Games

Owen, my four year old, loves board games. Bridget, my 8 year old, likes them ok but doesn't ask for them as much. They can't play together because they always end up fighting so I finally told them I'll only play with them one at a time. Maybe when they're older it will be ok.

Anyway, random post of the day, but I felt like talking about games -

Games I don't like to play

Candyland - I hated that one so much I gave it away. Shhhhhh, don't tell, they didn't notice. It just takes forever and drags on and on and on. Why is that one so popular? Probably just because of the CANDY aspect.

Checkers - Owen learned to play checkers from Bear in the Big Blue House. He sets them up and then you grab a checker and jump over everyone else. We do take turns but otherwise, no rules, no order, no plan of attack. Ok, maybe I don't hate it, it is sort of cute, but it's not my favorite.

Guess Where? - this is like Battleship but with a house and a family instead of torpedoes and warships (a little more PC I guess). I would like this game ok except the concept is a bit past my 4 year old. He doesn't think it is but trust me. It is. The game consists of him constantly turning it around to show you and asking where things are. It's a fun game if I play with Bridget, but not Owen.

Clue Jr - this would go in the "depends on which kid" category. With Bridget it's ok, but Owen doesn't really get it all the way yet. Also both kids get bent out of shape if they lose this one and I can't figure out a way to make it non-competitive so yeah, it goes in the "don't like" group.

Let's Go Fishin' - this is the electric fishing pool with the fish that open and shut their mouths and you have to catch them. I hate this thing. The kids both love it but I swear it makes me sick and cranky.

Games I like to play

This category is dominated by games that I enjoy because we made our own rules. Something I never would have done with Bridget. I'm embarrassed to think of when she was 3 and 4 and I insisted she "play by the rules". Who the hell cares? It's a freaking game! So, once again, Owen lucks out and benefits from being the second child (as a first born myself I have to say that second children have it way easy, they just don't know it).

I've also managed to make most of these games non-competitive which works MUCH better for my kids. I don't know about anyone else's kids but mine aren't good losers or gracious winners. Mostly Bridget, but Owen a little bit too. It's easier just to play games that you play for fun, not for winning.

Monopoly - We totally make our own rules with this one. No way I'm playing a full scale, real game with anyone, let alone a 4 year old. We usually don't use money (though if we do I just round it off and we only use hundreds). We don't use the hotels either (I've actually never used them). We have the Pokemon version and if I land on a Pokemon that Owen wants I just give it to him. So mainly the game is just rolling the dice, counting spaces and collecting Pokemon cards. Bridget doesn't play this much, this is really Owen's thing. We just play til we get bored. No counting cards or keeping track of anything.

Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego Jr Version - I really enjoy this one! You have to move your token to various states, using a spinner wheel to tell you how many moves you can make. My only complaint is that instead of individual states they have "New England". But I guess they'd have had to make the board a bit bigger for that to work. We played this today which got me thinking of games. This is also a good game for Bridget, so definitely not just for little kids. We make this a cooperative game. When "we" go to all the states then "we" win.

Boggle Jr. - Not that I've ever played real Boggle but this is cute. You have dice with letters on it and have to line them up to spell the word on the card you pull. No winners here, you just do it.

Guess Who - like Guess what except you are guessing a person. "Does your person have white hair?" and then, depending on the answer, you flip down all the people who don't match. Eventually you have one person who should be the card the other person is holding. Owen gets this one so it's fun to play with him. This one is hard to make non-competitive but Owen is usually ok if he doesn't win.

Arthur Goes to the Library - we've turned this one into a matching game. I don't exactly love it, but it's not awful.

Splash - a really competitive game involving grabbing a dolphin off the table and squeaking it before anyone else can. We turned it into a non-competitive number matching game. Match two "fives" and squeak a dolphin five times. Hey, it works for us :)

Hi-Ho Cherry-O - this one gets boring fast but it's ok for a round or two. I think he's outgrowing it though, so it won't be long. He's ok losing this one.

Finders Keepers - I'm not sure what the rules are but we do this as a matching game.

Pooh 100 Acre Wood Stamp Game - this sounds boring but I actually like this one! You go around the board and whenever you get to the home of one of the characters you stamp their image on your game sheet. Don't ask me why, but I enjoy this one. Very easy going and while there is technically a winner, we never have a problem with it.

Mancala - I like playing this one but it's a lot more fun with Bridget. Owen doesn't get it at all. Bridget gets ticked off sometimes if it doesn't go her way though.

Chess - Owen likes to "play" by dancing the figures around so if I want an actual game I have to play Bridget. We haven't played in awhile though.

The Yoga Garden Game - we don't seem to play this a lot but I like it. It's *meant* to be a cooperative game. You (the collective you) have to plant all the flowers before the night sets. If you win, you all win, if you lose, you all lose. I want more of these and am planning to get the harvest one soon. This is the only game I'll play with both kids at the same time.

We have more games but these are the ones that actually get played a lot. I don't know why I wrote all that, LOL! It was just on my mind after playing Where in the USA with Owen this morning.