Games with your kids....

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My son has invented a new game. It's 'Tickle Toes Hide and Seek'. You have to hide, but you leave your bare feet sticking out of wherever you are. You get caught when the person who is 'it' tickles your feet. When Casey is it, the tickling is usually accompanied by a screeching 'Tickle Toes!' It's so cute.

So, I was wondering, what games do you play with your kids? Or what were your faves when you were a kid? Are there any that are specific to just your family that you guys invented all on your own? I'm always on the look-out for new ways to entertain us.

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2001

Answers

When I snuggle with my daughter at night I play "what part am I going to tickle?" I make her lay still with her eyes closed and then I gently touch her ear or lips or shoulder blade, you get the picture. I don't torture tickle her.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

We play Hide and Don't Seek. My daughter would always get really mad when we found her during hide and seek, so she'd hide, and then we'd sit on the couch and pretend we couldn't find her. Ten minutes later she'd pop back in the living room, pleased as punch that she was such a good hider. It's the ultimate game for lazy parents.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

Once they've learned their colors, "I Spy (something blue)" entertains them for a while.

Kids like rhymes, too, so encouraging them to "write poetry" can be amusing for you AND for them, and build language skills (and non-so-fun questions like "What rhymes with the word 'orange'?")

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001


Once they've learned their colors, "I Spy (something blue)" entertains them for a while.

Kids like rhymes, too, so encouraging them to "write poetry" can be amusing for you AND for them, and build language skills (and spark non-so-fun questions like "What rhymes with the word 'orange'?")

--M

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001


Bizarre. I don't think I've double-posted here before. Sorry about that!

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001


My kids and grandkids both got (get) a real kick out of going over old family albums while sitting on my lap. "WHO DAT?" they go, pointing at different pictures. They seem endlessly amused by looking at old pictures of me in uniform or drunk in the backyard with rowdy friends. Pictures of the mother and me when we were being wild and crazy at a club or somewhere sends them into peals of laughter. I think children live in a world where their parents-grandparents are always old, conservative, staid and "safe" and hard evidence to the contrary is fascinating and hilarious. "Dat Ma-maw???" Yep, the drunken hot babe in the panties-showing-mini doing the bump and grind is your grandmother. Great way to pass a rainy afternoon. Pictures of themselves when they were tiny and wizened are scrutinized with an intensity that is truly funny and heartwarming.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

Mary Ellen, My parents used to play a similar game with us.. They'd play hide and go seek with us and then laugh as they sat on the couch with no intentions of finding us.. After awhile the older kids caught on and we did this to the younger ones. Good way to get rid of them for awhile (until they figured it out or got bored, at least)

No, my parents aren't sadistic freaks and I turned out just fine.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001


Door hinge. (Rhymes with orange. Sort of)

When Casey was little I was the one wo taught him to take th pots and pans out of the cupboard and bang on them. My husband came home one day and asked, "What the HELL have you done?" Uhhhhh, nuthin'.....

That's so funny about the pictures, Bubba. I often wonder what my son is going to think of me as he gets older. I'm kind of the town freak (in a good way) I live in a small farming prairie town and there I am kerchiefed, pierced and tattooed at Parent Council meetings. I don't want to be the neighbourhood freak mom; I want to be the neighbourhood hot mom! Dammit.....

And we had a rousing game of snow baseball yesterday. 'Twas fun.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001


Me and my niecelette play "Strega Nona," which consists of imitating stuff that my most vile and annoying Sicilian grandmother ("strega nona" = "grandma witch") would say and do. We cackle, re- arrange/touch food on each other's plates, croon "manga! manga!", suck-a-floss, and try to pinch each other's butt's, shrieking "cuolo! cuolo! cuolo!" when successful.

And the kidlet ain't even Italian.... :)

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001


We played this game called Flipflopwhipwhopwizzamwazzumwoo, where my dad would pretend to be something else (a piece of furniture, for instance) and then turn into the Flipflopwhipwhopwizzamwazzumwoo and grab whatever child was nearby. The object was to try to escape. It was fun.

"Airplane Baby" where the adult lies on their back, legs in the air, and flies the child (who is on their stomach balanced on the adult's feet) was always a favorite too. I played it with my two year old cousin last Thanksgiving and he couldn't get enough of it. Especially when I'd shout "Turbulence!" and really bounce him around.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001



My two year old loves to be chased around the house. No hiding, just me running after him, pretending to try my hardest to catch him. I *usually* let him win....but, on the occasions when I do catch him, it's tickle-fest.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

I can tell you some games that aren't fun.

1. My mother used to like to wake us up for school by pretending a giant elephant was coming into the room...if we didn't hop right out of bed (at 4 AM, people!), she'd SIT on top of us. I had murderous thoughts at age 6.

2. Tickle torture. My grandfather would grab us and tickle us until we nearly peed our pants and were gasping for breath. That also sucked.

3. Got your nose! There must be a narrow window of opportunity for this game where it is equally fun for the nose- grabbed and the nose-grabber. Perhaps when you're pre-verbal it is the funniest thing ever. When you're an infant, it's a giant pink blob coming at your face over and over again and I suspect that's probably traumatic on some level, and when you are down with the concept that your nose is permanently attached, it lacks any humour value.

4. Putting the airplane into the hangar. Let's examine this one. Whenever the airplane docks in the hangar, you have a mouthful of foul crap. A few repetitions of THAT, and the airplane is no longer welcome. Any sproglet with an IQ higher than that of a zucchini soon learns that letting the airplane have control tower acknolwedgement is a Bad Thing.

5. Chasing the invisible barking spiders under Grandpa's chair. Just don't do it. Bad idea. Not fun.

You get the idea.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001


Instead of doing the "Piggies", my great grandmother used to go through my toes saying this:

Big toe, pig-mo, pummy-widdle, piddy-widdle, and PI PEE O!

I don't know what it means, but I do it to every little foot I can get my mitts on. If you've ever heard this before, please please tell me because I've come across no one yet and I'm starting to believe that Granny made it up to amuse her little punkin (me. I'm Punkin)

Now that I am reading this written out, and thinking about being called Punkin all of my years, I'm starting to notice Granny's odd obsession with the letter P. It must be genetic. I'm obsessed with Ls and Ns.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001


The only games we play in my house is that I tell my kids to put away their stuff and they ignore me.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

Hahaha. Too true. My son used to pester us when he knew we were going somewhere: "When are we goin" and I would say "Soon, Matt, soon.) One day I said: "I thought I told you to put up all those toys!" And he goes "Soon, dad, soooon." Three years old and hip to the bone.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001


He he, Bubba, it's scary when they repeat your own words back to you, isn't it? We're taking my daughter to Disney World next month. I insisted we wait till she was tall enough to ride some of the cool rides, and walk around all day by herself. I got the reservations in the mail about a week ago, and while she was getting ready for bed, I asked her, "Are you going to have a good time at Disney World?" Her reply: a very blase, "So I've been told."

It must be tough to be jaded in Pre-K. Of course, this is the same child, who, when asked what's she been up to by my sister on the telephone, replies, "Tormenting the dogs."

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


Mary Ellen, I want you to be my mommy. You are raising a coooool kid. I told my son he was so smart and he said, "Yeah, and I cute, too." OK, son. This is the kid who, when I told him to get his hands out of his pants said, "But, Mummy, I LIKE to touch my penis." We were getting into a raging fight on Sunday about the tv (he wanted to watch. We said no) and I finally said, "If I hear the words TV, movie, or Teletoon one more time I'm going to scream!" And the boy said, "Mummy, I want to watch my....program." Jim had to leave the room.

Ah, scrnwrt, I have lovely memories of playing airplane with my freshly fed little baby who, as I was laughing away at his joy, barfed in my mouth. It was horrific, and I shall never play airplane again.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


When we were potty training our little boy and he got in trouble for wetting his pants while playing outside, he took to hauling out his tallywhacker and peeing in front of the neighbors, his sisters, whoever. Too lazy to come inside, I guess. The neighbors would call:"Did you know your son just peed in front of my little girl?" Aaaaargh!

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001

My kid is pretty cool. She's also a real smart mouth, but I think she was genetically doomed in that respect. Let's not let our kids meet, deb. If they ever met and fell in love and reproduced, our grandchildren would be a new race of Uber-smartasses.

Your description of the airplane puking had me rolling on the floor. I never got it in the mouth, but darn near everywhere else. I used to play a variation of the airplane game when my daughter was a baby, we called it ValueJet. (She was born right around the time of the name-change-inspiring plane crash). Zoom the baby around in the air, and then plummet to the earth while baby screams with delight. Or pukes in your hair.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


Ah, boys and their tallywhackers. They find them in utero and don't let go 'til they die. Casey tried to show his aide at school the "(chicken) pops on my pee-pee! LOOK!" as he had his hand on his pants, hauling them down. We had a little chat, outside of class. (When the poor boy first got the chicken pox last Wednesday, he went to the washroom and all of a sudden I hear his little voice, filled with anxiety, "There's pops on my PENIS?!")

I can't take the dog and the kid to the park together anymore. The dog pisses on a tree, the boy takes down his pants and pisses on a tree. The dog pees on a light standard, the boy pees on a light standard. It's funny, but the boy runs out of pee first, and then gets quite irate. He stands there straining away, face all red trying to squeeze out One. More. Drop. It's traumatizing for him. Really.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


omy! i hope he does 'nt get arrestted fore indecant exposhure!!!

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001

Damn, yall have some funny kids! I love it!

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2001

Here's the game that I play with my kids. It's a word game. It goes like this:

me: So what do you want for Valentine's Day [or Christmas, birthday, etc.]? Toys, or spankings?

my kid: Toys!

me: What? Did you say spankings?

my kid: Hee, hee! No, Mom, I said toys!

me: Oh, okay. Let me write that down: "... spankings..."

my kid: No, Mom! Not spankings! Toys!

me: So you're saying that you don't want toys -- you want spankings?

Etc., etc. It's the joke that never grows old. (I always get my kids toys and not spankings, though. That's an important part of the game, you see.)

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2001


My poor kid would cry if I did that, Gwen. He takes things very literally. "What?! Wait! I'm getting a spanking? Daddddddy....." He's more of a sight gag type of kid. When he was about 18 months old we were in the bath together and I was using a cup to pour water over my head. As I raised the cup one last time he dropped a toy in it and proceeded to laugh hysterically when the toy landed on my head. Sneaky monkey.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

My dad did that too, Gwen. Obviously you are a superior parent.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

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