[Easter] Roll A Bunny Dice Game

 

You knew it was coming, right?  I'm sure you are familiar with the drill by now.  If not you could refer to this
or this or this.  All you need is a die, a pencil, and this lovely free printable.  Enjoy!

I'm linking up with:

Skip To My Lou 

[Valentine] Love Bug Game

Do you need a little game for a class party?  Or just something fun to do with the kids for family night?  Here is a simple Valentine dice game.  Print out the game cards.  Grab some dice and a pencil.  And channel you inner Picasso.  Ready...set...go!

[The Gratitude Project] Fun and Games

 First things first.  Here's the FUN:

Today's post is brought to you by my six year old daughter.  She is feeling grateful.  From left to right, she is grateful for trees, ice cream cones, rainbows, colors, (a particular friend), (another particular friend), family, flowers, and leaves.

Now for the GAMES":

Here is a Thanksgiving game to enjoy with the kids.  It's a lot like this one.  To download and print out your game cards, click here.  All you need to play are some game cards, a pencil, and a die.  You might want some crayons to color your masterpieces when you are done.

Travel Ready

When I was little, we would travel across the country to visit with family every other summer.  We had a big full-size van and a lot of kids.  This was before the days of having televisions suspended from the ceiling, or any type of handheld device for entertainment.  Our van had a radio, but you could never get much reception through America's heartland.  Heck, this was even before seat belts.  I remember sleeping on the floor between the seats.  My Dad built this cool platform for the cargo bay of the van.  All the luggage went underneath and it made into a bed on top.  This was important because my parents did not believe in stopping at hotels for the night.  Between my parents and my older brothers, we usually had three or four drivers.  The bed was for the alternate drivers when they needed to rest up.  You could usually fit a smaller napping kid on that bed too.  Awesome. 

Close quarters.  Lots of bodies.  How do you keep everyone happy and entertained for twenty-plus hours?  I remember singing songs together.  Does anyone still do that?  We made up our own lyrics.  Good times.  My Mom was and still is a genius!  (Come to think of it, she was probably the one that came up with the platform idea.)  Anyway, she made the coolest denim cover that went over the back of the bench seat in the van.  It was custom fit and had pockets of every size and shape to hold all kinds of treasures from coloring books and crayons to books and games and treats.  It kept everything neat and organized and right within reach.  It was awesome!  It was like Christmas morning for a little kid like me.  I wish I had a picture.  (Mom, do you have a picture?)  If cars still had bench seats, I would totally make one of these.

Mom and Dad made quite the traveling team.  

Well, we are heading across country for a family vacation before summer ends.  We actually travel a lot together as a family,  but this is a much longer trip than we usually take.  We don't have a big full-size van.  We have a mini-van.  We don't have six kids...we have three.  And two of them are teenagers that seem to entertain themselves.  We will be stopping for the night.  We do have computers and iPods and a billion movies at our fingertips.  But.  We also have a kindergartner that tends to get a little bored and wiggly and is prone to sore bum syndrome.  So, I thought that I would put together a little travel kit just for her.  And I'm hoping her siblings will put down their iPods and play with her a little.  We'll see.

Want a peek inside my little kit?


You will recognize this little dice game.  I threw in a few others as well (Yahtzee and Farkle to name a few).

I made a few reusable game boards for some of the classics.   I found some Crayola Dry Erase markers in the back-to-school section at WalMart.  It's about time Crayola jumped on the dry erase band wagon, don't ya think?  And they are washable.  Which is huge!  I can't tell you how many shirts have been ruined over the years from the kids getting black dry erase marks on them at school. 

I also printed off a bunch of travel games from  Prepared NOT Scared.  They are awesome.  If you haven't ever been to her site,  you definitely need to check it out.

And of course, my latest peg doll pals!

I'm also including some string for string games, a deck of small cards, and some new coloring books.

I had originally planned to put it all in a smallish rubbermaid box that I bought a while back.  But now I'm wondering if I should make an over-the-shoulder messenger-type bag to put it all in.  Choices.

 What am I forgetting?  What do your children do on long road trips to keep happy?

A Game of Mouse

Have you ever played Mouse before?  I've been looking into some dice games for a reason I will explain shortly.  But I came across this fun game of Mouse and I thought I would share it with you.  This is a great game for kids ages three and up.  You will need some dice...one for each player.  Or I suppose you could share and get away with just one.  You will also need this printable.  I chose to laminate my game cards so they could be used over and over again.  If you chose to laminate them, you will want to use dry erase markers.  If not, pencils will do just fine.

The object of the game is to be the first to complete your picture of the mouse.  You must start with the body.  So, in order to start your picture, you will need to roll a six.  If you don't get a six, pass the die to the next player and wait for your next turn.  Once you roll a six, you are free to add the other body parts in any order.  If you roll a number that corresponds to a part you have already drawn, then you forfeit your turn.

So what are you waiting for?  Print out a couple of cards, grab some dice and get going!  I think we will be playing this tonight.

[Game] Up Up Up With the Fish

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!  

Are you doing something fun to celebrate the day?  Did you print out the brown bag doodle and send it with your kids for lunch?  Well, I have another idea for you.

A while back, before I started this little old blog, we had a Dr. Seuss birthday party for one of my kids.  We came up with this idea for a party game.  It's a little game we like to call...Up Up Up with the Fish!  This is a great game for kids and families alike, because it is so versatile.  You will need fish and a "catcher" or two.

For the Felt Fish:
These are the materials you will need...

pink felt
white felt
black sharpie
beans or rice or something similar
sewing machine
fabric glue

Trace a simple fish shape onto your pink felt, twice.  You need one for the front and one for the back.  Cut around your shapes.  Sew along the top, front, and bottom of your fish as shown in the picture below.

I opted to put the beans in just the front part of the fish.  This allows for great fish flopping abilities!  Put your beans or rice into the little pocket that you have just sewn.  Hang the bean filled pocket over the side of your counter or table or ironing board, and pin the beans in place.  Now you will sew the fourth side of your pocket closed.

And now for the fun part...embellishing!  Use you sharpie to draw on your fish gills and mouth.  Cut two eyes out of white felt.  Draw a black pupil with your marker.  Glue the eyes onto your fish using a strong glue.  Finish off your fish with some long eyelashes.

You have just completed your first fish.  Repeat the steps above until you have as many fish as you want.  I would recommend at least three or four. 

For the Catcher:

You will need at least one catcher.  If you want to turn this into a relay race, you will need two or three.  You will need the following:

Dowel- 3/8 inch in diameter. 18- 24 inches long.
Wooden platform (we used a small rectangular piece of scrap wood 2"X3")
drill
wood glue or something similar
paper french fry container (I just happened to have some of these...a paper bowl would work well too)
staples and a stapler

Partially drill a hole into your wooden platform to accommodate your dowel.  Don't drill all the way through.  Glue your dowel into the hole.  Let it dry.  Once it is dry, staple your paper container to the top of the platform.  That's it!


And now for the fun part...embellishing!  This isn't actually a requirement.  "Naked" catchers work just fine.  But it's always fun to paint.  I decided to paint mine with red and white "Cat in the Hat" stripes.  I didn't take the time to tape and measure and make everything exact.  It seemed more "Seussie" to have them be a little bit wonky.  So, I just eyeballed it.  I used a foam sponge brush (one inch) and some acrylic paint.  You could add streamers or a bow to the bottom too.  Whatever you want.  The sky is the limit!  Oh the places you could go!

The Rules:

We played several versions of this game.  You will want to adjust the rules according to the age of your players.  The family favorite was to see how many fish you could catch in your "catcher" without losing your load.  I think the winner was able to hold five or six fish without dropping any.  It's also fun to see how many you can catch in a row without dropping any.  This is more of a "catch and release" game.  One person generally throws (a great option for little people) while a second person catches.  We also played this game in a relay format.  Which team can catch the most fish in a certain amount of time.  You will want to draw two lines on your playing field.  The thrower has to stay behind one line and the catcher must stay behind the other.  This evens things out a bit.

If you want to skip the "catchers" all together.  It's also really fun to play Toss the Fish.  This is a great way to involve the preschool crowd.  We used a round fish bowl and tried to see if the kids could throw the fish into the bowl.  You could play the fishbowl version as a relay as well.

I'm sure there are lots of other ways to play.  Just have fun!

*****

I'm linking up with:

Toys in the Dryer 
No Time For Flash Cards