Mind boggling fun – How many words can you create in three minutes?

It began as a typical family game night at my house, but soon turned competitive. We hadn’t played Boggle in years and decided to pull it from the back of the closet. Once we familiarized ourselves with the rules again, the game was on.

As my son shook the letter container, his brother made a comment, “Why are you shaking the letters so aggressively?”

“To make sure the letters are mixed well,” came the reply.

As the game continued, my aggressive son even made up words that only existed to him. No worries. After we scowled at him, the words were crossed off his list.

Here’s how the game is played. Players have three minutes to create as many words as possible. If you have the same word as another player, you must cross it off your list. Words can only be made using letters near each other. You can look up, down, side by side and diagonal.

Give it a try. Set a timer and see how many words you can make using the letters in the photo above. Here an example – lot (do you see it). Leave a comment and indicate the number of words you made.

Don’t look yet, but below are the words I came up with. If you have any of these words cross them off your list.

Have fun with it!

Do you have a favorite family game?

My word list

1.      Lot                                           14.       ate

2.      Pee                                          15.       seal

3.      Lose                                         16.       rest

4.      Sat                                           17.       toe

5.      Real                                         18.       lose

6.      Seat

7.      Rat

8.      Tar

9.      Seam

10.  Lost

11.  Post

12.  Eat

13.  tea

 

Fun Friday – Finish this phrase…

A family favorite board game at our house is Catch Phrase. We divide into teams and shout out clues to describe the phrase or word displayed in the window of the game device. Given the word “backpack” my son gave clues such as, “something you carry your books to school in.”

Sometimes while on a long car ride or stuck in traffic, the boys and I will make up a game to entertain ourselves. On a recent occasion we made up a game and titled it, Finish this phrase. Below are the phrases we came up with. How many of the phrases can you complete?

1.      When life deals you lemons…

2.      A watched pot never…

3.      It’s better to give than to…

4.      When the going gets tough…

5.      This is going to hurt me more than it…

6.      If you can’t beat them…

7.      Don’t count your chickens before…

8.      6 in one hand, half a dozen…

9.      A bird in the hand is worth…

10.  Robbing Peter to…

11.  Whatever doesn’t kill you will…

How did you do?

Answers

1.      Make lemonade

2.      Never boils

3.      Receive

4.      The tough get going

5.      Hurts me

6.      Join them

7.      They hatch

8.      In the other

9.      Two in the bush

10.  Pay Paul

11.  Make you stronger

 

Fun Friday – 5 activities for Memorial Day family fun

Photo credit: www.standupamericus.org

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, a time to honor loved ones, friends, neighbors, all those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for service to their country. The fallen heroes. Often this is a time spent with family engaging in picnics, parades, cook-outs and the like.
If you’re planning a family gathering, why not try a few activities that the whole family might enjoy? Below are five activities to get your creative juices going.

1.      Flag Relay – this is the same concept of a relay race, except the runner is carrying a small flag.

2.      Design a Memorial Day t-shirt – have a red, white, or blue t-shirt for your child to design using paint or markers. You could come up with design ideas for kids to choose from such as –patriotic song titles, pictures of US Presidents, or pictures of a flag. Click here for more ideas.

3.      Patriotic Balloon Volleyball – use red, white and blue balloons for this game. Divide your family into two teams. Create a dividing line and hit the balloons back and forth. You could also set up a badminton net and hit the balloons back and forth over the net. Remember to create a set of rules before you begin. An article at Disneyfamily.com said to fill the balloons with water and volley them over the net. The team that does not burst any balloons is the winner.

4.      Patriotic Color Race – for this game you’ll need several red, white and blue pompoms or Duplo pieces (adapt as necessary) and red, white and blue baskets. Divide the family into two teams, with the same number of adults and children on each team. Assign a color to each team. Create your playing field by spreading the pompoms around. The teams stand outside of the playing field until the signal is given to GO!
 

The object is for the teams to pick up the pompoms that match their team color and place them in their corresponding basket. The first team to collect all of their pompoms is the winner.

5.      Organize a red, white and blue Olympics – include all of the typical game you often see – sack race, three-legged race, tug of war. Give this activity a little flair using music such as the theme from Rocky, Chariots of Fire or even the William Tell Overture.

 
         For more activity ideas check out the link to Disneyfamily (numbers 3-5 were obtained from   this site).

What are your plans for the Memorial weekend? Do you have any favorite activity ideas to add to the list above?