Coolest Mom - EVER!

Sorry...you need to click over here to my brand-new review site to see this most interesting and exciting post...

Mall Scavenger Hunt - Part II

My Mom made up another hunt for the kids today. We took our lists and clipboards to the Exton Mall and the kids found everything in under 15 minutes. Might want to make it harder next time!

A good, free thing to do when it is cold outside!

Our List:

1. Blue Hat
2. Silver Shoes
3. Ice Cream Cone
4. Red Candle
5. Teddy Bear
6. Cell Phone Case
7. Butterfly
8. Backpack
9. Sunglasses
10. Diamond Necklace

BONUS (which earned an ice cream treat!) A horse

Thanks Nana/Mom!

Meow

This is funny. Kids will be very amused. Mine are!

Totally Tubular #2

This one is actually older, as we made it at some point during the summer.

A more portable version of the paper towel tube ramp/maze from yesterday.

The background is a foam-core presentation/poster board. The tubes are glued onto the background (I believe we used wood glue...but hot glue would also be effective, and probably more appropriate).

The kids had an excellent time rolling marbles on this - for literally hours. I was quite amazed by the level of amusement.

It looks completely lame in the picture - but it was fun, I swear. You could make it look fun by decorating the background and painting the tubes. But seriously, unnecessary.

Mall Scavenger Hunt

My mom gets credit for this idea (Hi Mom!)
She has done this activity with my kids a number of times with resounding success.

Rule #1 - No one can actually go into any stores at the mall
Rule #2 - You are not there to shop...no shopping...not even if you see cute shoes...

Each child gets a list of things to find in the mall - in windows or on people walking by. If the lists are on clipboards, so much the better. Kids love clipboards!

On a recent list:

• Red Shoes
• Banana
• American Girl Book
• Diamond Ring
• Wrist watch
• Blue Coat
• Someone drinking soda
• Yellow Flower
• Frog
• Teddy bear

They did this today (different list) and apparently were unable to find a tennis racquet at the mall...although there were two sporting goods stores. Perhaps the rule that stores couldn't be entered hindered them?

Anyway - the kids love this. Great rainy day activity (or sunny hot day). And FREE!! (Until you find the cute shoes...)

All Fun and Games

Well, a fun game anyway!

I was asked to review a new game for the folks at Hasbro from their line of "Noodleboro" games. This is a series of games intended to help teach kids social skills. They include the Noodleboro Pizza Palace Listening Game, the Noodleboro Picnic Basket Manners Game and the one we received, the Noodleboro Fun Park Sharing Game.

First off, I have to clarify that I think my kids are a little old for these games. They are for ages 4+ and mine are 6 and 8.

Nonetheless, the prospect of a big box with something fun for them was very exciting. They ripped the box open and were very intrigued by all of the little carnival games inside.

Of course this all happened as I was attempting to juggle groceries inside the house and start dinner so they were begging me to play, "A parent has to hold the sharing stars!!".

They were practicing their technique at the different "tricks" while they were waiting for me, so by the time we were ready to go they could pretty much do them all flawlessly.

There is a little maze thing (The Log Flume) where you hold a little ball on a stick and balance it along the path. Another is called The Roller Coaster, where you drop a little token in the top and try to catch it with a little spoon-ish thing at the bottom. The Circus Tents are like the classic shell game where you try to find your animal after the three tents have been mixed up (Tater is jaw-droppingly good at this). And finally there is a little Ferris Wheel where you guess what color it will land on.

The idea here is to work as a team so that each player gets all of the tokens before the park closes. This probably would be more fun/challenging with a)littler kids or b)more kids. We whizzed through all of the obstacles very quickly.

The sharing part is supposed to enter in when one kid gets more tokens than he/she needs and shares them with other players - then you get "Sharing Stars" on the board.

There is no real "winning" at the game. The sharing is the winning. Of course, this would also fly better with littler, less competitive kids. The up-side was that with no clear winner, there was no freaking out tantrum from the not-winner.

Regardless, Tater especially enjoyed doing the little obstacles over and over again and has asked to play the game several times. So that's a success in my book!

The game also came with a book (which no one was interested in reading, but it looks cute) and a CD (which I never saw, since the kids ripped the package open...)

This whole package would be great for a 4 or 5 year old who is really working on learning sharing skills and new to board games. Playskool is giving away 200 of these games - so click here to enter to get one!

Fun games and more polite kids. Sounds good!