Top 5 Christmas Game Ideas for Teachers

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.  
 

Scary Halloween Indoor Games For kids

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.

Exact Change Money Card Game

Fun Indoor Games For Kids

Exact Change Money Card Game

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.

Fun Indoor Games For Kids

Exact Change Money Card Game

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.

LaughingClick Here For Fun Scavenger Hunt Games!

Every person who loves games has their personal all time favorites they played growing up. But not all kids games are addicting games – even those considered classics, like Monopoly. When I talk about addicting kids games I mean those that you’ll stay up playing until the wee hours of the morning, or those that get worn out from so much use. My choices for the fabolous five most addicting games of all time might not be yours, but if you haven’t played them in awhile, give them a try – you may be pleasantly surprised!

Kids Board Games

Of the classics, Operation will always be in my top five. I loved hitting my cousins arm when he was trying to get the wish bone out :)  

A close second is Candyland, I remember wishing I could visit the land and eat all the candy :)  

Kids Card Games

I find many types of card games addictive – from hearts to rummy to pinochle – but as far as specialty card games go, I’ll choose Uno every time. My family actually has a much-anticipated Uno tournament every Fourth of July. I love the way alliances quickly change, depending upon who is on the verge of going out, and the utter desperation you feel when you have a fistful of cards.

My second choice of specialty card game would be Uno’s cousin, Skip-Bo. It’s a great kid’s game for the whole family, since anyone who can count up to 12 can play it. It’s been great watching it dawn on my son that there’s a strategy to the game, and seeing him hold back cards so that he could play a greater number of cards in his next turn. When we go to my sister’s house to visit, we all play for hours at a time.

Magical Rainbow

Board Games For Kids To Develop Emotional Skills

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Businesses are finding that most successful people have one thing in common: the ability to deal with people. But successful employees don’t learn this skill when they enter the work force; they learn it at an early age.

As a parent, you may wonder how to help your children develop the emotional skills they need to get through life and be successful in their future careers.

It’s a challenging task, but one game manufacturer has set out to make it easier through its series of “emotional intelligence” kids board games.

Parents looking for ways to breach difficult topics; teach their children about qualities such as empathy, problem solving, assertiveness and good manners; or who just want to have some family fun will find many opportunities in the following products:

* Crossen Creations Magical Rainbow Board Game has the important lesson of sharing.  Children learn about sharing and the goodness in giving to others.  

* Oikos Game Levels 1 to 3: Through active play, children learn positive strategies to handle common emotional situations relating to anger, aggression, fear and conflict.

* A 31 Day Success Principles for Kids and Teens: Each card contains a success principle – such as “know your purpose” or “be persistent” – and a mini-biography of a famous person who made use of that principle.

* A 31 Day Positive Affirmations for Kids and Teens: Each card contains one affirmation to read each day. The intention is for kids to focus on their strengths and positive attributes.

Oikos Global also offers fun family games such as Fikloo, a party game of crazy commands, and Wordigy, a challenging and educational word game.

Oikos games and activities might get your children thinking beyond the latest “must have” video game or DVD. They also make good gifts for holidays, birthdays and graduations.

Crossen Creations also offers Exact Change the award winning money card game.  

Magical Rainbow

St. Patricks Day: Time To Play Leprechaun Games

Magical Rainbow

Saint Patrick’s day is a religious feast festival of Catholic christians having its roots in Ireland with the celebrations gaining significance in other countries, particularly America and Britain. Just like St. Valentines Day, St. Patrick’s Day (i.e, 17th March) commemorates the demise of the revered patronised Irish saint St. Patrick. So, what is the legend behind St. Patrick which led to the association of a festival in his name and how is the day celebrated ?

The story goes like this…

Originally born (in later half of fourth century) to Roman parents in Scotland or Roman England (there are conflicting opinions regarding the place of birth), he was previously known by the name Maewyn Succat. He was given a Romanicized name Patricius leading to him being known as Patrick.

Patrick was originally a pagan ( a non-believer of Christianity ). During his childhood, he was kidnapped and sold as a slave to the Celtic Druids who then ruled Ireland. It was during that stage of life that his attitude and beliefs towards God started changing. After six years, he escaped from slavery when he dreamt of God giving him instructions for the same. He was taught priesthood in France. When he became a bishop, he again dreamt of Irish people calling him and requiring his services.

So, he returned to Ireland with firm belief of converting pagans to Christians. Despite being arrested by the Celtic Druids several times, he always managed to escape and was not deterred. He actively baptized and preached Christianity. He even used diplomacy like gifting people in kinglets and gifting lawgivers. For 20 years he had traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries across the country. He also set up schools and churches which would aid him in his conversion.

How is the Patrick’s day celebrated ?

As a part of the celebration, Many Irish people wear a bunch of shamrock on their lapels or caps on St. Patrick’s Day, while children wear tricolored (green, white and orange) badges. Girls traditionally wore green ribbons in their hair (many still do).

A three-leafed Shamrock clover was used by St. Patrick to represent the trinity, like father, son and holy spirit; also shamrock was considered lucky by Irish people. The shamrock was used by the Irish as a mark of nationalism when the English invaded the Celtics. Thus a shamrock is given lot of reverence in Ireland. Leprechuans or Irish fairy people are also associated with St. Patrick’s festival. In Irish mythology, a leprechaun is a type of elf said to inhabit the island of Ireland.

In recent times, the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Dublin have been extended to a week-long event called St. Patrick’s Festival, encompassing a spectacular fireworks display (Skyfest), open-air music, street theater and the traditional parade. Over one million people attended the celebrations in 2004.

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated worldwide by the Irish and those of Irish descent. A major parade takes place in Dublin and in most other Irish towns and villages. The three largest parades of recent years have been held in Dublin, New York and Birmingham England. Parades also take place in other centers, London, Paris, Rome, Moscow, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and throughout the Americas.

In the United States, St. Patrick’s Day would not be St. Patrick’s Day unless the Chicago River is dyed green. Also, St. Paddy’s Day has little religious or historical significance. Established in Boston in 1737, it is essentially a time to put on a “Kiss Me I’m Irish” button, and parade drunken through the streets singing a mangled version of “Danny Boy” in celebration of one’s real or imagined Irish ancestry.

A new childrens board game called the Magical Rainbow is also a fun game to play with the family.  It has a cute theme about a leprechaun who was given a magical rainbow to travel the world to give out his gold to people in need.  It’s kind of like candyland but with a lot of fun twists and its also magnetic.

Thus in a nutshell, it can be seen that the legends revolving around St Patrick have been inseparably combined with the facts. The day invariably evokes the “I am Irish” sentiments alongwith patronizing St. Patrick for his services towards Ireland. And together they have helped us know much about the Saint and the spirit behind celebration of the day.

LaughingClick Here For Fun Scavenger Hunt Games!

LaughingClick Here For Fun Scavenger Hunt Games!

B>To imagine the unimaginable is the highest use of the imagination. – Cynthia Ozick

We all have it, it’s just that we seldom use it.
We go about our day following the usual routine and rarely fire-up our imaginations to plan or develop something well out of our usual schedule.

Steve Joordens, a cognitive psychologist and professor at the University of Toronto, puts it this way - “It’s only a small percentage of our lives that we spend consciously considering things. We may go through 80 percent of our life without much conscious thought of what we are thinking and doing.”

Professor Joordens, points out that when you’re involved with your usual daily tasks, any effort to awaken your imagination for some creative purpose is “effortful and easily disruptable. In order to get to the creative thing you have to expend an effort. A lot of people don’t tend to make those efforts.”

For those however, who find the time and make the effort to ignite the power of imagination find the experience can be energizing and often leads to a successful conclusion of an creative idea.
In an article on the power of imagination, Andrew Chung writes – “Many of the greatest advances, like the theory of relativity were the product of an abundance of imagination….”

Another powerful creative tool is to combine imagination with visualization – this is the combo used successful by athletes such as Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus – they take the time and make the effort to imagine various shot possibilities, then after calculating the best opportunity, they picture making that shot in their minds – imagination plus visualization a powerful tool in developing a more creative, and happier you.

Imagination is something we all have but use sparingly, and when we imagine something, it habitually deals with the usual mundane concerns of our lives – it’s worth the time and effort to use your imagination to think outside the box – innovative ideas and creative challenges that will bring about a new lease on life.


There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrated to some stroke of the imagination. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Great New Ebook To Help You Teach Your Kids About Money/a>

Monopoly: Classic Games for Every Age

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With so many forms of entertainment available today, games and puzzles remain a great way to pass the time, a means of teaching good sportsmanship to children, and most importantly a way to bring families together. In fact, there are addicting games for people of all ages. Monopoly, however, has to rank on almost everyone’s list of the most addicting game of all time.

When thinking about the most addicting fun game of all time, Monopoly is one of the first board games to come to mind. Who hasn’t spent hours scheming to trade railroads, or hoping beyond hope that they will manage to avoid landing on the Boardwalk space with the hotel on it? Debates continue to rage as to whether money paid to the banker goes in the middle of the board and the lucky person to land on Free Parking rakes in the cash (the official rules say no, but every family seems to have its own tradition of rules).

There are over two dozen great versions of Monopoly, some of which incorporate themes and others of which are designed as kid’s games. Monopoly Jr. is a great way to get the younger ones involved in and excited about Monopoly, and is still fun for adults. In fact, a child’s movement from the Junior version to the “real” version of Monopoly is almost like a rite of passage.

When it comes to themes, there’s a Monopoly game for virtually everyone. Star Wars and Lord of the Rings Monopoly themes appeal to the sci-fi crowd, while the NFL and Dale Earnhardt Monopoly editions are a sure bet for sports aficionados. Those who love nostalgia will enjoy playing the I Love Lucy version of Monopoly, while kids of all ages enjoy the Pokemon, Spider-Man, and Disney Monopoly editions. Other themes include Harley-Davidson, The Simpsons, Scooby-Doo, and Peanuts – and there’s even a .com version!

Of course, while two people can play Monopoly, the best Monopoly games involve at least three or four players. When it comes to addicting games for twosomes, card games are always a favorite. Kid’s games include educational card games like Learning Journey and card games that feature historical figures like the Pioneers in Medicine Card Game or the Inventors Card Game. For adults, rummy cards are a fun way to pass the time, as are cribbage, Uno, Skip-Bo and Exact Change.

Completing jigsaw puzzles are on the top of many people’s list of addictive activities. It’s a great solo activity, as well as being a fun family pastime. Puzzles come in all shapes and sizes, and are suitable for kids as well as adults. Especially appropriate for rainy days, jigsaw puzzles keep idle fingers busy and make the time go by quickly.

When it comes to addicting games, no one can dispute that video games are completely absorbing. Even so, Monopoly is one of the few unique board games that people of all ages can play, enjoy, and become addicted to.

Great New Ebook To Help You Teach Your Kids About Money/a>

Are Traditional Family Games a thing of the past?

Board games have evolved massively over the years. As a child my memories of board games were Operation, Candy Land, Battle Ship, Guess Who and many many more. All games that we could play as a family to pass the time away. Hours of fun was had by all.

My favorite game was Operation, I loved hitting my cousins arm as he tried to pick out the wishbone:) He would yell when the red nose buzzer went off, and say I cheated.  I loved cheating, that was the best part about playing board games and now with the advancement of technology you cant even cheat :)

Many Sunday afternoons were spent with my family playing these fabulous board games.
How things have changed? Today, whilst we still have the old traditional Board games, and I guess we always will, Games are far more advanced, and are often played on computers, or via DVD Players using your Television sets.

You can now play a board game on your own against a Computer (who will act as your opponent) as opposed to playing with friends and/or family. I find this quite sad, especially knowing how much fun we had as children interacting with each other, and observing each other as we rowed over such meaningless but then important issues.

I now see my own nephews spending hours on their own in front of a computer playing games without any physical human interaction, whilst their parents get on with other things. I guess one advantage is that if you are an only child you don’t miss out on not playing games just because you had no-one else to play it with you. The Traditional games such as monopoly can now be played on a computer and the Computer can act as your opponent. You can even set what level of difficulty you want to play at.

The disadvantage to this, in my opinion is that the family getting together and interacting with each other seems to be a thing of the past.

LaughingClick Here For Fun Scavenger Hunt Games!

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