Family game night
Friday, September 25, 2009 at 5:11PM 
I have a lot of goals for this year of slowing down but at the heart of it all, I am finding, is a desire to enjoy my family. Sometimes it feels impossible to squeeze in family time, but it doesn’t take much, just a few moments spent together having fun, to boost my energy and attitude. I think we all would agree as well that there is little more important than this in the life of a young child.
We have discovered in recent weeks that a quick card game or board game played right after dinner, before bath and bed for WJ, is an easy way to have a family moment of slowness. It is especially nice from my point of view on a Sunday evening to stretch out the togetherness of our meal and put off for a few more minutes the shuffle of getting ready for the new week.
Our current favorite is UNO. UNO is a perfect preschooler game, easy to adapt it for various levels of ability. WJ is five but we have been playing UNO together for at least a year. In the beginning, we removed all of the “special action” cards like Draw Two, Skip, and Reverse. He was then able to focus only on matching numbers and colors.
Holding and managing the cards in his hand is still difficult for WJ, so we taught him how to spread the cards out on the table. As his opponents, Dave and I can see what he has in his hand but that is fine for now. We are not exactly trying to grind him into dust when we play, not just yet.
As WJ gets older, he is beginning to develop an understanding of strategy, so we have started to introduce those special action cards back into the game. He loves to be able to change the color for his advantage or make one of us Draw Four. We don’t enforce the “say UNO or draw 400 new cards” rule yet. That will come next.
Last week, WJ slipped away while helping to clear the dinner table and Captain Hook returned in his place to join us for the evening’s match. As you can see, it is difficult to pick up cards with your hook. Of course, this suction cup clip is not actually a prirate's hook. It is actually, according to WJ, a toy breastpump left here by one of his Two Best Friends. But that is a story for another day.
I challenge you to fit something playful into your weekend. Let me know how it goes.
Reader Comments (7)
We like to play games too but we haven't tried Uno yet. We're going to have to do that! Have you tried Skip-Bo? That's another great game by the makers of Uno. again, I loved your pictures and loved the part about the Hook!
Hi....we did an outside game today...we played soccor...we play alot of games here...Toni like to play them with her Grandma the most...so Grandma is the game keeper..but a real fave of ours is Zingo.
We've gotten out of the habit of a family game, but we used to do it every night. The kids loved it and it made toy clean up easy--"If we quickly clean up these toys, then we'll have time for a family game." It was a huge motivator and brought us all closer together. Thanks for the reminder.
We love Uno! The girls are to young for it, but DH and I love to play. Also, Cranium and Hullabaloo.
I feel sad to admit I have no idea how to play UNO.
We've been playing old maid and a few simple card games. We're just starting checkers. It's a lot of fun. It beats memory which he can beat all of us hands down.
These are great family game ideas. Our grown-up game shelf is pretty full but we are always looking for new ideas for games with WJ. I don't know about you, but I find myself wanting to gouge my eye out with a hot poker when we play CandyLand.
Getting outside for a physical game is a great plan too. We should do that more. Thanks for the reminder... probably easier to let go and have fun without the dishes calling quietly to you from the kitchen.
My son is 4.5 yrs old. We like to play card games and Uno too. To give his hand "privacy", we use the top from a game box or an opened book to act as a wall behind which he can lay out his cards.