Games and Family

A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.    Proverbs 17:22

We love to play games with friends and family.  With a 5 year old and a 17 year old it can be tricky to find games that both like.  Of course sometimes we get together with friends and the younger children play while the older and the adults play games.  That works out well too.  
Playing fun games makes a happy heart, which is good medicine for the soul and body.
This is just a listing of some of our favorite games and fun things to do.

1. LEGOS:   Legos are fun for EVERYONE!  Children, pre-teens, teens, and adults.  There is just so much imaginative play involved with building with Legos.  We usually tell stories to go along with what we are building so we are building grammer skills and composition skills while playing :)  That makes a homeschooling mom happy! 
2. UNO SPIN:  This is a game we have found that is a fun twist on the classic UNO game.  Our 5 year old learns matching skills, number identification, color recognition and taking turns and good sportsmanship ( well, we are still working on this one !) and has a ball!  We enjoy the game as well!
   
3. UNO BLAST:  This is another great UNO game that we all can play...up to six players can participate and it is much fun!
4. CHICKEN FOOT:  This is more for the older children and adults but E.  enjoys "helping" to find matches .  Some people call this game "Mexican Train".
5. A new game we were just introduced to last night that we loved (minus the youngest) is called DUTCH BLITZ.  This one is action packed and keeps you thinking and moving.  
6. BLANK STORIES:   This game is one we play and it can be played anywhere.  One person starts a story and then leaves a "blank" for the other player to fill in.  Then the first person has to keep building the story based on the inserted components from the other player.  
7. I SPY:  A classic game that all kids love and is tolerable to the adults as well. 
8. THE CAT IN THE HAT:  WHAT'S IN THE HAT?   This one we all like.  It is based on a game  we used to play when I was a kid.  We called it What's In The Pillowcase?  But this game is the Cat's Hat and it has three flaps:  a smelling flap, a seeing flap and a touch flap.  You put something in the hat and close up the top and then you have to guess what is in the hat by asking questions that you draw from a stack of cards and by doing certain things, like "Feel of the hat with your feet"  or "Smell of what is in the hat through the nose flap".  
9. SCATTERGORIES:   We like the regular version of this for the older ones.  E.  can't spell yet so he does not like this one.
10. IN A PICKLE:  This one can be fun but I think we have just about worn it out. 

So what are some of the games you and your family like?  

This week I heard the whisper of God in finding a happy heart by playing games with our family, our grandparents and our aunts and uncles and cousins.  Where did you hear God's whisper today?