Games
Games that need nothing, or almost nothing — for a rainy day, a car trip, the classroom and the yard.
What to Do With Your Child in the Eye Doctor's Waiting Room Before the First-Grade Health Form
Twenty to forty minutes of waiting outside the eye doctor's office in June, no phone and no meltdowns. Five games you ca...
How to Survive a 40-Minute Passport Line Without Losing It: Games for Kids Ages 6-8
Practical, quiet games for the waiting room at the town hall or passport office that work exactly where the phone fails....
April Terrace Watering: Watering Can, Cup, and Seed Games for Kids Ages 6 to 8
Three times a week your child grabs the watering can and vanishes two minutes later. Here's how watering becomes a game...
45 Minutes at the Auto Shop: Seated Games for Ages 5-7 That Need Nothing in Your Hands
A cramped waiting room, the smell of motor oil, and a kid who's already circled the place three times. Here's what actua...
A Parent's Guide to the First Week in a New Neighborhood: Games for a Child Who Doesn't Have Anyone to Play With Yet
A guide for parents: concrete games and phrases to use with children aged 5 to 7 during the first seven days in a new pl...
Saturday Morning Market: 6 Counting Tasks Between the Stalls, the Scale, and the Change
How to turn an ordinary Saturday grocery run into half an hour of hands-on math — with real kilograms, real euros, and c...
Home Renovation: How to Keep Your Child Busy When One Room Is Packed Up
A parent's guide to practical games for kids ages 5-7 during a home renovation, while the furniture sits in the hallway...
Elastic, Chalk, and Jump Rope: How to Remember Playground Game Rules
The parent remembers playing elastics but can't quite recall where you're supposed to step. Here's how to turn that gap...
30 Minutes in the Dentist's Waiting Room: Games That Work with 5-7-Year-Olds
How to turn the wait before a baby-teeth checkup into something bearable — with two screen-free games that need no props...
Turn Old Toys Into a Game: The €3 Plan for January 10th
After Christmas the toy box is full, but the kid is bored. Here's how 3 euros and a few rules turn old toys into a game...
30 Minutes of Evening Reading and Writing: How to Turn It Into a Game (Ages 7–9)
Reading and writing homework isn't fixed with rewards at the end, but by changing the task itself. Two ready-made games...
Back to School Blues After the Long March Weekend: 2 Games for Parents of Kids Who Won't Hear About School
A guide for parents of 7-10 year olds. On Sunday evening, after three days off around the March holiday, your child says...
Potatoes, Onions and a Plastic Bag: A Parent's Guide to Market Games for Kids
A guide for parents and carers: the September market is noisy and children get bored fast. Two games turn a bag of potat...
What Your Child Can Do While You Decorate the Tree: 6 Activities Instead of "Don't Touch"
It's mid-December, the boxes are open, and your child has already got hold of the most fragile ornament. Here are concre...
20 Minutes in the Checkout Line Before Christmas: Games That Actually Work With a Full Cart
Saturday, December, the cart is piled high, and there are fifteen people ahead of you. Here's what to do with your 5-to-...
A Parent's Guide: How to Cook for Christmas Eve With a 5-8 Year Old, Without Getting in the Way
A parent's guide to Christmas Eve with kids: you don't need to invent "kid jobs" just to keep a child busy in the kitche...
Easter Egg Games for Kids Aged 5-7: Races and Hunts for the Week Before Easter
Dyed eggs sit in the bowl until Easter and nobody touches them. Here are Easter egg games for kids aged 5-7 that turn th...
Airport Games for Kids: Surviving an Hour and Forty Minutes with a 5-7 Year Old at 5 AM
Practical airport games for kids to fill the wait before your charter flight to the seaside — no screens, no running bet...
After the End-of-Year Assembly: Sidewalk Chalk Games to Keep 7-9 Year Olds Busy Until Evening
The hour after the school celebration is the most chaotic of the whole year. Here are two sidewalk chalk games with simp...
Quiet Birthday Party Games for a Small Flat: 8 Kids, 2 Hours
Quiet birthday party games for eight six-year-olds in a small flat: no running, no shouting, plus the one mistake that w...
The First Days of September: 6 Games to Ease Your Child Back into the School Routine
Not with lectures about responsibility, but with games that bring back three specific skills after summer: listening to...
Games and Rules: A Fair Play and Sportsmanship Quiz
An 8-question sportsmanship quiz for children aged 5-10: owning up in hopscotch, welcoming a latecomer to musical chairs...
Multiplication Tables All Summer: Yard Games, Beach Games and Car Games
How an 8-to-10-year-old can make multiplication automatic in a few weeks of summer break, no worksheets and no desk time...
5 Quiet End-of-Class Games for the Last 10 Minutes (Ages 8-10)
Quick end-of-class games that need no prep and no props, bringing the class's attention back at the end of the lesson. W...