Children love so many things about birthday parties. The food, the birthday cake and the ice cream are at the top of their lists. Right below those favorites is card games. When children attend a birthday party they look forward to the card games they will get to play. A big reason for this is that card games usually have a winner and that winner might get a prize. What child doesn’t love a prize?

If you happen to be in charge of event planning for a child’s birthday party you are in the enviable position of having a whole host of games to choose from. One of the first things to consider is the age of your young guests. Obviously if you are in charge of entertaining a crowd of three-year-olds you’ll need to choose a card game that doesn’t require the player to have a long attention span. Standard favorites like old maid and Uno are fun for children who haven’t mastered skills such as reading yet. Another fun card game that keeps children laughing is Spot It, a card game where the kids must be the first to spot a match on the cards.

For older children you might consider a treasure hunt. This is a great activity that can keep children busy and occupied while you tend to the other aspects of the event. You just hide some objects in your home and draw out maps for the children to search for them. Another twist on this idea is the scavenger hunt. In this instance you give the children a list of items they have to search for and whoever finds all of the items first, wins a prize. If your child is really enthusiastic about this idea you can make it the center of your event planning process. Perhaps choosing a scavenger hunt theme for the entire party including invitations shaped like a magnifying glass or a hunt to find the pizza you’ve hidden in another room for dinner. Children love activities like this and it’s a great way to encourage their junior detective skills.

For the more mature crowd, you can incorporate fun activities into your event planning as well. Perhaps a game of charades or a fun board or card game will entertain a more adult crowd. These types of games are a great way to socialize and they also act as stress relievers. Many men do this already when they have their weekly poker night with their buddies. They may not view it as an event, but it’s a great way for them to get together and challenge one another’s skill. Exact Change is a money card game for kids that incorporates money counting into the game theme.  The card game for kids ages 5 and up allows kids to get rid of cards by matching by color, currency value or Exact Change.  Matching cards by Exact Change allows players to get rid of multiple cards, for example if 25 cents is the top card you can get rid of 3 cards that add up to 25 cents!  It’s a really fun money card game for kids and parents too.

Depending on the event you are planning, it can be a plus to play a game or two. It keeps the event moving along and the guests will appreciate having a fun activity to engage in. The smaller ones will appreciate it even more if they win a prize for their efforts.

If you have kids in school, then you have a very important person to thank come Christmas time. Your child’s teacher is tasked with helping them learn to grow intellectually while at the same time generally does the work for a small amount of pay and appreciation.

Teachers always need board games to play in class, and even to enjoy at home with their own children. You can very easily choose a good quality game and then let the teacher decide on where she would like to use it.
In order for you to show your appreciation to your child’s teacher this Christmas, here are some game ideas to help you think of the perfect gift:

Learning Game Suggestion #1 –  Scrambled States by Gamewright is a great learning game for the classroom. Kids learn about geography as they try to quickly find clues and match their scramble cards.

Learning Game Suggestion #2 – Exact Change by Continuum Games is an award winning card game that helps kids learn about making change in a very fun game.  It’s simple, just get rid of all your cards by matching by color, currency value or Exact Change.

Learning Game Suggestion #3 – Rory’s Story Cubes by GameWright is a great game for teachers to let your students practice using their imaginations and artistic expressions.

Learning Game Suggestion #4 – ThinkFun’s Math dice are a great addition to any teachers lesson plan.  Simply rolll the dice to get your target number, then roll them again to try and come up with your target number using the most dice possible.

Learning Game Suggestion $5- Crossen Creations Magical Rainbow is an award winning kids board game
that combines colors, counting, strategy, patterns and sharing into a fascinating kids board game.  
 

Most children love all things about Halloween. As adults, we assume it’s because Halloween means candy and children generally love candy. But many children love more than just the abundance of candy at Halloween time. They really get into the ghoulish aspect of the holiday and delight in the displays of goopy brains and squishy body parts.

Halloween indoor games, therefore, can be really fun and goopy, if you wish. The kids will go with it, don’t worry.

First up, a brain game. There’s a fun indoor game on store shelves where you pick through a rubber “brain” to figure out what’s in it. You can create this easily yourself. Make some jello and fill it with a variety of items, like gummy worms and other gummy candies, some small candy and trinkets and other items. Tell the children to root around in the bowl of jello (call it a “brain” if this will get the kids more interested) to figure out what’s in it. It’s goopy and messy and kids love it. Best yet, color the jello black so it’s too dark to see what’s inside and it looks more like goopy brain matter (the way kids see it, anyway).

Another indoor game kids love is the spaghetti game. Be sure they are wearing a smock over their clothes or are wearing play clothes before playing this game. Make a big bowl of spaghetti and fill it with all kinds of items, like plastic bugs, gummy worms and other items that might feel a bit strange. Make the children feel around in the bowl of spaghetti and identify the items they feel. Once they are done and cleaned up, have them list as many items as they can remember. Whoever gets the most items listed (and right) gets a prize. Spaghetti, anyone?

Another similar indoor game that’s always popular is to take a cardboard box and paint it black, both the inside and outside. Carve a small hole in the top, really just large enough for the children to get their hands into, and fill the box with a variety of items. They can be related to Halloween (like a small pumpkin) or not (wrapped Tootsie rolls or a tiny toy Hummer car). Have the children guess what’s inside the box and award the box itself to the child who guesses the most number of items correctly. To make this goopy and silly, be sure to include some items that might feel like body parts or brain matter.

Kids love creating silly fictional stories, often with absurd plotlines. Halloween is the optimum time to let them run wild with their imaginations. Have them spend a bit of time writing out the scariest story they can think of. Some children might need some direction not to make it ridiculously grotesque, so use caution with these children in your clarification of this assignment. Once the stories are written, have the children hand them in and then have a guest reader for each one of them. Each child will come to the front of the class and read the story with as much dramatization as they can muster. Once the story is read, everyone has to guess who wrote the story. The writer should play along, otherwise everyone will know it was their story! The winner is the child who wrote a story so intriguing and unusual that nobody knew it was his or hers!

Kids love the word find games when you give them a word or words relating to a holiday or something else and have them find words within those words. In this case, give them Halloween-related words and ask them to find as many scary words as they can. For example, you might give them the word “Halloween” and see how many scary words they can make from the letters. Or you could give them a series of words and let them rearrange the letters in all of the words to create scary words, or even create a story from the scary words. Put a time limit on this game and award a prize for the child who creates the most words in the least amount of time.

Often for one reason or another your family may be stuck indoors. Physical activity is does not need to be compromised. You don’t have to have a home gym for your child to stay active during rainy, cold and snowy months? There are plenty of places to take your child when cabin fever sets in and fun game activities that you can do indoors. Always try to make activity a fun family time. After all playing games with your kids is a great for you to keep in shape too!

Try these indoor games for kids:

Gyms/Fitness Centers:

Check out your hometownl YMCA, gym or fitness center for calorie-burning fun activities that they offer kids like gymnastics, indoor basketball, wrestling, kick boxing, martial arts, wall-climbing, track, badminton, volleyball, ping pong, swimming, racquetball and tennis. You could even get your own workout while waiting.

Dance Studios:

A great way to burn calories and have fun. Classes including ballet, tap, modern, jazz, hip-hop, line dancing, ballroom dancing, yoga, free movement classes and other music/dance combination classes.

Indoor Rinks:

Ice-skating, roller-skating, inline-skating can fill hours of fun on rainy days.

Museums:

Take your kids to a museum, they provide interesting, educational and fun activities that keep your kid on the move! Indoor nature centers or aquariums offer similar movement opportunities.

Restaurants with Games:

They’re everywhere. Choose restaurants that offer the greatest energy burners, including laser tag and other fast-paced indoor games. Another great option is to create an ‘Activity/Play Room’ in your house, where you set up areas for your child to try different indoor games.

At Home:

 A plastic tub filled with costumes, dress-up clothes, and accessories like crowns, wands, toy shields, armor, masks, vests, belts, shoes, hats, grass skirts, scarves, play jewelry, wigs…

 Boom box with dance music tapes or CDs to have family dance parties

 Build a tent and have a living room camping trip.

 Hop scotch mat, action indoor games like Twister, Charades, Simon Says, Follow the leader

 Paddle balls, indoor ball toss games, bean bags, juggling balls, hacky sack

 Indoor basketball hoop and soft foam balls

 Jump ropes, skip-it, small kid-safe hand weights, exercise stretch bands.

 Try household cleaning with items such as brooms, mops, vacuum cleaners, feather dusters. You would be surprised how many kids love to clean!

 Do the “TV commercial boogie” whenever the ads come on. You’ll be amazed at how much moving you’ll do to the soundtracks of those endless commercials! And be sure to engage in collective booing when junk-food ads fill the screen.

Often for one reason or another your family may be stuck indoors. Physical activity is does not need to be compromised. You don’t have to have a home gym for your child to stay active during rainy, cold and snowy months? There are plenty of places to take your child when cabin fever sets in and fun game activities that you can do indoors. Always try to make activity a fun family time. After all playing games with your kids is a great for you to keep in shape too!

Try these indoor games for kids:

Gyms/Fitness Centers:

Check out your hometownl YMCA, gym or fitness center for calorie-burning fun activities that they offer kids like gymnastics, indoor basketball, wrestling, kick boxing, martial arts, wall-climbing, track, badminton, volleyball, ping pong, swimming, racquetball and tennis. You could even get your own workout while waiting.

Dance Studios:

A great way to burn calories and have fun. Classes including ballet, tap, modern, jazz, hip-hop, line dancing, ballroom dancing, yoga, free movement classes and other music/dance combination classes.

Indoor Rinks:

Ice-skating, roller-skating, inline-skating can fill hours of fun on rainy days.

Museums:

Take your kids to a museum, they provide interesting, educational and fun activities that keep your kid on the move! Indoor nature centers or aquariums offer similar movement opportunities.

Restaurants with Games:

They’re everywhere. Choose restaurants that offer the greatest energy burners, including laser tag and other fast-paced indoor games. Another great option is to create an ‘Activity/Play Room’ in your house, where you set up areas for your child to try different indoor games.

At Home:

 A plastic tub filled with costumes, dress-up clothes, and accessories like crowns, wands, toy shields, armor, masks, vests, belts, shoes, hats, grass skirts, scarves, play jewelry, wigs…

 Boom box with dance music tapes or CDs to have family dance parties

 Build a tent and have a living room camping trip.

 Hop scotch mat, action indoor games like Twister, Charades, Simon Says, Follow the leader

 Paddle balls, indoor ball toss games, bean bags, juggling balls, hacky sack

 Indoor basketball hoop and soft foam balls

 Jump ropes, skip-it, small kid-safe hand weights, exercise stretch bands.

 Try household cleaning with items such as brooms, mops, vacuum cleaners, feather dusters. You would be surprised how many kids love to clean!

 Do the “TV commercial boogie” whenever the ads come on. You’ll be amazed at how much moving you’ll do to the soundtracks of those endless commercials! And be sure to engage in collective booing when junk-food ads fill the screen.