Friday, April 20, 2012

Indoor Kids’ Games for New Year's Eve Party

New Year is simply one of those occasions when kids should be made more excited. Thus, the idea of throwing a kids' party during New Year's eve would be most welcome to your household, neighbors and friends. You should prepare indoor kids’ games that hey surely would enjoy. If you decide to host such a party, remember to focus on kids as the season means much more to them than to adults.




Needless to say, children are naturally playful. They possess that uncanny ability to make happy feelings about simple joys that come their way. Parties are social events most kids treat as the embodiment of their overall perception of fun. When special occasions happen, they expect the hosts to throw and organize indoor kids’ games that are especially tailored for them.

The end of the year season is truly the season for kids. The season is kicked in by the Halloween and then by Thanksgiving in November. Then there is the Christmas break in December to make way for Christmas and New Year. But children never do get tired, especially when it comes to having fun. You would be surprised by how they retain their high level of energy and their interest in indoor kids’ games. You would be very delighted.

Children are almost always excited about New Year because it is that time of the year when they get to look positively forward to a more fun coming year. Make that event a bang. Organize and facilitate fun, happy, and interactive indoor kids’ games. Take note that children could be easy to please. Just stay fun and exciting and you would surely have them rolling in joy. In the end, you would surely cry in happiness or in laughter to see them having fun.

If you are planning to throw out a New Year's Eve party for kids, it would surely be a fun activity. The party would surely entertain your kids as well as the kids of your friends, relatives and neighbors. Children would be very glad. They would remember the event and would always look forward to spending a New Year party with you.

For sure, their parents would owe you because the New Year's Eve party would make their kids occupied, so these parents can have all the time to go out and treat themselves to romantic dates and dinners. Many people in your neighborhood would appreciate it most if you would hold the New Year’s Eve party and take the responsibility to take care of their children. You could please your own children as they would appreciate it that you are throwing a party for them and for their playmates.

By that, the New Year's Eve party becomes a heroic deed, and it is for a handful of different reasons. As you intend to make the event fun and worthwhile, spend time planning for and devising indoor kids’ games that every child in the party would truly enjoy.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Indoor Kids’ Games as Opportunities for Bonding

Children hate rainy days. This is because they are left unable to go outdoors and play with their playmates. But there is no reason to wallow and be idle indoors. Nowadays, there are many indoor kids’ games that could be facilitated inside the house to keep children in company. You may be surprised how such indoor games could turn idle days into fun and recreational ones. As parents, you too could join the fun, thrill, and excitement.

Experts advise parents to join in the fun and participate in various indoor kids’ games. This could be because
of the mere reason that doing so could be an opportunity to bond with the children. Family time is quality time. These times must be filled with laughter, memories, and excitements. You could join the games or stand to facilitate the activities. In physical indoor games, you could serve as a fair referee or a facilitator. Remember to have fun yourself and to conduct yourself accordingly. You should strive to be as credible as you could be when making decisions for the games. Children should not develop an impression that you are favoring other children as doing so might bring about other significant impact.

Children would surely love it if they would be given the opportunity to play outdoor games while inside the house.  They naturally love to play. It is actually their right to play various types of indoor kids’ games especially when the weather is bad for outdoor playing. The inside of the house could be turned into an instant playground, though there is not much space available. Use this as an opportunity to get to know them better. You could make use of games to have their attention and win their affection. Children who could play with their parents are usually those who grow up with find memories of their childhood.

Play to enjoy. Do not let the children develop the impression that you are just forced to play with them. As much as possible, make it a point to regularly join your children in their regular indoor kids’ games, if they have any. Through this strategy, they would naturally feel and think as if it really delights you to spend time with them. Do not let them think that you are pushing yourself too much because they would easily sense it.

Most of all, enjoy indoor kids’ games. If you are sincerely and are truly enjoying the games, you would all end up having the best fun time.  It is not hard or difficult to do so. Having fun with children when playing is very natural. You do not need to be a parent to do so. Just think about your childhood years and reminisce. If you could relive those fun times, the better. When in games, try to be competitive and serious in winning. Compete honestly and patiently with your children. Sometimes you need to let them win. Take such time. Eventually, you would find yourself getting closer and closer to your kids.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Indoor Kid’s Games – Not For Children Only

Games are one of the more important activities for toddlers and adults to interact and bond. Some of these are well-known, and some are enjoyed not just by children. Adults can be children, too, at least on rainy days.

Hot Potato

The “potato” here has to be something soft and lightweight (a small plastic ball, perhaps or a very small stuff toy) that cannot break if it falls on the floor or gets thrown onto something hard.



This is actually a version of the musical chair. Music is played and the “potato” gets passed around. When the music stops, the “potato” suddenly gets “hot” and has to be thrown to the next child.

If there is no music, and someone is still holding the potato, she is out. Whoever drops the potato is counted out too.

Animal charade

This is going to be great if there are silly children around. Children sit around in a circle and one child goes into the center.

The “animal” child acts out with NO SOUND only a very small portion of any animal action (a lion’s roar, a rabbit jump, etc.) he imagines and get the group to guess it. The animal child stretches the action if nobody gets it. Anyone guessing correctly gets to play the animal.

Hot Lava

Put some papers on the floor as “stones” to step on, the rest of the floor is a flood of “hot lava” from a volcano. There are two sets of “stones” for each team to travel, with parts that merges, meaning there are only a stone or two for use.

The object of the game is to transfer “dinosaurs “eggs” (rolled up socks) one by one from one end of the room to the other. The fun part is when two teams will fight out the parts where there is only one stone to step on.

Any “accident” and the team member has to start from the starting line again.

Trip to Spain

Two children from each team are blindfolded. Once they are, the floor will be littered with soft objects (stuffed toys, pillows) as the obstacle course.

The blindfolded children are then made to walk and go to the end of the room across the obstacle course. Their team mates will guide each one of them, meaning telling them where to go to avoid hitting objects on the floor.

It is fun because both teams will be shouting directions and there will be shouting. The first one to reach the goal wins for his team.

Zoo

There will be pairs of children for this game. Each pair will represent an animal they want. (Make sure there are no duplicates.)

The children will all be securely blindfolded and scattered around the room. At the signal, they will look for their pair using only SOUNDS of their animal. There will be barking, meowing, clucks, quack-quacks and all kind of animal sounds in the room.

The winning team is the one who met each other first.

Considerations

Prizes could be candies and other goodies. Disputes and arguments (if any) shall have the game restarted. Any game wanted by the children to be played over and over should be played, unless there will be objections. Indoor kid’s games should be enjoyed, not disputed.

• Guessing Games: In this game you have to blindfold the young child. When they cannot see anything you have to jingle keys or snap your finger and have them guess what the sound was. This will help them to think of what things sound like.

• Hot or Cold: A great indoor toddler activity that teaches the child to listen. In this game the adults tell the toddler where to go in the room to find what is hidden and the child has to listen to the adults and make it to the object. The adults cannot say things like "a little more" or "step forward" they can only say hotter or colder. Hotter means that they are getting closer and colder means that they are getting further away from it.

• Memory: A game played with a deck of cards that are laid face down so the children cannot see the other side. This indoor toddler activity is modified for toddlers to use only 4-8 cards so they can easily find the mates to begin with. Going from the left of the dealer and continuing clockwise you take turns flipping over two cards to see if they are a match. If they are you get another turn. Then when all of the cards are gone you count up your mates and see who has the most and that is the winner.

• Hand Puppets: Needing some fun for those rainy days? This is a great way to pass away the time when the weather is looking bad. All you need for this indoor toddler activity is some hand puppets for the adults so they can put on a show or you need enough hand puppets for all so they can play it together. A glove with faces painted and hair attached on the fingers make great hand puppets/finger puppets.

• Story Time: The best time spent with your child is reading a good story to them. It helps them to have inspiration and want to read for themselves and they can learn to read at a younger age. You could have an older child read to them or the adult that is watching them can read to the toddlers. Usually this gets the children making some interesting stories up from the pictures. Tip!! A good story before naps or bedtime helps them to unwind and settle down.

• Indoor Tents: Build the tent out of blankets and your kitchen chairs or other household furniture. Use pillows, stuffed animals or anything soft for the sides and flooring. We used some old sheets and tied some string to the four corners. I then tied them to door handles, bedposts, or baby cribs for their roof. Just be sure it is sturdy and nothing will fall on them while playing. One of our children's favorites and will keep them busy for hours!

Ideal Board Games as Indoor Kids’ Games

Children naturally love to play. It is actually their right to play various types of indoor kids’ games especially when the weather is bad for outdoor playing. The inside of the house could be turned into an instant playground, though there is not much space available. What is this strategy? Simple. It is through the use of board games. The games may not be physical in nature, but they could also be as fun. Perhaps, your children would love those board games that they would decide to regularly play them even when the sun it out. Board games are indoor kids’ games that they could play in the afternoon or during night with the entire family.



Let playing board games be an activity children would truly cherish. Children would need more than the usual card games, the tried and tested indoor games used. You may also need to know specific board games that could really be ideal for kids who want to play indoors. Here are some of those board games and why they are ideal for children.

Classic Bullseye board game. This is based on the popular TV classic dart quiz. The game confronts children with hoards of tricky questions with corresponding rewards for every correctly answered ones, the Bully’s star prize. Go through various rounds. Undoubtedly, this is a great entertainment that even older family members could participate in and have fun.

Corx. This game enhances eye-hand coordination of children. Teach your young kids how to play Corx and see them have much fun. The game has playing pieces that are embedded within the game. You are supposed to toss any hard or flat surface. If the objects bounce on the ends, score points are earned. You could use this to introduce to your young children the concept of scores, rewards, and winning. The game could also be described as a replica or a mini martial art.

Magic cube. This is of course an al time favorite. It could accentuate children’s cognition and coordination abilities and skills. Younger children, as young as three years old, could surely enjoy magic cubes. The colors would be fun to begin with. They would surely love it when they see the cubes are movable and are interchangeable.

Family Guy. The Family Guy is the game for your kids if you are a follower of the dysfunctional family. To play, ask a question and se how answers come magically. There are 20 custom griffin family phrases that have been intentionally included in the packages of the games.

Monopoly card game. Have you been playing Monopoly for some time? Monopoly card game is one clear variation. It could be enjoyed by children aged eight years old and above. Think of the Monopoly Deal, which is a card game. The dynamic game of acquisition, trading, and dealing surely is a great way for a quality afternoon indoors.

All these indoor kids’ games could be easily facilitated. Buy the board games packs commercially at your favorite retailers. Who says keeping children occupied and having fun is hard on rainy days?

Saturday, April 7, 2012

I Spy – The Classic Indoor Kid’s Game

I Spy certainly looks like one of the oldest “car games” around. It is one of the simplest mental-visual games around. Games, as in all things, are most fun when they are simple. It certainly fits the bill as one of the better ones in indoor kid’s games.   

The game also has so many variations not just as a car game but both as indoor and outdoor games. The object is changed to people and they are usually played in classrooms (when the teacher has not arrived yet, etc.), cafeterias, or school grounds where there are people.



The game of looking

These “car games” had a long history themselves. Maybe, they were developed as soon as the first cars rolled down the streets. Whatever the story is, it is better than the current electronic gadgets that grab the entire child’s attention and only to himself.

 This old game (and other games like it) has given the chance to have the parents interact with the kids and with themselves. Moreover, this is one game where the kids can use their imagination and creativity.

At this point in today’s technology, kids are being bombarded with all sorts of electronic stimuli. Some of them are portable (game boxes, phones with games, etc.) that they can bring out of the house.

Sadly, all of them had taken out the child’s chances to think. Most of them are all about finger and arm dexterity and reflexes.

The game

In playing with little children, it would be good if you can help build your children’s understanding of, say, color. You could say, “I spy with my little eye, something moving with the color of….”and mention the specific color.

If it gives them some problems, you can then go with explanations like “a cross between …” and give out familiar colors. After some time, without their even knowing it, you had given them some lessons on colors (identifying it) and alert meticulousness (looking for it).

Playing with more than one child is even easier. One person goes first and the first person to guess the object or person will get to spy the next object. When the child guesses the object, then it is that child’s turn to spy something.

You can keep it going and forth with them. If your turn comes up, you can then put it the little color and alertness lessons in your “spying” declarations.

Older children

If the child is a little bit older, you can use letters. “I spy with my little eye, something starting with the letter B.” If the child knows some basic reading skills, you can easily play this game with him or her.

If one of you never guesses the object and “gives up,” the person who did the spying gets to take another turn. Or you can get to be specific: “I spy with my little eye, something that begins in letter a, so red and so delicious…” etc.

Other car games

There are many other car games as there as children who can think of games like it. Which make indoor kid’s games more colorful, interesting, fun, funny, and never boring.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Educational Indoor Games For Kids

What's worse than rain on a perfect day? It's the lack of a good thing or a productive thing to do. Nowadays, children, instead of having to play kids indoor games would rather spend their time playing with their top of the line gaming console or their latest handheld portable game devices. Though there is nothing wrong with these advancements in technology we have to pay a certain price that some people are not even aware of.



One of the perils of technology taking over the play time of children is the separation of children from their friends. In the past children would gather together in a vacant lot to play baseball or tag or horse or whatever it was that kids play at the time. These physically challenging games helped children develop muscle tone and promoted exercise that in a way helped them in taking care of their bodies. Aside for the physical rewards that games children play bring it also promotes social interaction, attitude adjustment and cooperation among peers. These games helped them see that there are things that can be done individually and as a group.

Because of the isolating nature of these high tech devices children are more inclined to sliding back into their own worlds safe from anything that the outside world can dish out. Though there is a certain safety and comfort that these devices bring it isolates children from their peers and social skills that they should have are not developed. This results in kids having little tolerance to failure, low self-esteem, the need to find an easier way out and fault finding. To remedy this situation some parents are reintroducing children to classic indoor games that can be played by the family, with the family such as:

- board games. Since then, board games have always dominated the indoor games for kids scene since the beginning of gaming history started. Some of the classic games that captured the hearts and imagination of kids and adults alike are board games like Monopoly, Snakes and Ladders, Scrabble and other turn based board games. These games develop strategy and critical thinking in kids because of the high level of decision making involved in them. Recently board games have been given a facelift and have enjoyed new edition to their line. Games like Warhammer 3000, Tactics the game, Vampires: Bloodlines and other games introduced recently.

- card games. Unlike before when card games were considered plain and boring, many card games come with a twist these days, making it a popular choice for kids' indoor games. The secret to a good card game is the ability of the player to more cards to complement the core of their games. In Japan, card games like Yu-gi-oh: Duel Monsters, Pokemon card game, Duel Masters and other recent developed card games give the old Trump cards a new twist and a new flavor. The Japanese have conquered the world with these card games and they have brought dying kids indoor games new life.

They have created and developed a new interest in these games; card games from the Japanese include a high level of strategy and skill in predicting an opponent's move. And because its turn based the level of excitement is higher than ordinary car games.