Dreams Discovered

A friend called the other day, and while I'm well known for letting our machine pick up - but needing to speak with her, I answered while in the middle of a game with the kids. She could hear the kids laughing in the background and asked what we were doing. I told her we were in the middle of playing dodge ball and she started to laugh. She thought that was the funniest thing ever and I realized then how frequently I "live through my kids". I find myself often playing anything and everything with them that either I enjoyed playing as a child, or, those games that no one wanted to play with me as a child. I had great brothers and sisters but being "the baby" of the family definitely offered one big drawback. By the time I was old enough to create fun games in my head, they were "too old" to play them. My sister who is just 12 months older than I was great as well, but as we grew she preferred doing her nails while I preferred digging with them in the dirt.

Fortunately, now I am a mother of little ones and have the great pleasure of making them play with me. Not really. Hopefully they enjoy the games I teach them, and while they discover exciting games for the first time I have the chance to live out childhood dreams that never came to fruition.

I have been able to enjoy all of the classic pleasures such as paints, play dough, tag, hide n' seek, paper airplanes, fort making, and of course, board games in general. Additionally, I have been able to teach them fun games like dodge ball - this is a great one if you have any pent up energies from the day. Make sure you remove anything breakable from off the shelves first. Capture the flag. Zoo Keeper (this is a great game too! I can't believe no one wanted to play this when I was little. The kids love it. They are the "animals" and while they run around the house I get to be the "zoo keeper" and catch them. Once locked in their "cages" I get to throw food at them and teach them tricks. How cool is that.) Recently we added "Find the Treasure" and "Spy Mission". With Find the Treasure I draw a map of the house and map out a path way they must follow in order to, what else, find the "treasure". Along the route I hide numbers (1-6) and show those on the map as well so they have hints along their way.
Spy mission is even better. You first cut out foot prints of an animal and then lay them in a path around the house - leaving the animal to be captured at the end of the path. Next you turn out the lights and give everyone a flashlight. As they make their way around they will find your "footprint clues" and eventually discover which animal is hiding. Oh, that was a fun one. I have to give the girls credit though for coming up with that game.

I leave these in detail hoping that some of you may find them fun and useful, and, for all my friends out there who are shaking their heads while reading this, please, let me assure you that I also enjoy playing the game of "put a movie in and pass out on the couch for a good nap."