Cool ways you and your family can enjoy the Fab Four even more
The Beatles’ timeless tunes are good for everyone, so introduce your kids to the Beatles and they’ll be hooked for life. We’ve come up with such a crazy-exhaustive list of fun things for your Beatles-loving family to enjoy, it’ll keep you busy eight days a week.
The Beatles Rarity has done a fantastic job collecting clips from the Beatles’ animated TV series. Follow the mop-topped heart breakers as they gallivant around London and tour around the world to a soundtrack of Beatles songs. Your kids will be imitating the accents after the first few minutes.
Chores, for both kids and parents, are much easier to handle when you make them into a game. In the immortal words of Mary Poppins, “Ev’ry task you undertake, Becomes a piece of cake.”
What worked for Mary Poppins: after tidying the nursery, she’d take the kids to the park. What she lacked: an element of competition. It’s not nearly as much fun if everyone wins!
Next Saturday, assemble the team and prep them on the Gamification Blog’s Chore Game. You’ll need a timer and some paper. Every player gets a sheet of paper as a scorecard to record their chores. For every chore you complete, write it on your scorecard. When the timer goes off after an hour, count (and verify) to see who’s done the most chores. Whoever wins, gets some sort of reward. Gamification suggests something like winner chooses dinner, or what movie to watch. We’d go one further and say winner is exempt from dinner clean-up. Read more...
A question for the iPad and other tablet-owning families
A new Neilson survey finds that in tablet-owning households, 70 percent of kids get to play with the tablet device. Not only do the kids get to use it, parents are relying on the tablet to keeps the kids occupied when traveling or sitting in a restaurant. Here’s how tablet usage breaks down:
How does your family use your tablet (if you have one)? We sort of expected more communication usage, but we guess games really do dominate on our iPad too. That and hockey-related YouTube clips.
Photo by Paul Mayne via Flickr, chart via Neilson.
We came up with some great Valentine’s Day-themed activities for our pals at Today’s Parent
For kids, Valentine’s Day usually means decorating a mailbox and handing out cards to classmates. If they’re lucky, there’s some sort of party involved. And, since heart-shaped candies and pun-laden valentines can only amuse them for so long, any decent Valentine’s Day get-together needs a couple solid games and activities. We suggest a Valentine-y spin on a classic classroom/party game and one of our favourite things: sneaky, public art.
First up: Cupid’s Arrow Ages: 5 and up Materials: Nothing. Just kids. This is a great group game, so it works best with at least six participants but can be played with as many as 30. (If you happen to be planning something for more than 30 kids — bless you! — you can just double up on the Cupids). Read more...
Are the kids getting too much screen time and not enough scream time this summer? Yeah, it’s crazy hot outside, and it sure is tempting to turn up the A/C and sprawl on the couch in front of a Bunchbrary-recommended movie. But it’s entirely possible to get outside and not boil over without hitting the beach, installing a pool or buying your weight in popsicles. Grab the kids, the neighbours and the neighbours’ kids, and check out these backyard games guaranteed to keep you cool! Don’t forget to reapply your sunscreen after every water activity!
1. Water Limbo
Instead of a broomstick or rope, players have to pass underneath a stream of water coming out of a hose. As the jet inches lower each round, everyone has to work their back-bends to avoid getting splashed and losing the game. But if it’s terribly hot out, the real winner might be the wettest one.Read more...
A dreidel is a small spinning top with Hebrew letters on each of its four sides. They can be made out of plastic or wood, and sometimes they even play music and light up. While most of us are familiar with them and the chocolate gold coins (or “gelt”) that go with them, some of us are still fuzzy on the actual rules of the game. Allow us to break it down for you so your family can get into rousing, no-holds-barred rounds! Read more...
Instructables member, rickgyver, made this awesome pirate ship and air cannon midway-style game for his son’s school fair. He provides step by step instructions on how to make one for your bunch. With spring fairs just around the corner, this is sure to be a hit!
