in 
    backgammon.  If you're patient, and understand the game well enough,
    they can do well as RISK as well (though it's kind of complicated).
    KER PLUNK and JENGA are popular "balance" games, that any age enjoys,
    and our most favorite game of the house (sorry, 2 players only) comes
    from an egg carton (though you can buy a board - but they're hard to 
    find).  Take the egg-part of an egg carton, and put 3 marbles/stones or
    whatever you have in each one.  Player sits at each end of the carton.
    The side of the carton on your right is your "home" row, and your "lap"
    (or in front of you or a bowl or whatever) is your "home".  The carton
    is the board, and move is in a clockwise direction.  The idea is
    to get as many stones as possible "home".  To do this, pick up one
    "hole" full of stones, from your home row,and drop one stone into each
    hole as you go by, including 1 in YOUR home (but not your opponent's).
    If the last stone is dropped into your home, you get to go again.  If
    the last stone is dropped into a hole with other stones, you pick up
    all the stones, and continue around the board, dropping one in each
    hole.  If the last stone is dropped into an empty hole, your turn is
    over.  Teaches a lot about counting.
    
    
    Board looks like;
    
    	_________________
    	|     HOME	|
    	_________________
    	|	|	|
    	_________________
    	|	|	|
    	_________________
    	|	|	|
    	_________________
    	|	|	|
    	_________________
    	|	|	|
    	_________________
    	|	|	|
    	_________________
    	|     HOME	|
    	_________________
    
    It's an old Indian game, and I have no idea of the real name of it. 
    
    

    
    The game is called Mankala or The African Stone Game. I have the game,
    got it at Brookstones. I grew up playing this game at my grandmother's
    house and have played a couple of times with my 4 year old, but she's
    more interested in just playing with the stones.
    
    Patty

    
    Does anyone have the game "Jumanji"?   How is it - both for the
    kids and the adults who get to play with them?   
    
    Thanks in advance,
    Carol

    It's nothing special, in my opinion.  The idea of it is the best part,
    but once you get by the pieces not moving on their own and the lack of
    giant beasts, floods, etc, it's just another board game.
    
    I never choose it when it's time to pick a game, and no one else does
    either.  My kids say they like it, but I never see them play it.