I love Sudoku. I don’t play it much myself, but it is one of those go-to activities to keep my oldest quiet-ish and engaged. I often keep a Sudoku book in my car or in my purse… perfect strategy for waiting rooms, restaurants, and church! So when I heard that ThinkFun had come out with a Color Cube Sudoku, I had to try it. As usual, ThinkFun did not disappoint!… More
I am a huge fan of one-player logic games. These games fuel education, cure boredom, and keep kids engaged… and quiet. They are perfect for lazy afternoons, quiet time, restaurants, waiting rooms, and road trips! Recently, we had the chance to check out two of ThinkFun’s one-player games from their All-Star Logic Game collection: Lunar Landing and WaveBreaker. You may recognize these from your childhood and, trust me, they are every bit as much fun now and they were then… More
Easter is around the corner and we have some fun ideas for this year’s Easter baskets. Take a look. More
I don’t have a super sweet tooth so gobs and gobs of Easter candy just isn’t my thing. However, if the Easter Bunny filled my basket with games that would be a-okay with me! This is one of my favorite annual articles to write because I try to highlight lots of smaller games that don’t always get articles of their own. Not all are new – some are, some were new last year, and some are fun ones that have been out for a while, but the deal is all of the games have to be small enough to fit in an Easter Basket AND be $13 or less. Enjoy!… More
#35 We’ve been playing Rush Hour since our kids were little, but it was always a solitary game (great for keeping little ones quiet). The new Rush Hour Shift Board Game ($18) invites friends in on the action. The two-person version of the game has kids rushing to move their car out of the jam before their opponent does. #47 Swish ($13) challenges kids to turn and flip the transparent cards to make matches. When cards are stacked, it looks like the balls are “swishing” into an empty hoop… More
As parents increasingly grow eager to give their children an edge in technology skills by getting them to think like a computer early, start-ups and entrepreneurs see potential in creating toys with a focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics — popularly referred to as STEM… More
Color Cube Sudoku takes the colorful squares of a Rubik’s Cube and the play strategy of Sudoku and turns them into a really fun and addicting single-player puzzle game. The object is to flip and rearrange the nine color cubes into a three by three square so that each of the six colors appear once in every row and column. That means horizontally and vertically. The instruction manual offers a few helpful hints, but after that it’s up to you to use your brain to solve the puzzle… More
Sometimes the daily grind of family life can leave you feeling disconnected as a family. It could be that you retreated to your individual corners of the world to indulge in separate screen time. Or you got focused on the “list” instead of on each other while you ran a bunch of errands. Or maybe you rushed through the homework/dinner/bathtime routine because your eyes were on the prize at the end of it all: a glass of wine + couch + mindless TV. When this happens, your patience can run dry or your kids may stop cooperating – usually both. When our family is feeling that disconnect, one thing seems to have a magical power for bringing us back together with smiles and laughter… More
Do you have a little geek at home who loves gadgets, games, and science-y stuff? It can be a bit of a challenge to buy a good gift for a small child that can actually contribute to educational growth. Most toys are made for fun and become useless soon after. If you have a little one that you would love to buy geeky gifts for, here are some suggestions… More
