games

5 ways to make family dinnertime meaningful

If your family dinnertime is in need of a little makeover, try one of these simple activities to get everyone talking and laughing together. Make dinnertime matter!

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With back to school just around the corner, I’ve been thinking a lot about our family rhythm and routines. For the past year and half my kids have been home with me every day, and we’ve had lots of time together.

Once school starts, my big kids will be gone for more than 6 hours per day! I’m excited for the opportunities that will open up for them–and for me–but I’m also a little sad about losing so much family time. It’s gotten me thinking about how to replace quantity with quality time.

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The Bowl Game: my super-simple favorite for family game night

Need new ideas for family game night? You’ll love “The Bowl Game”…a family favorite that’s quick to learn, easy to adapt for all ages, and quite possibly ridiculous!

I love games. Growing up, we spent many hours playing games of Clue, Guesstures, Trivial Pursuit, and Life. In fact, as the youngest child, whenever I couldn’t find one of my older siblings to play a game with me, I would “practice” the games by playing with myself.

One of my favorite games, however, is one that didn’t come from a store. It was a simple game that required only some pencils, paper, a bowl, and a slightly dramatic and quirky family to make it work.

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Printable Christmas Bingo Game

This classic Christmas bingo game is a simple way to entertain kids at holiday parties or for a fun family game night. Just print, cut, and play!

Note: This post includes affiliate links that I recommend, but as always, feel free to shop around for the best deals. See my disclosure to learn more.

Are your kids going bonkers for Christmas right now? Mine certainly are. We have lots of festive activities planned for the next few weeks, so hopefully the time will fly by quickly for them.

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“Roll and Graph” Sight Word Game

Looking for a way to make reading practice fun? This printable “roll and graph” sight word game is a great way to get beginning readers to practice reading and writing skills in a play-based setting. My son is starting first grade this week. I can hardly believe that our lazy (or crazy, depending on the moment) summer days are behind us. We’ve got new shoes, backpacks, and freshly sharpened pencils ready to go.

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Easter Egg Hunt Counting Activity for Preschoolers

Looking for a fun Easter-themed learning activity? Encourage your preschooler to practice number identification and counting skills using this Easter egg hunt with a math skills twist!

Looking for a fun Easter-themed learning activity for your preschooler? Encourage your preschooler to practice number identification and counting skills using this twist on a traditional Easter egg hunt your child will love!

I can’t believe it’s almost Easter already. I’m just catching my breath from St. Patrick’s Day (and the weekend getaway to our friends’ cabin in Idaho…holy cow LAUNDRY!), but we’re already gearing up for another holiday! Yikes! It’s okay though. I went out last night with a friend (hooray for girls’ night) and bought most of the items for my kids’ Easter baskets, and I’m enjoying the chance to do some fun Easter activities with my boys.

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Don’t Touch the Lava! (preschool learning game)

Little boys love anything dangerous…and if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! This engaging preschool learning game is a great way to get kids to practice academic skills in the context of a “death-defying” challenge. What is it with little boys and ANYTHING that involves death-defying stunts and destruction? When Little Man (now 5) was just starting to make up pretend play scenarios as a toddler, his favorite thing to do was to line up his small animal toys on the edge of the couch and “rescue” them with his fire truck. He would act out a dramatic scene where the animals dangled off the edge of the “cliff” yelling for help, and the fire truck would swoop in just in time to save them as they began to fall.

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1-2-3 Animal: a simple gross-motor skills guessing game

This simple, no-prep game is a great way to get your kids’ wiggles out–and help them practice counting, critical thinking, and gross motor skills, too!The story behind this game is one many of you can probably identify with. It all started during a Sunday evening visit to my brother’s house. See, I’m the youngest of five kids. We’re spread out from coast to coast, but two of my siblings live close enough to me that we try to get our crazy crews together once a month or so for dinner. Between us, we have seven young kids–mostly boys–so sometimes things get a little crazy….

Dice Wars: A simple & fun math game for kids

This simple and fun math game is a great way to help preschoolers (and older kids, too!) practice counting, addition, and other basic math skills while competing to win the “dice wars.”
$This simple and fun math game is a great way to help preschoolers (and older kids, too!) practice counting, addition, and other basic math skills while competing to win the "dice wars".$

Disclaimer: This post is completely unsponsored; however, I have included affiliate links to the products mentioned. As always, feel free to shop around for the best deals. See my full disclosure here.

Little Man has been a big fan of playing games for over a year now. He goes through phases where he wants to play the same game over and over, until I have to hide it somewhere to save my sanity (just kidding, I would never do that…maybe).

Lately his obsession has been with alphabet go fish, which he got for Christmas. It’s a great little game really, or at least it was the first 200 times we played it. But last week I just couldn’t handle it anymore. So, I created a new game that I hoped he would like enough to give me a break from going fishing for a few days at least.

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The Sweet Smell of Christmas: A Preschool Activity

This simple Christmas preschool activity with The Sweet Smell of Christmas is a fun way to get kids thinking about the signs and symbols of Christmas while building vocabulary, practicing matching skills, and engaging their senses.

Disclaimer: This post is completely unsponsored; however, I have included affiliate links to the products mentioned. As always, feel free to shop around for the best deals. See my full disclosure here.

I was driving to the store last weekend with my boys (to buy more lights for our half-lit tree), and I couldn’t help but smile at their excited chatter about Christmas. “Mom, he said ‘baby Jesus’ on dere!” exclaimed Little Brother pointing to the car radio, which was playing Christmas music….

Land Ho! (a preschool math & motor skills game)

This simple printable preschool game is a great way to get your littlest landlubbers practicing their numbers and developing gross motor skills. $This simple printable preschool game is a great way to get your littlest landlubbers practicing their numbers and developing gross motor skills.$ Did you know that September 19th is Interational Talk Like a Pirate Day? Sometimes I wonder who in the world decided we even need a “talk like a pirate” day. At least it gives me an excuse make up fun and silly games to play with my kids.

This summer Little Man went to a summer day camp run by a few of the teenage boys in our neighborhood. One of the days was pirate-themed, and he loved it so much that I decided to make it one of our home preschool themes shortly thereafter….

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Disclaimer: This post is completely unsponsored; however, I have included affiliate links to the products mentioned. As always, feel free to shop around for the best deals. See my full disclosure here.

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Disclaimer: This post is completely unsponsored; however, I have included affiliate links to the products mentioned. As always, feel free to shop around for the best deals. See my full disclosure here.

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