Family games have always been a feature of downtime for us and especially at Christmas when we have lots of time to relax together. We love nothing more than grabbing a board game and having good old fashioned family fun. 

This year has really been the year of the board game. From old favourites to new educational games. It really does feel like we have played them all this year. We have definitely had the time to! 

Now that I have started shopping for Christmas gifts for my family I will definitely be looking at The Works for great board games gifts as well as books! There are so many ways every member of the family can benefit from board games and here are just a few of the best reasons to start playing together

Board games are a great way to unplug

Sometimes you need to reconnect. A great way of doing that is to put away the screens. The complete lack of technology required by most board games makes them a great tool to help bring people together. Not only do you have to sit together to play a game but everyone benefits from the emotional connection of playing together.

Board games give kids an opportunity to teach adults

You can really only teach something if you know it well enough yourself. Let your child teach you how to play a game. Not only will you have fun but it will really help to build their confidence. 

This year for Christmas I have bought Moose a game of Downfall and also Perfection. I love these games from my childhood but he doesn’t need to know that. I plan to let him teach me how to play both of them. 

Board games teach kids how to be (good) losers

There are always going to be hard lessons to learn and not many of us have made it through life without having to lose sometimes. Yes, playing a game of Monopoly together can be tense but learning how to lose is a really important life skill to have. 

Board games promote literacy

Most board games involve reading. Whether that is questions on a card, instructions to learn how to play or something else. There is always something to read. Why not encourage little ones to hone their skills by reading aloud to other players.

Board games encourage teamwork

A massive plus point of board games is that often they are suitable for different ages. Being able to work as a team with others from different age groups is a skill that your children will need over and over again throughout their life.

Board games help with Maths skills

One of our favourite board games this year is a maths based game called Sum Swamp. It is a very simple concept but in order to move around the board you have to do sums. Games like this one are incredibly educational. It’s great to see kids enjoying maths and now we also incorporate sums into older games too. For example, when we play Snakes & Ladders we use the sums dice from the Sum Swamp game. Suddenly Moose has had an easy 30 minutes of Maths with zero effort.  

Board games help kids to understand how others think

Most board games involve tactical thinking. A lot of them cannot be played without thinking ahead. Playing board games together is a great way to show children that not everyone thinks the same way and that’s a lesson that will come in handy over and over again.

Whether it’s by perfecting their poker face or thinking ahead these are excellent skills to have. Games like Chess are classic and are awesome for building on tactical thinking skills.

Board games are a good alternative to time out

Sometimes when children act out it is a sign that they need you. In fact, I would say that sometimes is a bit of an understatement. Of course there are situations where a time out is absolutely appropriate. However, it makes sense that the more you use a particular method of discipline, the less impact it has. 

The next time your children are playing up why not try getting a game out and switching off distractions and just seeing what kind of an effect it has on you all. Most games have a level of structure to them so they act as a great opener for better communication too.

Board games help build the attention span

I think screens are generally a positive thing for us and our children. However. One of the massive downsides is the sheer number of distractions. The result of this is a notable decrease in everyone’s attention span. Not just children, adults too. 

Playing a board game from start to finish without allowing distractions from phones or tv most definitely helps to increase concentration and in turn it will also help to lengthen anybody’s attention span.

I love this Ted talk about the brain benefits of playing games

“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth”

Each week I like to (try and) link up to a series called Living arrows which is about celebrating childhood. You can find out more here

Can you hear that? Yup, it is the sound of silence and it is bliss!

This weeks photos were both taken this morning (in a rush of course) just before both Bess and Moose left to go to their respective schools and approx 30 minutes after MrG left to go to the office. It has just been me and the dog for the whole day for the first time since April and honestly, I could get used to this!

It feels like we are waiting at the moment though. Not sure for what exactly but just waiting. For normality? For it all to kick off and close down again? I don’t know, just waiting. At least I get some peace and quiet for now though!

I think my lot have gone back quite late compared to some schools. Either way, it was worth the wait.

Looking at these photos and then back at old ones (obviously we do this every year, we have to now we have been doing it so long) it          is astonishing how much Bess especially has grown. I do miss the littler version of my girl – even if she did chop herself a dumb and                dumber style fringe just days before she started reception class at her primary school!

Hey. It’s me, Tasha. How ARE you?! You may not remember me, it’s been a while. Like most of you I have been staying at home and self isolating where possible! I’m still going nowhere except my weekly outing to do the grocery shop. Fun times.

This, however, is about to change. It’s Moose’s birthday today and just when I was feeling super guilty about having absolutely sod all planned.. A Facebook post popped up informing me that a local indoor soft play place, Safari Adventure Play was about to re-open 2 days before my darling offspring celebrated his 6th journey round the sun. Admittedly over the course of my (thus far) 19 years as a parent, soft play has never been my favourite place to be.

Historically my biggest memories have been:

• Sweaty kids
• Other peoples kids vomit (never had the dubious pleasure of it being mine – thank God)
• Other peoples kids being absolute dickbags
• My kids being absolute dickbags
• Stickiness. Play equipment, kids, tables, floors. Sticky is never a good sign is it!?
• Having to be prepared to fight other bleary caffeine needing parents for somewhere to sit
• ‘That smell’. You know, the one which is a bit of a cross between ageing rubber, old urine and feet and hits you like a train upon entry to soft play.
• Absolutely disgusting and shockingly overpriced coffee. I was once charged £3.40 for a cup of straight-out-of-the-sachet Nescafe which bore an unsettling similarity to used washing up water. Rough.
• The frayed nerves of nearly every single adult there – not just parents but grandparents, childminders and the usually bewildered teenage staff members found hiding behind the counter. We once arrived at a soft place just as a shirtless man came charging out offering to rearrange the face of a man who as it turns out was another Dad. Madness! But at soft play, all bets are off.
• One particularly memorable woman who changed her toddler’s stinky nappy IN THE SOFT PLAY (and then, of course, left the dirty nappy there for the poor staff to deal with)

Nonetheless the news that soft play centres were once again going to be throwing open their doors has had me positively giddy with excitement!

Yes of course it’s great that pubs and restaurants are letting us in again but oh the pure joy of waving my darlings off while I sit and chit chat and enjoy hot cuppas. Ah bliss. Of course, right now we are still having to wear face coverings except when we are eating and drinking so expect me to drink. A lot.

Is it safe?

I have to admit that it did cross my mind that maybe during a pandemic is not the time to be visiting somewhere we all think of (in normal times) as a bit of a germ factory – but, hear me out!

Right now they are running at much lower capacity. The one I am off to with Moose today is limiting admittance to 40% and they are recommending booking online. That’s far fewer people to have to deal with. A good start. On top of that they are cleaning like their jobs depend on it – because, you know, they kinda do. If we want indoor soft play to stick around then we have to use them. It’s as simple as that. There is a daily clean anyway on top of them wiping down the high touch areas throughout the day AND some kind of super anti bac they are spritzing everything with which protects for longer than the usual cleaning stuff.

So these places are about as clean and safe as they are EVER going to be right now. As part of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme the lovely food and drink this particular place sells will be half price. It doesn’t mean you don’t have to quickly scoff your cake while your kid is busy in the ball pit. Sorry. No help for that.

Plus, in about 3 weeks time Moose is going to be going back to school. I don’t believe for a second that they will actually be able to socially distance a whole primary school effectively and this is a kid I had to tell off once for licking his mates shoes. HIS SHOES.

So, if anyone wants me between now and September there is a good chance that you will find me sipping tea and enjoying the air conditioning while Moose gets some much needed exercise and learns how to co-exist with children his own age before school starts again.

See you there?

“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth”

Each week I like to (try and) link up to a series called Living arrows which is about celebrating childhood. You can find out more here

My first photo this week was taken during a really hot day. We are still trying to learn at home but the temperature hit 86 degrees (I always use Fahrenheit during the summer and Celsius over the winter, it’s more dramatic) and I made the executive decision to stop “homeschool” for the day in favour of an old fashioned water fight. Every single one of us was utterly drenched! It was so much fun though, which, in my opinion, is just as important for Moose and Bess as school.

A little while ago I decided that it was about time we made use of the Butterfly Garden we got at last years STEM fair. We ordered the caterpillars but there was a super long wait. Now that we have them we are making Butterflies our summer project! Moose will be learning all about their life cycle. I am on the lookout for activities to do with him which ties in with the Butterflies theme. Feel free to comment with your ideas if you have any!

“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth”

Each week I like to (try and) link up to a series called Living arrows which is about celebrating childhood. You can find out more here

The first photo this week is from one of our walks this week. We haven’t been getting out as much as we really ought to. I am trying a bit harder to make the most of our local area. It’s hard though, when you have 1 child at primary school and another at secondary. Their workloads are completely different and it makes finding a time to get out as a family a bit tricky.

We did manage to get out though and the children and I explored a local woodland. We are quite lucky to live so near to such a space. Inside the wood, Moose found a great little den that another family had started creating so we added some branches to it.

The second photo this week is of my beautiful Bess. I am so proud of how she is conducting herself throughout this lock down. She is 14 and I know she is missing her friends like crazy but she hasn’t complained about having to stay at home even once. She has lent a hand by occasionally watching her little brother so I could get work finished and making up games for them to play together. We have had the occasional day of bad moods but frankly, I think we are all allowed those at the moment and children/teens really are no different. As a treat and to tempt fate I said yes to her dying her hair with an Ultra Violet packet dye we found in a cupboard. She LOVES it!