Frugal Family Fun: More Friday's Fun

So Being Frugal was talking about Frugal Family Fun, and there was so much to share, it turned into a blog entry instead of just a comment. LOL!!

I agree. We have a game night too (mentioned in the comments on her post). In fact we have something fun for every night of the week! And on this blog I try to post something family fun and frugal every Friday. And I have a lot of fun things listed in the Just For Fun section of my blog.

The girls LOVE board games! I also collect craft kits at thrift stores and garage sales. These are GREAT to pull out. Also, we have just recently started Saturday Morning Paintings. We all sit down at the table with paper and pencil and watercolors. I love seeing what the girls draw. We are hoping to do more with Charlotte Mason Nature Studies once it warms up.

We also do a lot of baking and cooking together. What a wonderful way to learn how to make your own bread (and have FUN with it too!).

My husband also takes the girls on library date nights. He will check out some fun book with them. A few months ago, he checked out some "how to draw" books and he and my daughter sat at the table at the library and just went through the books, picking out fun things to draw. My daughter STILL talks about it!

And who can forget You Tube? While there is some stuff on there that is NOT for kids, there are a lot of things that are. You can usually goto any Christian forum and find a thread about funny You Tube videos. There are a few on this blog (just goto the top of this blog and enter VIDEO into the search field - the great thing about Blogger is it will search only this blog). My girls and I have laughed so hard at other babies giggling, puppies talking and Human Tetris! :) Rocks In My Dryer asked for people to send in their favs. GREAT list with that link. :)

I hope this helps give you some ideas and I encourage you to check out the links for LOTS more! :)

Friday's Fun: Vintage Game - Flying

Last week's Poor Kitty was a DISASTER! The girls started acting VERY goofy. I have now learned not to give them opportunities to be goofy. I want them to be ladies, not goofs.

So this week's game is not only something that can be used for homeschooling, but looks really fun too!

Flying
Everyone but the leader sits with their right hand on their left arm. You can change this for younger ones by having them put their hands in their lap. Then the leader tells a story with as many animals as possible. Every time a flying creature is mentioned, the right hand should be raised in the air and waved in a flying like motion. For younger ones, it might be fun to let them put both hands in the air like they are flying(since they have a difficult time knowing left from right and might get frustrated at not raising the correct hand).

Not as easy as it sounds, especially the faster the story goes. And not all birds fly (penguins, ostriches for example) whereas some things that are not birds DO fly (bees, bats for example).

You can either have the person who forgets to raise their hand (or raises it when not appropriate) pay a forfeit, OR you can have them be "out." Last one remaining becomes the leader and tells the next story.

Another variation is that every time an animal is named, the children have to make the sound of that animal. This of course is most fun for younger children, but can be a way to play the game in the car when Momma is driving and needs to entertain the children on long car trips or after a long day of errand running. Have fun by naming animals that are fairly quiet (mouse, bunny, giraffe). LOL!!!

Friday's Fun: Homemade Popsicles

Popsicles are a GREAT way to cool down. They are so easy and fun (not to mention inexpensive) to make, that there is no reason why NOT to make them at home YOURSELF (well, with the KIDS of course!!

Right now, you should have some GREAT luck at all the garage sales finding some molds!! :)

Here is a two part article on popsicles, the green way:
Make Homemade Popsicles
32 Unique Homemade Popsicle Recipes

It is also fun to put some treats in them - like freshly picked blueberries, or pieces of grapes. Oh grapes are so fun and yummy frozen! :) Another great way to cool down on a hot summer day.

My favorite way to eat homemade popsicles is to eat them on a hot summer day and then run through the sprinklers afterwards (to clean up of course)!

Friday's Fun: Vintage Games - Spell Down

Divide your party into two groups (or for homeschooling or family play, just put them in a line or circle). Ahead of time chose several words to use, but don't make them TOO difficult (no more than 8 letters). Instead of one person spelling the word given, each person can only spell one letter. So go around the circle or down the line, each person giving one letter for the word, given in the correct order for the correct spelling.

Should someone give an incorrect letter, a point goes to the other team (or if you are doing homeschool or family fun, have them pay a forfeit - I think a GREAT forfeit for this game is to have the person spell the word BACKWARDS!)

HAVE FUN!!!

I am not really able to think of a way to play this game with young children, so I will give a different variation. NUMBERS!

We have been playing a fun little game as of late. You might remember playing it in school. You count upwards towards the number eight. Beginning with Mommy who says:

I ONE the frog.

Child then says "I TWO the frog." This goes back and forth until the child says "I EIGHT the frog." to which the Mommy acts horribly disgusted "EWWWWWwwww... you ATE the FROG!!!"

My girls could not get enough of this. Playing it all the time, with different words at the end: I 8 the rocket, I 8 the table, I ate the banana, I ate the monkey ....

You get the idea.

Friday's Fun: Cotton Ball

So this ISN'T a vintage game, but still fun nonetheless.

Take a cotton ball and a table and two straws. The object of the game is to blow the cotton ball off the side of the table by your opponent. For MORE fun, get a box (you know the ones that hold the cans of soda from the super market, or the boxes they ship meat in) and cut out a "goal" at the short ends. Then use that as your game table. Fun fast and INEXPENSIVE. :) ENJOY!!!

Friday's Fun: Vintage Games - One Syllable

First, an update on How, Why, When and Where:
This was fun to play with just my husband and myself. We included the children in it and both EE (5yo) and AA (7yo) REALLY enjoyed it. It took a little bit for them to learn it. But once they did, they came up with some REALLY good ones! And DIFFICULT too!! MM (3yo) was a bit too small to really play. She went off on tangents like "what color is it?" and it became more of 20 questions with her. But still fun nonetheless!! :) We played this throughout the week. Waiting for dinner to finish, driving in the car, etc.

Today's game is called One Syllable.

Sit in a circle (or course, if this is just played between you and hubby, you don't have to sit in a circle LOL!!!).

The lady begins by asking a question of the player on her right, to which he must reply in one word of one syllable or incur a forfeit for every extra syllable.

So for example:
Lady: May I ask if you love music?
Player 2: Yes. (now to the player on his right) May I ask, what wood do you think makes the best furniture?
Next Player: Oak. Permit me to ask if you prefer soda or water?
Player 4: Water. (Oppps! That is TWO syllables, sneaky, but now player 4 has to pay a forfeit.)

So what is a forfeit?
The player has to preform a task that is something ridiculous or seemingly impossible
(or both). Kinda like a dare. Some fun ones might be:

Spirit of Contrary - whatever the player is told to do, he must just just the opposite.
The Perfect Friend - Go around in the room and tell everyone something you like about them.
Yawner - The player must yawn until he makes someone else yawn.
4 Corners - Laugh in one corner of the room, cry in another, sing in another and dance in another.

Friday's Fun: Stockpiling Day

The other day was such fun! The girls and I made two quiches (for the freezer) and a peach pie (freezer? are you kidding?) of which half was eaten and raved about. :)

The Quiches
I had gotten 4 dozen organic eggs at $1.50 each and they needed to be used and FAST. I had already boiled a dozen, and used a dozen in one nights dinner (breakfast tacos).

So I decided to try quiche. I have never made it before, but love it. I found a recipe for Caramelized Onion Quiche and made it. I did not have red onions, only yellow. So I did as someone did in the comments and used some brown sugar on the onions. OH they looked and smelled so good!! I used her recipe for the crust and I added an extra egg. Because of the cost of the cheese she recommended, I made one of the quiches with Swiss (the girls LOVED the holes in the cheese). :)

They cooked up so wonderfully well. They browned nicely, the crust did not burn, and they did not overflow! YUMMO!!!! Freezing was easy. After cooking, I put them uncovered (I did not know how to do this until after I read about it) until frozen, then wrapped in freezer paper and foil and put into a plastic freezer bag. They freeze for two months. I took pen and wrote date to use by as well as reheating directions (do not thaw, cook 20-25 minutes in a 350F preheated oven).

The only bad thing was it did take a LONG time. There is chilling the dough as well as putting it in the freezer for a bit. I was also sad it did not even use a dozen eggs up. But now I know that with that recipe, it will take THREE quiches to use up all those eggs. I wish I had made more crusts. I made all the crusts at once (even the peach pie double ones).

The Peach Pie:
I love All Recipes for recipes. The recipes are rated AND the comments have the BEST tips in them.

I used the most starred Peach Pie recipe and not only was it simple, it was GOOD! It was the perfect Valentine's day treat, and a great way to use up the organic peaches I had gotten and cut up and froze during the summer. I left the skins on, and you honestly could not tell a difference in the way the pie came out. YUMMO!!

I used the pie crust recipe from the onion quiche recipe above. But I added 1 1/2 tsp sugar (for more sweet). I used 1/4 cup COLD shortening (from Spectrum - not Crisco) and 4 TBSP frozen butter.

A little tip about butter. I cut a BUNCH of sticks into tablespoons and stick them in the freezer. It is a great way to keep the butter cold while making crusts (the colder the butter the better the crust). I keep a ziploc freezer bag of these in the fridge now, ever ready for making pie crusts! :)

With the pie, I did like the comments suggested and added 1 heaping Tablespoon cornstarch, used 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup white, and though I am NOT a cinnamon person, added the touch of cinnamon suggested. WOW this pie came out GOOOD! And it did not boil over!!! The girls raved about it!

SUMMARY:
Our children learn by our example. So far, I have been a horrible example to them of cooking from scratch and stockpiling. This was a wonderful time to spend TOGETHER in not only baking, but stockpiling. They wondered why we were not eating the quiches right away. I got to explain about buying eggs on sale and making food for the future. :) So not only did we have a fun time together, I was able to pass on something important to my children. :) WOOHOO!!!

-=-=-=-=-=-
Three things I am thankful for:
*slippery soap in baby's hands
*the awe and wonder in JJ's eyes at slippery soap
*the giggles that filled our house for 20 minutes of soapy fun :)

Friday's Fun: Vintage Games

My husband and I have been trying to kick the TV habit for some time now. It is easy to fall back into, especially with the move and all - just turn on the TV and have an instant baby sitter for your kids. Of course, even with the "wholesome" videos we have, it doesn't take the place of wholesome family togetherness and fun.

We have a book called Victorian Parlor Games by Patrick Beaver. An out of print book with TONS of FUN non-TV activities to do as a family! Of course, having a larger family helps. LOL! But my husband and I have played versions of these games just the two of us.

So I thought it would be fun to learn one game a week to be played on the weekend!

At the end of the post I will post some links to other Victorian Game sites (PLEASE remember that a lot of things from this time period are very superstitious and not Christian in nature - especially the games around Halloween) so READ WITH PRAYER AND CAUTION.

So the game we are going to learn this week is called
How, Why, When and Where.

On person thinks of any object. Then the other players try to guess what the object is by asking the following questions:

How do you like it?
Why do you like it?
When do you like it?
Where do you like it?

So for example:

How do you like it? I like it cold.
Why do you like it? I like it because it is tasty.
When do you like it? I like it when it is hot outside.
Where do you like it? I like it in a bowl.

What is it? ICE CREAM of course! :)

Of course, with OLDER children, you can use a word that has several meanings and answer each question for with a different meaning for the word.

For example: male (a man), mail (letters), mail (armor). You like it when it is a good friend (male). You like it because sometimes it brings good news (mail letters). You like it first thing in the morning (mail letters). You like it in a museum (mail armor).

I would LOVE to hear some of yours! Please share!! Think of an object and answer the questions, then leave the answer at the bottom of your comment (so we all have time to guess).

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Other links of interest (if you find anything objectionable PLEASE email me RIGHT AWAY):
Of course you can google Victorian Parlor Games :)
Tea Time Traditions - Victorian Parlor Games
Victorian Parlor Games and Rules
Parlor Games and Entertainments

Friday's Fun: What Is It?

This game would be a lot of fun at a Christmas party!

Pair up players. Players sit back to back. One player pulls something out of a bag and tries to describe it. The player sitting back to him tries to draw it. When all the pictures are finished, everyone tries to guess what they are and match them to the real objects. To play this at a Christmas party, it would be fun to pull the items out of a stocking.

This is also GREAT for homeschooling! (Yes, I do try to find a way to relate every day life to homeschooling!) :D It is a great way for children to use descriptive words and adjectives to describe an object. It is also good for critical thinking. Instead of describing the object, describe how you would use it/what you would do with it. :D

Friday's Fun: Fun Way to Make Ice Cream

A bit a vintageness in the fact you make your own ice cream, but I am not sure they ever would have done things THIS way. :) Although I do think that the game Kick The Can could have easily also made ice cream!! Wonder if the Pioneers or Victorian's ever tried it? :)

FUN way to make your own ice cream (especially for the kids on a hot summer day).


These Play & Freeze Ice Cream Balls can be found at amazon.com





Why spend $25+ on an Ice Cream Ball maker when you can do it yourself for cheaper??

Permalink to the above picture/article.

I am also curious if the above ball at amazon could be replicated by using a Downey Ball??? Anyone up for trying it and letting us know? :D

Friday's Fun: Vintage Games - Unwanted Letter, Omit the E

It seems that all of my Vintage Games have been word related as of late! :) Here is another one. **UPDATED**

Unwanted Letter

Choose an unwanted letter, M for example. Have everyone sit in a circle. Choose someone to ask a question of. The idea is to ask a question which would most logically be answered using the letter M. However, the person answering cannot use that letter.

So, for example, the question asked could be "What day immediately follows Sunday?" (You cannot phrase it "comes after" because Tuesday, Wednesday, etc all come after Sunday.) The asker then begins to count at a reasonable rate to ten (the person is only given ten seconds to answer).

The obvious answer is Monday. However, they have to avoid using the letter M, so they could answer "The day before Tuesday."

The person who was answered the question, now gets to ask the next question.

Anyone who is not able to answer within ten second OR answers using the unwanted letter must either sit out or pay a forfeit.

For fun, you can have three or four letters that are unwanted.

A similar version of this game is called Omit The E, and focuses on just the E. It also would make a great ice breaker when played as guests arrive at your house for a party.

The letter E is considered the most used letter in the alphabet. Questions are asked of each other and the answer cannot have the letter E in it. The question may have E, but the answer may not.

For example, if asked "How are you today?", they cannot respond "I am fine" because fine has the letter E in it. Instead, you could respond "I am all right."

The questioned is given 20 seconds to answer, if they cannot they have to pay a forfeit.

UPDATE:

I was thinking last night of how to play this will younger children (as AA is just learning to spell and the others don't know), and I thought you could omit SOUNDS! So for example, you would omit the mmmmmmmm sound. You could use the same question as above.

Playing these games with my children have been some of the most fun times I have had with them lately. It is so great to see their eyes when it finally CLICKS that they understand HOW the game is played. And they are so easy to play in the car! We are not as close to the grocery store as we were, so playing the game fills the time.

Rebecca asked where I got these games from, they are ALL actual vintage games that were played during the time of Little House on the Prairie and the times of Ebenezer Scrooge!

Friday's Fun: Who Is Your Jane Austen Husband??

OK, so this is one I know nothing about! LOL! I was hoping for Darcy or SOMEONE I knew. I will have to read this one now. LOL!!! I know it is not my typical Friday Fun of Family Fun. But I am feeling a bit romantic today. :^) (and actually forgot it was Friday and thought today was Thursday! :^)

You scored as Edmund Bertram, Your husband/boyfriend is Edmund Bertram from Mansfield Park. Most likely he has taught you many things and acted as your guide or protector. Though he is quite principled, he has learned to detect the faults of others. Most likely the two of you were friends for a long time before you were lovers. As a couple, you delight in learning and conversing together and remain consistently loyal to each other. Edmund Bertram 75% Col. Brandon 75% Knightley 70% Captain Wentworth 70% Edward Ferrars 70% Darcy 65% Tilney 50% Who is Your Jane Austen Boyfriend/Husband? created with QuizFarm.com

Friday's Fun: Which Came First?

An fun game can be built around the chronology of events and characters in the Bible. Have your guests (or in this case children) stand in line. Give the first person in line two names or two events. He is to name which came first.

So if you gave them "Peter or Paul?" the answer would be Peter (because Peter appeared in the Gospels while Paul didn't appear until Acts. If you said "Tower of Babel or Walls of Jericho?" they would answer Tower of Babel! :)

This game can also be playing for ANYTHING! (You know how a homeschooling Mom is!). Which word comes first in the dictionary? To make this one hard, try to think of words that actually would appear close in the dictionary OR use words that can be spelled the same way and have them spell the correct answer.
Which planet comes first? Which President comes first? Which event in history came came first? Or for fun, you can do birth dates (you don't have to include years for us old fogies who don't want people to know their age). For littles you can do numbers. Oh the POSSIBILITIES!!! :D

Friday's Fun: Thanksgiving - Hours of Thanks

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, and it being a holiday that never seems to get the recognition it deserves, I would like to take my Friday Fun's and share some Thanksgiving fun you can have with your family.

Hours of Thanks (from Quiet Times with Active Preschoolers)

Make a clock face with movable hands and write something that you are thankful for beside each hour of the day.
Then see if you and our child can remember to stop and pray a prayer of thanks during each hour of Thanksgiving Day.
Move the clock hands to show you have prayed.

My thoughts: If the child cannot read, you can draw or have the child draw a picture at each hour. They can also cut out pictures from old books/magazines and glue at each hour. It also might be a nice idea to prayer EVERY day of the month (not just Thanksgiving day). It would be a good habit to get into.

There are LOTS of verses in the Bible about giving thanks. Choose one to put in the middle of your clock and memorize it. If you wish, make a new clock each week with a new verse in the middle to memorize. :D

Another variation is to cut out pictures of friends and family and put one at each hour. Then pray for that family member/friend at that hour. It can help your children remember Grandma and other family members if you are unable to be together. AND if you are gathering for Thanksgiving day, it can help to get the child familiar with them again after being apart for so long.

Friday's Fun: Vintage Games - Poor Kitty

Update of One Syllable:
We never really did play this. It was really fun teaching my oldest what a syllable was and seeing if she knew how many syllables were in certain words. It was a great way to keep her mind off her pain when she came to me saying "My finger is infected" and I replied "How many syllables does infected have?" She laughed and laughed (and what Momma can resist laughing when she hears her own children laughing?). So the game turned more into a how many syllables game. But it was fun and would not have been played had we not picked this game to learn. :)

This weeks game: Poor Kitty

This weeks game is considered a SERIOUS game because you are supposed to stay serious and NOT smile. VERY hard to do in our family. It is hard to imagine adults playing this game, yet it was mostly played by adults during it's time. But this is a GREAT game for children!!

One person is chosen to be the kitty. Everyone else sits in a circle. The kitty walks around on hands and knees and adopts a begging posture at the feet of one in the circle. The kitty looks as pathetic as he possibly can and gives a pitiful "meow." The one appealed to must say "poor kitty" in a consoling way as possible, but without the shadow of a smile. This is repeated three times and if a smile appears on either face, a forfeit is paid, and the kitty and the other player changes places.

Friday's Fun: NO TV week

Every so often, we turn off the TV for the whole week. The girls usually only watch videos, but sometimes I get caught up in a TV show. And hubby loves to watch videos. So all TV's went off (and no computer or video games).

And it was wonderful! I love how well my children receive the NO TV or video games weeks we have. They actually seem happy about it.

Day one was Monday, and immediately up came the checkers board. We were very blessed to get a HUGE cloth fabric board with the big pieces for 50 cents at a garage sale. There is just SOMETHING about this BIG over the small tiny one that really encourages them to play. I was told the same thing about chess. Something about the BIGNESS of it makes them WANT to play.

Every day the children were excited to play games WITH each other and with me. I was not once asked to watch TV. And I was amazed at how often they wanted to play WITH each other (compared to the TV watching weeks were they seem to want a lot more alone time). My MM (4 1/2 years old) actually BEAT ME at checkers! I gave her one king, and that was all it took. I played my best. I couldn't believe it! And that smile on her face afterwards was PRICELESS!!!

The Pearls say that if you are going to remove a negative influence (like TV or video games), give them a motivation to by providing something much more fun and interesting. We love games. And you can have a lot of fun with board games.

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Three things I am thankful for:
a husband who is more understanding than I deserve
children who are more forgiving than I deserve
A God is is so good to me and blesses me beyond measure

Friday's Fun: Crafts With Kids

One of the best and most fun ways to tie strings with your daughters is to do crafts with them. After my post about being WITH your kids, I wanted to do a craft with them.

I knew how to finger crochet, but I never knew you could finger knit! This is a GREAT way to introduce your child (and yourself) to knitting. But of course, having my mom here (who knows how to knit) and AA having a knitting kit given to her for Christmas, she wanted to learn to KNIT knit!

Wednesday night, my mom showed me how to knit. She only knows casting on, the basic stitch (I believe it is called the garter stitch) and casting off. But we sure had fun!

Here is a little rhyme to help you when learning/teaching to knit:

In through the front door (right needle through front leg of stitch on left needle making an X with the right needle behind the left needle)

Run around the back (holding both needles in the left hand, wrap the yarn around the back (right) needle with the right hand)

Out through the window (bring right needle with loop back through stitch on left needle)

And off jumps Jack (take the old stitch off the left needle)

(Thanks to Shamama for the little rhyme! Be sure to visit her blog!

So, last night I sat down with AA and showed her how to cast on (the way my mom does) and to knit (the way my mom does). She LOVED the rhyme and said it over and over and OVER again. And the look of pure bliss and joy on my daughter's face was so priceless! She absolutely LOVES to knit.

This morning she remembered EVERYTHING about knitting! She repeated the little rhyme, and went knitting away! And still had that same look of pure bliss and joy as she knitted!! I am SO PROUD of her!!!

And it hit me. This is the first time (and I know it will not be the last) that my daughter doesn't have the same interest as me. She is DEFINITELY A KNITTER! And I still prefer crochet over knitting. But hey! Now I have someone who can knit me all those things I like that I don't know how to knit! And we can trade off and I can crochet her all the things she likes crocheted. :) OR even better, maybe, just maybe, she will really like BOTH. A mom can hope, can't she? :D

So what did the other two girls do while AA and I am my mom knitted? They did a craft too! I collect craft kits at garage sales and thrift stores when they are less than a dollar. I put them in a rainy day container to pull out when things get slow here or for something to do on vacation. I have everything from looms to sun-catchers to sewing in there. And last night they chose to make finger puppets (yes, I found a finger puppet kit). They sewed them (felt with pre-punched holes, yarn and plastic needles) SO WELL! Even MM (4 1/2 yr) had PERFECT stitching (without me reminding her how to).

It was such a WONDERFUL evening!

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Three things I am thankful for:
The look on AA's face when she was knitting
THe knitting kit that she saw given that started it all
JJ says "tith you" for tissue and always wants one to blow his nose (even though it is not runny) and the HUGE smile of accomplishment he gets every time he blows his nose. :) And he LOVES books or as he says "Bou"!! :D And he says "aepp" for help and asks for help often (doing the sign). I am also VERY thankful I have taught my children sign language.

Must See Site - Family Fun and Friendly Ideas

I cannot BELIEVE that I have not linked to or find a mention of this site on my blog!!!

I admit that while it is one that I used to frequent more often, I found other blogs that took up more time. HOWEVER, she has been doing something on her blog that makes it one that I try to visit at least once a week to see what the NEW FAMILY FUN NIGHT is!! This is a FABULOUS idea!!!!

Friday is our fun night too (I need to get back into posting my Friday's Vintage Fun ideas.

Anyways, the site is called The Homespun Heart and is definitely a must see site!!! And one to add to your RSS feed!!!

Some of my favorite post from recent:
Family Night: Water Fun!
Family Mail Boxes
Little Ladies Tea Party (Rebecca and Shereen - I thought of you when I saw this! This is a MUST read)

Christmas JOY - Shop Update AND FAMILY FUN IDEA!

Here is another adorable angel I finished. I named her Joy because when I see her I am reminded of Luke 2:9-11. Don't know the verse? LOOK IT UP NOW! :) I love the fact that Jesus was born, not only to save, but that His birth, Jesus Himself, should bring us EXCEEDINGLY GREAT JOY! Pick her up (and other great handmade gifts) in my store. And thank you for your support.

NOW, on to a most AWESOME idea, which you can actually start TODAY! It is a GREAT Christmas family fun idea, but I cannot take credit for it.

While we do not do the Santa or Mrs. Claus thing, the ideas listed here are so much FUN! We are going to incorporate the books and the fun Friday's idea! We already do the ornament thing (although for ours we go to the after Christmas sale at the Christian bookstore and get each child their own ornament). When the kids are grown and married, they will have a host of ornaments to start their own tree (full of fond memories of Christmas with the family).

And if you don't want to go buy new new games, why not buy one (or more) from your local thrift store?!?! 

And a friend of mine had a most excellent idea. Each year, her family would take a board game that they no longer played and they made their own game! Cover the board with paper, and then decide what kind of game to create! You can print out your own cards and just have FUN! AND if you like all your games and want to keep them just the way they are, use a board game from Goodwill.

Friday's Fun: Vintage Games - Double Meaning

First, an update on last weeks game. While I am not usually one who tries to play games where there is no winner, I though we could introduce a little bit of exercise into the last game. So whenever I said "FIRE!", the girls had to do some sort of activity. Sometimes I had them jump up and down until I said "WATER!" and then they had to say something that was in the water. Other times they did 10 jumping jacks. It was fun.

This weeks game is GREAT for older players, but don't under estimate the trickle-down effect of the one room schoolhouse! Your 3 year old may know more than you think! :) (By the way, the link above is so worth reading, especially if you need a smile.)

Double Meaning

The person who is IT thinks of a word which has a double meaning. Take for example the word "TRAIN." The object of the game is to get someone to guess the word by telling a story. However, while telling the story, whenever the word picked ("train" in this example), the word "blank" would be substituted in it's place.

I like to ride on a blank. He is going to blank to run the 10K next month.

The story continues until th word is guessed. Whoever guesses the word is the next IT.