Search Results for: blog upwords a fun game for families

Is This Just a Game to You?

I have four children, three of whom are boys. I have one son who is very studious and will sit and read a book for hours. You say, “School time,” and he’s right there with all his pencils sharpened and an expectant look on his face. Then I have one son who fights the entire process. He doesn’t understand why we even have to do school and he questions the need for each and every subject. What makes it the most difficult is that he’s the oldest boy, and his little brother idolizes him. I worry that his anti-school attitude … Continue reading →

Quiddler: The Short Word Game – Game Review

Quiddler: The Short Word Game is a great game for families. The game takes about 20 minutes to play, quick to learn, is very portable, and is challenging for most ages. The official age suggestions are 8 to adult, but I’ve used a variation of the game for younger children. I even sometimes use the cards for teaching reading. The 118 cards are beautifully illustrated Celtic calligraphy designs inspired by books from 500 – 800 AD. The cards all have letters, or combinations of letters (CH,TH, IN, ER, QU), on them along with a number for scoring. On each round, … Continue reading →

Continuo – Game Review

I love games that don’t require reading a huge rule book or a lot of set up time. I also like games that can be played in less than twenty minutes. Continuo is one of those games. It’s incredible simple. You get 42 square cards. Each of those cards is divided into 16 small brightly colored squares. The idea is to place cards so that a color line is continued. You get points for the number of squares in each chain of color. If continue chain of both yellow and blue, you get points for both chains. The game is … Continue reading →

Week in Review – Family Fun

Summer is winding down so seize these last days and have fun! Start by throwing an End of Summer Party. Spend an afternoon getting wet with Water Balloon Fun. The Perseid Meteor shower takes place this weekend. For ideas on enjoying it as a family see Amazing Meteor Showers. Spend an afternoon creating a one of kind art project in Mobiles – Craft Project Fun. For those too hot days consider playing UpWords or In a Pickle. Get ready for school with instructions on how to Design Your Own Backpack and get prepared to make homework less of a hassle … Continue reading →

UpWords – A Fun Game for Families

The UpWords game is a fun twist on Scrabble. Just like in Scrabble, players form crossed words horizontally and vertically on the board. The twist with UpWords is that the letter tiles stack, so you can build up on those words. For example, H – A – T could be changed to C – A – T, by placing a “C” tile over the “H” tile. The next player could play a “R” over the “T” so the word would become C – A – R, which could be changed to F – A – R, or the player could … Continue reading →

Turn Off to Turn On

Today as we were coming home from the markets I asked Mick if he had any ideas he thought would be good for this blog. ‘Turn off the TV,’ he said. Now don’t misunderstand, neither of us is against TV. We have our favorite shows. At the moment, when it’s non rating period in Australia, we’re watching Eli Stone which is not compelling but quirky enough to be interesting. Plus we both like lawyer shows. But most nights our TV is off and we spend time together, talking, playing games and listening to music. Settlers of Catan is our favorite … Continue reading →

Caretaker Stories: What’s a Solon?

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Research has shown that one great thing you can do to keep your mind sharp is play games. Crossword puzzles, sudoku, logic problems, and more — they’re all good for your brain. My grandmother — who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease — resists many of the brain workouts we encourage her to do. One thing she’s always loved is playing Scrabble. Lucky for us, Scrabble is a good way to engage the brain… so we can get her to play on a daily basis. The last time I was home for a visit, I sat down for a Scrabble game with … Continue reading →