holiday gift guide: games (w/giveaway)

we had the opportunity a few weeks ago to attend the toy and game fair.  this has become a favorite yearly event for us now.  we love getting to see (and play with) that newest and most fabulous toys and games on the market (at least, that's what we tell ourselves!).

here are some of our favorites:

from wiggity bang, we tried out magic feather.  it is described as "a nutty rumpus of a game for kids and families."  what i like about it is that it is a board game that encourages activity and actions so my littler ones don't have to sit for a long time.  "magic feather develops creativity and imagination; helps build problem-solving, story-telling, counting, reading and map skills; encourages physical activity; and exercises the sense of humor!"  players move around a magical neighborhood, trying to stay ahead of "pesky crows."  players have challenges like pretending to be a cat that swims, or having a conversation where you and another player talk like crows.  i'm looking forward to getting the kids to play this all together this holiday season.

wiggity bang has another game that i am personally interested in:  quao.  "what is quao you ask? quao (pronounced ‘cow') is the absolute, supreme ruler of an unruly wasteland at the edge of civilization where attempts at democracy are futile. quao is the ultimate dictator — an evil bovine with secret rules.
"what does it mean to be quao?  being quao means you know the rules and everyone else has to figure them out. as you play this fast and fun card game, you'll be challenged to discard all your cards first to win each round, as you try to become the quao."  i love dictator games!  i think this one would be tons of fun for all the cousins this holiday season.

 
you've probably heard of bananagrams by now, but did you know how many different new games there are now?  you can get jumbo bananagrams, double bananagrams and foreign bananagrams (what a great way for students to practice their foreign language learning!).  they have also added a few more fruits to the mix.

appletters lets early readers practice spelling words as everyone works to build a word worm.  whoever gets rid of all their letters first, wins.  as kids develop more confidence, they can play some of the other variations of the game.

this is also true for the game pairs in pears.  each bag comes with four sets of the alphabet, each with a different pattern.  this game has a lot of variations.  tate and i played by letting me make a word with my set of letters, and having him look for the matching letters with his own set of letters.  this was a great way for him to practice reading as well as to reinforce letter recognition.

tessa really likes the game zip-it, which also comes in a jumbo version now.  in this game, two players each get seven cubes with letters on them.  they race to see who can use all their cubes to make connected words first.  when you have used up all your cubes, you can keep score with the zippers on the bag.  the first one to score ten wins.

my favorite of the bananagrams games is fruitominoes.  even lilianna managed to join me and tate in this game!  the dominoes have different numbers of fruit on them (two bananas, three apples, four oranges, etc.).  you play just like regular dominoes, but the fruit pictures make it easy even for kids who can't count yet to play.  lilianna could see if she had bananas or oranges and make a match.

of course you won't want to miss game recently nominated as toy of the year by the toy industry association, don't rock the boat.  players take turn balancing pirate penguins on the boat.  be careful not to let any penguins fall off the boat!  zoe has actually asked for this game from santa this year.  i think that we'll all have fun playing this together.

for the younger set, goliath games has a number of great choices.  lilianna and i had the opportunity to play sonny the seal at the toy and game fair.  each person takes a turn trying to throw rings over sonny's head.

tate seems ready for something a little more challenging, so this year he will be getting pop! the pig.  players take turn feeding the pig, trying to be careful not to make his shirt pop open.  the kids like games that have more than just a board.  pop! the pig definitely fits the bill!

tate is just getting his first loose tooth.  we'll be getting a visit from the tooth fairy soon, i'm sure.  players in this game travel around the board trying to collect lost beth.  when they put the tooth under the pillow, the tooth is magically transformed into gold.  whoever collects four gold coins first, wins.  i'm looking forward to seeing the kids faces when the tooth changes into gold!

zoe spent quite a bit of time checking out the games she was most interested in herself.  she tried out a lot of different games, but when she left, there were two that she asked for in particular.  she really enjoyed the game, oversight.  the goal of the game is get four of your game tokens in a row.  for each turn, players can either place one of their token on the board, or slide an entire row or column of pieces to line up colors or mess up a player's game plan.  zoe is getting more and more intrigued by these strategy games, and this is a great one for her to practice careful and calculated strategy.

the other game zoe specifically requested was albert's insomnia.  this is a great game to help kids practice and develop their math skills.  tessa is just learning her multiplication tables so i hope zoe will let tessa play too so she can practice.  kids can play this alone or the whole classroom can get involved. players start with two cards with different numbers on them.  they try to come up with a math operation that will let them achieve the answer on the card in front of them.  they then progress to three cards, then four and so on.  i played a game similar to this in junior high that i really enjoyed.  i'm looking forward to testing my skills with zoe.

finally, i am always looking for games that can travel with us, since we spend so much time in the car.  tangrams by edustic is a great option.  each game comes with a variety of colored shapes, and laminated cards for each player.  in guess what! players create pictures with their shapes and try to get the other players to guess what they have created.  in pattern smart, players compete to copy the pattern from a flip chart booklet.  finally, in tangram smart, players compete to create the patterns in the flip chart booklet.

the nice thing about the tangrams pieces is that they can stick to a wide variety of surfaces.  the kids can play with them on the car window, the bathroom mirror or any glossy surface.  they don't leave any residue.  i really hope this helps to keep multiple kids occupied on our ten hour trip to tennessee from michigan.

i'm so happy to say that i have a tangrams game to offer to one of you!  just leave me a comment below telling me which game you are most interested in purchasing for a family member this holiday season.  i will choose a winner on sunday night at 8.00 p.m.

i received free copies of most of these games, as well as free passes to the chicago toy and game fair.  regardless, the views and opinions expressed here are purely my own.