http://rollingthedice.today.com Just another Today.com weblog Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:05:53 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Anyone who has a five year old (or is a Kindergarten teacher) knows exactly what I'm talking about here. Five year olds are in a weird place emotionally, physically and intellectually. They're learning new things at a phenomal rate (reading, math, music), they're able to do new things every day (brush ... http://rollingthedice.today.com/2009/01/08/playing-games-with-a-five-year-old-is-a-game-of-chance/ The kids have had an extra-long holiday - they're just back at school today - so last Monday, I came up with a great project to keep us from screaming at each other - tidying up the games shelves. At our house, we have two five-shelf bookcases in which we store our collection. ... http://rollingthedice.today.com/2009/01/07/cleaning-up-the-games-shelves/ Taking a page from fellow blogger wegank (read his blog here), I asked my sons for their recommendations for games. I started with my five-year-old, a sometimes silly, sometimes serious little guy who prefers music and art to dirt and trucks. Here are his three favourite games: Guess Who This is honestly one of ... http://rollingthedice.today.com/2008/12/12/recommendations-from-a-five-year-old/ I got involved in a discussion recently about group games for kids. Actually, my husband and the other leader for the local Scout troop were talking about it, and I butted in. Essentially, we agreed that any game that gets kids active and working together is good, but we're all more ... http://rollingthedice.today.com/2008/12/10/learning-life-skills-from-the-playing-field/ One area in which I have yet to blog is the realm of large-group games. As a Beaver leader, I’m always on the lookout for great games for kids to play in a big group. We have 15 boys, ages five to seven, in our colony, and you just can’t play ... http://rollingthedice.today.com/2008/11/25/can-you-come-out-and-play/ Today my sons and I played Pan-gee-ah, a little-known dinosaur game produced in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia by an independant game-maker. We picked it up at the Fundy Geological Museum in Parrsborough a year or two ago. You can find it on eBay or kijiji, or you can try contacting the museum through their ... http://rollingthedice.today.com/2008/11/22/jurassic-triassic-cretaceous/ I don’t remember who gave us the Apples-to-Apples game that sits on our shelf, but I sure am glad they did. Describing the game to people, it sounds lame. So I’m not even going to bother. If you want to read about how the games works, visit the Wikipedia entry. Or ... http://rollingthedice.today.com/2008/11/20/insight-into-the-mind-of-a-teenager/ When my younger brother and I were in university, we made a pact. We decided that we would each give the other a board game for Christmas. The only rule was that it had to be something that could be played by two people (though it could be played by more), ... http://rollingthedice.today.com/2008/11/18/comfort-games/ So, as mentioned in the last blog, as kids hit middle school and those (sometimes dreaded) hormones start kicking in, social games become much more interesting. When I was about 12 or 13, my uncle gave me one of the best games for a kid this age. It was called "Dweebs, ... http://rollingthedice.today.com/2008/11/16/social-and-strategy-games-with-teens-and-preteens/ Playing games with kids aged 6 to 10 is a lot of fun. For the most part, they can read, they understand how to take turns, and they generally have enough life experience to know that even if they lose this time, next time, they might win. There's an increasing range ... http://rollingthedice.today.com/2008/11/15/warming-up-to-the-big-leagues/