August 23: Uno and War!

A few weeks ago I hosted a show for a friend who sells Simply Fun games.  One of the game packs has the company's own versions of "War," "Crazy 8s," and "Go Fish," and since seeing that I've been so excited to teach the kids how to play these games (using a regular deck of cards).  I had suggested we play war last week, but Koen informed me that he'd played in in Minnesota (at the family reunion), and he wasn't very good at it so he didn't want to play.  I was surprised at how disappointed I was at not playing this old game. 

So this week, I suggested we play some card games.  We started with two rousing games of Sesame Street Uno (Ty calls it "oh-no") where Koen -- without any help -- handily beat Ty and me (a team effort on our part).  I realize some of the game is just the luck of the cards, but still.  After winning twice he was in a good mood, so I suggested we play war.  He went for it and I divided the deck of cards.  Of course, he won this fair and square too (although I'll have you know he only played one round, so I may very well have made a come back, but probably not).  He was delighted with the large pile of cards in front of him and decided that war wasn't such a bad game after all.  I liked the math practice he got while playing...I asked him which card won each round, and he was pretty good at picking the bigger number and figuring out the winner. 

He was finished playing games after that, so while Ty and Koen ran off to play trains again, I set up a game of Solitaire for myself...hadn't played it in years but it was such fun again!