Backyard Summer Camp: Game Week

I hope you have been having as much fun with this Backyard Summer Camp series as we are. My kids get pretty excited about picking a new envelope each week, and they are even coming up with their own ideas to add to our list. I love it! Of course, the list is just a starting point. It gets us going in the morning and then we go off on tangents. And the best part is: minimal whining. Yes!

Now, get ready for Game Time!

By the way, in case you've missed them, be sure to check out Wacky Sports Week, Under the Sea Week, Outer Space Week, In Our Neighborhood Week, Dinosaur Week, and Messy Stuff Week too. Have fun!

Games Week

Active Play

• ·      Life-Sized Angry Birds (Materials: cardboard boxes, Angry Birds coloring pages, water balloons, etc. Instructions: Select images of the pigs from the Angry Birds coloring pages and secure to a few boxes. Stack the boxes to look like the game and launch filled water balloons as the birds. Take turns trying to knock down all of the “pigs.”)
• ·      Play Twister outside
• ·      Play tag or freeze tag
• ·      FrisbeeTic Tac Toe (Materials: 9 frisbees or paper plates in 2 different colors; square blanket or tablecloth; duct tape to make the Tic Tac Toe grid on the blanket. Instructions: players throw their Frisbee or plate and try to get three squares in a row.)
• ·      Hang a felt “target” outside; cover balls with adhesive Velcro (you'll want the stiff side of the Velcro; not the soft side) and have kids throw to try and hit the target
• ·      HopScotch on bubble wrap ...or in the driveway with sidewalk chalk...or on the floor with painter’s tape
• ·      Life-sized Candy Land: use masking tape or painter’s tape to secure a variety of colored construction paper on the floor to make the game board. Use the cards from Candy Land to move to a certain color (be sure to use colored paper that matches the colors in the game), or roll dice and move that number of spaces. You could make up silly rules to add more movement to the game. For example, when a player lands on red s/he jumps three times, when a player lands on blue s/he barks like a dog, when a player lands on orange s/he touches his/her toes, etc. ECO-NOTE: Save the paper after your game! If you roll a piece of masking tape and place on the back of the paper to secure it to the ground, you can save it. The tape pulls off easily; just stack the paper and return to your craft supplies for future use. 

Life-sized Candy Land!

Quiet Play

• ·      Play board games
• ·      Set up a domino run
• ·      Make your own board game (large piece of paper or inside of a cereal box, paint, stickers, etc. - let the kids make up the object of the game and the rules!) 
•      Play online games, such as the games for kids in grades K-8 at funbrain.com
• ·      Make a game board out of LEGO bricks
• ·      Read books about games
• ·      Write a story together about playing your favorite game. Let kids illustrate.

Super-fun Domino Run

Field Trips

• ·      Go bowling (school-age children bowl one free game per day this summer at AMF lanes; check out kidsbowlfree.com)
• ·      Visit a local children's museum to play games (Rochester Area: check out the new Game Time exhibit at StrongNational Museum of Play)
• ·      Play video games at an arcade such as Chuck E. Cheese (Rochester Area: The Clubhouse in Henrietta, NY and Adventure Landing in Greece, NY are also kid-friendly)
• ·      Go to the library for books about games: Games: Traditions Around the World by Godfrey Hall, Games: From Dice to Gaming by Liz Miles, The Games Book by Huw Davies, Play These Games by Heater Swain, The Big Book of Games by Dorothy Stott, and Games Galore by Shari Ann Pence.

Giant-sized fun at the new
Game Time exhibit at
Strong National Museum of Play

Ginormous Battleship at
Strong National Museum of Play

Playing dominoes on
a larger-than-life domino

Giant light-up Connect Four

   

    We hope you enjoy your Game Week, and as always, thanks for reading.