Snapshots of Spring Break ~ Games!

Last Tuesday we enjoyed a Movie Marathon.  But, seeing as a post about that would consist of me describing the happily glazed over looks on my kids faces as we watched Puss 'n Boots, Mr. Popper's Penguins and, later in the evening, Hugo, I think I'll move on to Wednesday.

We invited our cousins and neighbor-buddy over for a day of games.  And boy, oh boy, did we play!  The day before, Norah noted down all the games we have in our house and put the slips of paper in a popcorn bucket.  Then we brainstormed outside games and filled another bucket with those slips of paper.  When the rest of the kids arrived, we were ready to go!

First we covered just a few rules:
1) Everybody plays every game ... even if it's a game you don't like or you don't think you're good at.
2) Be a good sport and cheer on everyone else. (Coincidentally, Kindness was the virtue of the day)
3) Have fun!

The first game we pulled from the bucket was Charades.  We had filled a ziplock bag with prompts so that we didn't spend our time thinking up something to act out.  Some of the answers were blurted out quickly while others required a few pointers from the adults.  The kids were great about cheering on the "charader" ... it was a great warm-up to our game marathon!

Before we got bored of acting out "Wizard of Oz" and "Phineas & Ferb" we quickly moved on the next game ... and the next and the next and the next.

The boys in the midst of an intense game of Minotaurus.

Meanwhile ...

The girls playing a cut-throat game of Spot It.

Some games took just a few minutes to play through, like Hat Stackers Memory Game, while Ticket to Ride was the 2-hour tournament that kept the big kids busy through nap time.  (My kids still talk about the train game ... looks like we have a new family game to purchase!)

That's a lot of train cars!  And smiles!

It was fun to see the kids enjoying one another and playing some of their favorite games.  The laughter and giggles were music to my ears.  I also loved that we didn't hear the words, "I'm bored" all day.  They never had a chance to get bored because we kept them busy, busy, busy!

Even the little ones kept busy with puzzles.  Lots of them!

My favorite games of the day were outside.

Just before lunch, we drew Obstacle Course ~ Outside from the popcorn bucket.  Within a few minutes we had pulled our mini-trampoline out into the driveway, rounded up frisbees and beanbags, and set up some cones for the scooter-portion of the race.  It was a hodge-podge of tricks and skills that everyone could do and it was a delight to see all the kids maneuver through the course being cheered and encouraged with each bounce, skip and scoot!  My mom actually has a mini-video of me demonstrating the course ... but I'm far too proud to share that with you.  The kids did it better anyways!

At the end of the day, the kids were getting twitchy so we headed out to the front yard again.  After a little game of Keep the Beach Ball In the Air (that is it's technical name...) we pulled out our big frisbee, a Skyo, and played a random game of 500.  Without the trouble of keeping score.

It was fun to see the kids laughing as they vied to catch the big orange frisbee.  Seeing as the boys were bigger and brawnier than the girls, we had to handicap them a few rounds to give the girls a chance.  One time they had to stand with one hand behind their backs, cross their legs and hop.  Another time they had to put their hiney's on the fence while the girls got to stand closer to me as I tossed it in the air. Still another time, they had to lay on their bellies until the frisbee was airborne.  Remarkably, in spite of these severe disadvantages, the girls still couldn't seem to catch it!  And that was even more funny!

I was thrilled to see that during these two particular outside events, the kids had positive attitudes and truly cheered on their opponents.  (Or at least 98.57% of the time!)  In the midst of a lot of silliness, laughter and goofiness, kindness stole the show!

In fact, that I have decided to begin researching more games for this summer's Game Days.  So, if you find yourself looking for something to do on Wednesdays come June, the odds are good that we'll be hosting another Game Day and you're welcome to join us.  Just be sure to bring a snack, your excitement for playing, a good attitude and a kind spirit ... we'll provide the rest!

 ¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, 

holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves 

with compassion, kindness, humility, 

gentleness and patience. 

(Colossians 3:12)