Conference moira::parenting_v3

    My daughter has a game from Discovery Toys with birds that works like
    Yahtzee.  I can't remember the name.
    
    Both kids like Cootie Bug.  Also, Caileigh has a game with a tape and 
    a board with pictures.  You listen to the sounds on the tape and tryp
    to identify the appropriate picture with Bingo chips.
    
    My neighbor's five-year-old has a junior version of Uno, a junior
    version of Monopoly, and a game called Uncle Wiggily that she enjoys.
    
    -Tracy
    

    Sorry has always been a big favorite at our house. 
    
    --bonnie

    We like Sorry in our house as well.  Some other games to try:
    
    Don't drop Mama
    Topple
    Boggle Jr.
    Don't break the Ice
    Don't spill the beans
    
    My 5 year old loves all of these and they can be fun for adults too!
    
    Lisa

     Gee, I'd be willing to SWEAR that I've written about this before, but
it must've been in an earlier version.  I guess I've been hanging out in
Parenting too long.

     I personally HATE "Candyland."  There've been many times that I seem to
stay stuck in the molasses swamp forever, and many times that I get almost
to the end, but then draw the "lollipop" or whatever the one is that causes
you to go way back to the beginning.  It makes ME so mad that it's not
mystery to me that some kids have been known to throw tantrums.  

     One of my favorite games is "Memory", by the Ravensburger Company. 
Ravensburger products tend to be in the boutique type toy stores, the same
type of places that sell Brio type stuff.  "Memory" is similar to the card
game "Concentration."  The playing pieces consist of square cards.  On one
side of each card is a picture that is identical to the picture on one, and
only one, other card.  The backs of all the cards are identical.

     To play the game, the cards are spread out, back side up.  The first
player turns over two cards.  If the two cards do not match, the player turns
them back over and it's the other players turn.  If the two cards match, the
player keeps the cards, and continues to turn over pairs of cards until s/he
turns over a pair that doesn't match.  At the end of the game, the player
with more pairs of cards wins.

     One think that I like about the game is that, at least with our family,
is that even though the game is structured such that the result is much more
dependent on skill (actually object memory) than on luck, that both of my
children have been able to compete pretty much successfully with me from a
very young age -- four or so.  (It would be probably more accurate to say
that they've been consistently beating me from a very young age.  Object
memory ain't one of my strong points.)  

     Another game that I like is called "Enchanted Forest", that adds the
element of luck (you roll dice) to short term memory.

  
Clay

Games :  Candyland
	 Chutes & Ladders
	 Uno (not the Jr version, the regular one)
	 
We were also able to find some neat "games" at one of the Teacher's Helpers
stores that also taught something - the ones we focused on at the time were
designed to help teach telling time but they also had others.

One particular game Matt loves that we all play (not a board game tho') is
DOMINOES - he learned the idea of how to play at about 5 yrs.old and it's
one of the first things he'll pick if he wants to play a game.

Also, CARD GAMES that the whole family joins in on - Crazy Eights, Donkey,
Go Fish, Rummy

Debbi J

    I have a 3 1/2 year old and almost 7 year old).  We play:
    
    Candyland
    Checkers
    Boggle (my 6 year old is picking 3-4 letter words out of regular one)
    Memory games (Sesame Street; one where you have to pick the card in
       order of sequence on board)
    Battleship
    Cards (Uno, Go Fish, Old Maid, Crazy 8, Concentration)
    Twister
    Puzzles (watching them put it together and helping when needed)
    
    
    Karen

In addition to many of my favorites which have already been mentioned, we all
still love a rather new game that my children (now 11 nd 13) have been playing
for years called Labyrinth.  The board is a matrix of movable and immovable
squares like this (X: not movable and O: movable)

		X O X O X O X O X
		O O O O O O O O O
		X O X O X O X O X
		O O O O O O O O O
		X O X O X O X O X
		O O O O O O O O O
		X O X O X O X O X

There is one piece more than the board.  The pieces have pictures of items on
them (ghost, icon, spider, etc.) and tunnel paths in three different shapes
(straight, corner, or "T").  The player gets a number of cards with the same 
pictures as on the board and tries to move his piece through the maze to
the tile marked with his picture.  The extra piece is used after each move
to "push" one of the rows or columns of movable tiles, thus constantly
rearranging the maze.

It's very suitable for younger children because it is so visual and requires no
reading.  But older children like it too because it can be very strategic.

We also played a game called HI-Ho-Cherrio which involved picking cherries
from a tree. You have to fight a crow who keeps eating the cherries and a
dog who upsets the cherry basket.  The winner is the first to get all his
cherries off.  Not suitable for older children.

    My kids, and their parents, found Candyland way too frustrating,
    too.
    
    You can play concentration with all or part of a regular deck of
    cards, too -- match red 10's, black jacks, etc.  For younger kids,
    sort out the face cards and aces and just use them, or allow any
    color match, or whatever makes sense for your kids.  Much cheaper
    than the board games. 
    
    In card games, there's go fish, crazy 8's, rummy...
    
    Checkers.
    
    Chinese Checkers.
    
    Give chess a try.  Your kids may surprise you.
    
    --bonnie

    
    There was a game that as kids we used to play at Grandma's house. Just
    a couple of years ago I found it in Brookstone (a great store) and
    bought it. The game is called MANKALA: The African Stone Game. It
    consists of an oblong board with scooped out areas to hold the stones.
    It's a game for two players and can be made as easy or difficult at you
    want by the number of stones you start out with. It's actually a fun
    game and helps with counting. I would try and explain it but it would
    probably take me forever. I'll try to keep it basic: Each player starts
    with so many stones in each "bucket" in front of them. There is also a
    bucket at each end, one for each player. These start out empty. You
    pick up the stones from a bucket and going around the board drop one
    stone in each bucket until those stones are gone. It is then the other
    players turn. If your last stone lands in an empty bucket you get to
    play again by using the stones directly across from the bucket you just
    put your last stone in. The object of the game is to accumulate the
    most stones in your end bucket. I think there might be more complicated
    rules but this is the jist of it. I remember having a great time
    playing this game when I was probably between 5 and 10.
    
    Patty

    
    I remember the African Stone game!  It was one of my favorites too.
    The stones were fun.  
    Another game that we have run across but I have yet to find in a store
    is called "The Sleeping Grump" which is a non-competitive board game
    where the players need to collect different colored "gems" before the
    grump wakes up.  If they have more than one of a certain color gem,
    they share with another player who is missing that gem.  It's a cooperative
    effort and pretty nice for a change of pace.  It probably can be found
    in a specialty toy shop.
    
    dorothy

    
    My goodness, that one brings back some vague memories. Our
    parents/grandparents must of shopped at the same stores. :^)
    
    Patty

    Brookstone's carries the African Stone game. I bought one for
    something to do while in labor - ha ha. I remember playing it 
    as a child, too.
    

    In addition to the previous notes, we also play
    Bingo and Ants in the Pants
    

    Favorite games 
    
    Topple
    Don't Break the Ice
    Old Maid
    Don't wake the dragon
    
    Kathy
    

    We play a lot of what's been mentioned so far, PLUS;
    
    Uncle Wiggly (personally I hate this game as I always ALWAYS lose, but
       		  Chris and Dad LOVE IT! ...probably because I always lose
    			(-:)
    Crackers in My Bed (matching game, along the lines of Concentration).
    Pick-up Stix
    Smoke/Fire (nothing more than 52-pickup.  A black card is SMOKE, a red
    card is FIRE, and when they say FIRE, you flip the cards at them - for
    some reason they find this hysterical....)
    
    I think that MOUSETRAP would be good for that age.  Monster Mash is too
    complex still (we found...)
    
    And our favorite -- TAKARADI.  Brookstone and LL Bean sell this -
    basically rectangular shaped blocks that you create a building with and
    then try to remove 1 block at a time without knocking the building
    down.  The kids do *GREAT* at this !!  There's a slight variation that
    Milton Bradley(I think) puts out called something like Ju?n?o.  I
    forget.  Takaradi's easier for the little ones though.
    
    RE: .9  We used to play a game like that, but the rules were different. 
    FIRST OF ALL, you can save yourself about $25.00, and make the game
    from an egg carton and some small rocks or marbles, and 1 small
    dish/container each.  Put 3 rocks into each of the egg cups.  Put the
    empty dishes 1 at each end of the egg carton.  Sit, two people, one at
    each end of the egg carton, "Your" side is your right hand side.  One
    player starts from anyplace on their side, pick up the rocks in any
    cup, and working clockwise around the egg carton, drop 1 rock into each
    cup, until there are no more rocks in your hand.  Count your dish as
    one cup.  If you land in your dish by exact count, you get another
    turn.  The idea is to get the most rocks.  If you don't end up in your
    dish, and the last rock goes into a cup with other rocks, pick up ALL
    the rocks and keep dropping them until you land in an empty cup, then
    it's the next person's turn.  You ALWAYS drop 1 rock in your dish on
    the way by, NEVER in their dish on the way around.  You can start your
    turn from ANY cup on your side of the board.
    
    So for example, the best move for your first turn would be to take the
    3 rocks in the 3rd cup.  Drop one in the second cup, 1 in the first
    cup, and the last rock in your dish.  Another turn, start from the 4th
    cup away from you, pick up 3 rocks, drop 1 in cup 3, 1 in 2, and the
    last one in 1.  Pick up the 4 rocks in that cup (you now have 5), drop
    one in HOME (your dish), and the other 4 up the left hand side, pick up
    the 3 in that cup, drop 1 at a time cloockwise around the egg carton, I
    think that'll bring you down to the second cup on your side, and you
    keep going around until you land in an empty cup, and then it's the
    other person's turn.  They start from any cup on their side.
    
    You keep going till there aren't any rocks left, the person with the
    most rocks in the end wins.
    
    It's a GREAT hot weather or rainy day game.... not a bad drinking game
    either! (did I say that??)
    

    My 3.5 years old enjoys
    
    - Memory games
    - Connect Four (it is for age 7 and up, but Eric is really good at it)
    - Puzzles (Eric is now into 63 pieces puzzle)
    
    I enjoy all these games too.  
    
    Wendy
    
    

    
    
    Monopoly Jr.  is also good.  Its fun and help develop reading and
    math skills.  Its fun for adults to play with children.  The games
    aren't as long as regular monopoly.  It also allows for a transition
    into the adult Monopoly game.
    
    
    Also have Clue Jr.  Found it difficult to play with non-readers.
    Once the kids read well enough it was fun.  The deductive reasoning
    skills needed also required a learning curve.
    
    /kathy

    re: .17
    
     "The games aren't as long as regular monopoly."
    
    Yeah, and if you are really in a hurry to move the game a long you
    can 'cheat' like my husband does - deal yourself out less money,
    and 'forget' to collect your $2 when you pass GO! (Boy, the things
    you learn about folks after their 100th game of monopoly in a month!)
    
    :^)
    
    Kathy

    Boy, I can see how Monopoly Jr. would go faster if you only collect 
    *two dollars* when you pass Go!  Do they call it an allowance instead
    of a salary?  :')
    
    Leslie-who-has-just-started-her-first-marathon-(real)-Monopoly-game-
    with-Alex-and-who-still-pays-Chance-into-the-middle-so-she-can-collect-
    it-on-Free-Parking-no-matter-what-the-rules-say