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All kids love games. That is a given. However, it can be challenging and overwhelming for a child who knows little English or is not used to taking turns to look into the game closet at home. I thought having our games in the back of our large closet would keep them out of sight, therefore out of mind. I was wrong! To all parents preparing your homes for older children, please take my advice and hide your games. You will save yourself time, money and pain. It can be painful to step on the Monopoly shoe or the Candy Land markers!
It I were granted a “do-over” when it came to games at home I would hide them all in the basement and bring them up one by one when the proper time arrived. My girls have been home for 10 months now and we actually go through our first board game with no cheating, crying or quitting last week. It was Princess Yahtzee. I was so proud, yet exhausted by the end of it.
Choose what game to play based on skills your kids have been working on or have mastered. If your child doesn’t know her colors yet, Twister can be a humiliating and stressful game for her. Take in mind your child’s sensory skills. Hungry, Hungry Hippos is a loud game and the noise could trigger you child to become hyper, upset or to shut down. The ages on the boxes do not necessarily apply to your newly adopted child.
Games for when they first come home:
* War- Very little communication needed!
*Uno – works with colors, numbers and is easy to clean up. Keep on
a high shelf. We are on our second set of cards now.
*Hopscotch- A lot of the kids will already know this one.
*Hide and seek- Make sure they know what is off-limits for hiding.
Notice that these games have very little parts to them and are fast to play.
Games to play as communication and attention span improves:
*Candy Land – Great for learning the names of colors.
*Tic-Tac-Toe
*Tag- They should know that this is not a contact sport!
*Twister
Games to think about adding as skills improve:
*The Wii is great! We have had to take away privileges before for not caring for the disks/equipment. Wii sports is the big hit here, it is not complicated and they are great at it! Designing more Mii’s is a big hit as well.
*Memory – This can be a long game, we just now started playing it and they love it!
*CLUE- They love this one, but need help still.
*Mancala – A great African game.
I noticed that when the kids played by themselves or against a computer (Webkinz) they did better with losing or not doing well. Mita worked for days on mastering a game on Webkinz and she was so proud of herself as she learned. If she had been playing against Meg and lost for days on end, she would have been upset and unruly. Taking the competition out of games can work well.
Games were meant to be an entertaining way to pass the time. If game time in your house causes you to stress out, maybe the answer is to take away certain games and start over again!
