September 6: Games Galore!

Our Monday-Game-Day tradition continued!  We started with a few puzzles and then played Thomas the Tank Engine Tic-Tac-Toe.  Gone are the days of pencil and paper tic-tac-toe now that we own the game board with cards of Thomas, James, Percy, and Mavis that fit into slots.  Koen was so focused on blocking my Thomas cards that he forgot the whole point of the game...to get three in a row!  He was getting so frustrated that I kept winning, so he finally let me help him by talking through where it would make sense to put his card.  When Ty got to play, he just yelled, "I blocked you!" after every card he placed regardless of where the other cards were.  He may have learned that from his older brother... :)

The boys were excited to have time to play a Thomas game on the computer, too.  Now, "playing games" on the website mostly means watching video clips and songs, but they do play some of the games on the site.  I'd rather they play web games like "Word World" or even "Curious George" from PBS kids because they have some educational ties, but I suppose it's good to play just for the fun of playing, too. 

Brielle also got in on the game-day theme.  We replaced some batteries and cleaned up a toy for Brielle, one both the boys had played with, too.  It'll be great for her to practice her sitting and balance as well.  Today she sat by herself for 5+ minutes while pushing the buttons and watching her brothers "teach" her how to play with her new toy (but then she fell over twice within 30 seconds after that).  I can't believe how she's growing up!  She's at such a fun age..her smiles and giggles brighten my day!    

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!