Games

Oh how I loves me the lists...Especially when I come across one chockfull of fun to be had...Great ideas I can tuck into my mommy bag of tricks and with summer around the corner I'm sure I'll be digging deep when things get desperate.

Cassi from The Crafty Crow has been doing a bang-up job dedicating the month of April to kid-friendly trash to treasure projects in honor of Earth Day.

If you're a parent and you rushed out and bought an iPad in the last few weeks, chances are you've already downloaded some apps for your kids to play. You may even be familiar with the "hidden object" games for the iPhone/iTouch -- there's quite a few of these "Where's Waldo" -style games in the app store. It's pretty straightforward: spot the hidden objects and solve puzzles and mysteries in lushly illustrated scenes.

Being recent East Bay transplants via Los Angeles we find ourselves making tons of road trips down south to visit our dearly missed friends and relatives. With our two kids in tow for the long (boring) haul up the good ol' 5 freeway it's really easy to fall into the electronic trap.

We've talked about Make and Takes' genius velcro ball and glove catch game before which we love, love, love. Marie LeBaron is sharing more velcro-catchy goodness by offering a new twist to her original idea.

It seems rather silly to me that I've yet to sew a few bean bags for my kid. True I'm a sewing junkie who just so happens to own a sizeable collection of fabric. And true I have a very active 3.5 year old daughter who loves to catch, toss and balance all sorts of interesting things and true we own this CD.

I'm a fan of tricking kids into learning something...Disguising concepts that might normally be on the dull side (like spelling) in a heaping helping of yummy game-time fun.

You're half-way through summer vacation and by now you might have already blown through all the trips and activities you've planned with the kids who are slowly turning into couch cushions as things heat up outside. So now what? Hows about a homemade puzzle craft that will give those fine motor skills and brains a nice workout?

My 3 year old daughter seems to be more intrigued by real-life things she can manipulate than the small toy-store-worth of toys sitting in her room. And while the mountains of stuffed animals and miniature figures go untouched there isn't a cap in our home that doesn't get screwed to a plastic bottle, a penny left not clanking into a piggy bank, a pot and pan not hammered with a wooden spoon or a light switch not turned on and off and on and off and on and off and on and off...

In less than a month my 9 year old will be home on summer vacation for 10 long, hot weeks. And because we've dragged our feet deciding whether to send him off to camp he'll be home each day expecting to be entertained. Then there'll be the days when his buddies will be over from the crack of dawn until the street lights brighten the night sky and I'll want them out of my precious home for as many hours as I can get away with. Those days call for something a little more special.