Amazing Cheap Game Ideas For Your Children

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Keeping your children entertained when you’re on a budget can be tricky. Expensive days out and new toys are pricey. That means that you’re going to have to find other ways to keep your children busy. It is possible to entertain your little ones without spending a fortune. Doing so will mean that you need to use a little imagination. The great thing about children is that they are adaptable. They will love the fact that you are taking the time to play with them. Money can’t buy quality time, and so you should not worry about how much money you can spend on your children. Instead, focus on how much time you can spend with them. Here are some amazing and cheap games to entertain your children.

Limbo in the backyard

One simple game that your children will love is limbo. If the weather is nice, go outside with your children and play a game of limbo. All you will need for this game is a long stick. You can likely find a stick in the yard or outside. If you can’t find one, a stick from a broom will also do the trick. You will need at least three people to play this game. Two of you should hold on to either end of the stick whilst the other one bends backwards to go underneath the stick. Take it in turns. Each time lower the stick a little closer to the ground to make the game harder.

Doughnuts on a string

One classic children’s game that won’t cost you must is doughnuts on a string. Unsurprisingly, the two things you will need for this game are doughnuts and string. Make sure you get doughnuts with holes in so that you can tie them up. Use the string to tie the doughnuts so that they hang down from a pole of a ledge. Your children have to race to see who can eat their doughnut first. The one catch is that they need to ensure that they only use their mouth. They should keep their hands behind their back at all times.

Decorate boxes like cars and tanks

What is the one thing that children do when there are boxes around the house? That’s right; they play with them. Indulge your children’s imagination by buying some cheap moving boxes and using them in a game. You will also need some paint and craft materials for this game. Let your children decorate a box each that they can play inside afterwards. Often boys like to pretend that their box is a car or a tank, and so they will likely decorate their boxes in this way. Once the decoration is over, your children can play at being tanks and cars.

Have a sports day in your yard

If you have a large family, you can put on a sports day in your yard. Play the same sports that children play at school. For example, put on an egg and spoon race in your yard with ease. Make sure that you hard boil the eggs in advance, or you could end up with a mess. Pick some of your children’s favorite sports to focus on and make an event out of the day.

Hide and seek (in the dark)

Put a twist on the classic game of hide and seek by playing it in the dark. Draw all the drapes in the house and turn out the lights. Count to ten and have your children hide in certain areas of the house. The game will be more difficult than usual because you will find it difficult to see.

 

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How Did I Parent Today?

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 how did I parent bannerIt is sometimes so easy to slip into the same routines with your children.  We’re so busy with work, after school activities, cooking, cleaning, taking care of a million and one things that we get on a treadmill of sorts and just go through the motions with our children daily without really being present and in the moment with them.  How many times have you answered a question your child asked without really thinking about the question or the answer, just to tell them something so they would walk away so you could finish what you were doing?  Most of us are guilty of this.  It’s not that we don’t love and adore our children.  We just have a lot on our plates and we forget to stop and think before we parent.  Here’s a handy list I came up with to try to ask yourself each day to self-assess your parenting.  It’s not to make you feel bad if you didn’t do everything on the list each day.  No one is perfect parent.  Even your friends who seem to be perfect parents on the outside.  They screw up, too.  We all do.  Don’t punish yourself if you weren’t the parent you wanted to be today.
Print this list and use it as a daily reminder to help you be the best parent you can be.

how did I parent today

 

 

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Highlights Hidden Pictures Club

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Disclosure: I received an advanced copy of the magazine mentioned below along with several other Highlights magazine samples at the Highlights breakfast event I attended while at BlogHer13.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are 100% my own.

Did you ever go to the doctor’s office as a child and get excited when you saw a Highlights magazine sitting there in the waiting room just waiting to be read?  And how great was your excitement when you realized that the puzzles hadn’t been completed yet?!?!  SCORE!  Most of us have childhood memories reading Highlights magazines either at home or somewhere else.  I personally loved the hidden pictures the best.  What was your favorite part?

Now that I have my own children, I have made Highlights a part of their childhoods, too.  We subscribe to the regular Highlights magazine as well as the Puzzlemania magazine by Highlights.  My girls love getting mail and I love that these magazines keep their brains working without electronics.  They are great for in the car, while waiting at restaurants, and of course they are still great for the wait at doctors’ offices.
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I am excited that Highlights has made my favorite part into its own magazine called Highlights Hidden Pictures Club which will be available in September.  It has 2 age levels, Let’s Play for ages 3-6 years old and Eagle-Eye for ages 6+.  We received a copy of Eagle-Eye to review because my girls are over 6 years old.  My girls love that it has lots of hidden pictures to find but there is so much more inside.  This edition has a page that lets children create their own dialogue for the characters, a hidden words page, and one of my favorite pages is a page that has children create their own hidden picture by drawing an object (a boomerang in this edition) and then turning it into a picture of something else to “hide it”.  I love that this activity gets kids thinking outside the box and using their creativity.

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There are also pages that teach several words in other languages, a page that has word families, recipes, stickers, pages to color, a crossword puzzle, and so much more.  The pages are all visually and mentally stimulating for children.  As a parent I love that this magazine is full of so many different types of activities to keep my girls thinking outside the box and using their brains.
Eagle Eye Hidden Pictures Collage

Check out the new free app from Highlights, Highlights Hopscotch! With Hopscotch, you’ll find fun videos, interactive comics, easy recipes, children’s audio stories, crafts and free digital Highlights™ magazines that will keep your youngsters entertained for hours.

 

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