Analog Fun

We are major criminals on the digital entertainment front. Between smartphones, tablets and iPods, there are six portable digital devices at our disposal (!!) and man do we make good use of them. We play games and watch TV and movies. Tabby has reading and math flashcards on them. We have books both for adults and kids on them and of course music! It’s not a bad thing. But it can be a pretty pervasive thing. The kids pick them up on an early Saturday morning to watch Phineas and Ferb and give us some much-needed sleep in time. They are the go-to entertainment while waiting for the other sibling to do his or her lesson. They are essential at restaurants, particularly if it’s a longer meal or if the kids are already out of sorts. But the requests for tablets or phones ALL THE TIME gets to me. I don’t want my kids to become those people. I don’t want Matt and I to become THOSE PEOPLE.

So we limit screen time, not only by how much they’ve earned but also by the virtue of it not belonging in most situations. The (home) dinner table is phone free with the exception of me checking in on and recording their chores at the beginning. It then goes away. Car trips are without the devices unless we’re driving more than 1.5 hours away. It’s far from perfect, but we’re really making an effort to unplug and be with each other.

At the dinner table, we have a box of Table Topics, Family Edition that we pull cards from and discuss. In the car and while grocery shopping and at restaurants, we play a bunch of different verbal games. ISpy is a perennial favorite as is “Guess Which Animal I Am?” I particularly like this one because it’s a good thinking game and really teaches abstraction. It’s still a little hard for Ben yet, but Tabby seems to really be picking up on the idea of asking broader questions to narrow down the field. We also quiz them on numbers and letters (math and spelling for T) and family facts like our address and phone numbers.

Wanting to add to the repertoire, I found a few other games I’m keen to try:

• Sequences – Each player chooses a number between ten and 99, then has to spot their number on a registration plate. Whoever spots their number on a plate wins the game.
• Bong – One person has to answer questions about themselves from everyone else for a minute without stopping. But they’re not allowed to answer yes or no. If they do, they’re given the gong  –  ‘bong!’  –  and they’re out.
• Bing Who? – The children shout out a first name and the adults have to think of a famous person with that name. If they manage it, the adults get a point, but if they’re stumped, the kids get it.
• ABC chain game – there are many versions of this but you have a base sentence, “My father owns a grocery store and he sells … ” and the first person has to come up with a word that starts with “A” and the second says the “A” word and adds a “B” word and the third person says “A,” “B,” and adds C and so on until someone can’t remember them all. I’ve played (at camp and such) “I’m going to Camp and I’m bringing …” or “I’m going on a camping trip and I’m bringing …”
• Bury Your Horses – One team looks out the left side of the car and counts horses. The other team counts horses on the right side of the car. Award a point for each horse. Subtract a point for each herd of cows. When passing a cemetery, the first player to shout “Bury Your Horses,” wipes out all his opponent’s points.
• Howdy Doody Name Game – The first player says the first and last name of a person everyone in the car knows — Ben Franklin, for example. The next player uses one of the names to come up with another name — Franklin Delano Roosevelt would work in this case. The third player comes up with a name based on the second name — Teddy Roosevelt would work, or if you really know your presidents, Franklin Pierce (fourteenth president, 1853 to 1857). A player who fails to come up with a name is eliminated. The game is called “Howdy Doody,” because it’s the one name you’re not allowed to use, apparently because there’s no other name you can create from it. Another variation on this game is to use country or state names and their last letters. The first person could say “Colorado,” the second could come up with “Oklahoma,” and the third could then use “Alaska.”
• Liar, Liar – This works best if the kids have friends in the car. One person, “the liar,” lists three facts from his or her life, only two of which are true. The person who correctly guesses which is the lie gets to be the next liar.
• Memory Master – Tell your child to stare at a picture in a catalog, a page of their favorite book, a road map, or the contents of your purse or diaper bag. After 60 seconds, your child should look away and you, as Memory Master, can quiz your child about what he or she has seen. Then you can switch and your child can be the Memory Master and quiz you. Kids really enjoy when the tables are turned.
• Rhyme Time – This is an easy rhyming game. The parent starts by saying, ‘I’m thinking of a word that rhymes with ____ and it starts with ___.’ For example, you could say ‘I’m thinking of a word that rhymes with BED. This would be great for teaching/emphasizing the concept of word families.
• Fortunately/Unfortunately – In this game, one person makes an unfortunate statement, and then another player will counter the statement with a positive response. For example, one player could make the statement, “Unfortunately, a lion is going to attack us.” A second player would counter with a more fortunate statement such as “Fortunately, I took lion taming lessons.”