About a month ago it was my weekend to keep the kids (I have them during the week as well but we do try and plan out weekends with fun things so it’s not just school, homework etc and I’m perceived as no fun) … anyway, they were calling for rain. ALL WEEKEND LONG. Now, having two children ages 8 and a newly anointed 7 year old, hearing rain all weekend and cold means being cooped up and boring! So, I said “hey, here’s an idea. I think you two are old enough for board games now.” My daughter (the youngest) got excited. My son barely acknowledged me (he’s also on the spectrum but I did see his ears do this funny thing when something may be of interest). She said “which ones” and I thought hey, perfect time to explain to them about the various board games and go over all this with them. I happened to also receive an oldie but goodie that week from Hasbro “MOUSE TRAP ~ ELEFUN & FRIENDS” and was really excited about this. I pulled out Mouse Trap and my son gasped and said “whoaaaa” I took that to mean *yeah* and my daughter had seen it advertised and had friends who played. I also told them we’d go to the store the following day after school and I’d let them each pick out an age appropriate game (remember all weekend).
We ended up getting more board games from the Hasbro gaming family! It was a really hard decision for the kids to make! We walked out with Clue (the new two-sided 2013 edition) and Life (the new game of Life)! WIN WIN! I was as excited as the kids’! These were games I grew up playing and I used to love them all! I was also super excited to have an unplugged weekend with my kids. This needed to be done and I do it myself and kids are pretty much inundated with every thing technology wise these days – it’s a good break and a good way for us to bond differently and introduce some fun, stimulating board games into their wee lives. I was a bit worried/concerned how my son would take it and do (without his iPad) and really, he came through like a champ.
Mouse Trap:
First up, was Mouse Trap ~ Elefun & Friends. We put it together as a family. My daughter actually read the instructions. My son helped me out as it seems I’m not all that good at setting things up *lol* The monkey kept spinning down or sliding down on me but he fixed it! I’m pretty competitive with games (anything really) and my kids I learned are as well. They both were excited and wanted to trap me so badly! However, as luck would have it I was able to get a two-fer! That’s right! I trapped them both at the same time! We played this at least ten more times the first evening and then numerous times the rest of the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and each time it was super fun! Let me just say that I never won again! What a downer that was! The kids were able to trap me the majority of the time and as fate would have it both won about the same number of times (I was again worried about how my son would react to losing a/k/a being trapped). I did read his cues though and knew when it was time to start putting the game or games away before he could become stressed or get tired. We spent a lot of time talking about the games and the characters and the kids even played with their mouse friends off the board. I only have one little thing I would love for Hasbro to do and that would be make the board a bit larger/spaced out. I’m not sure if that is the point but even with the kids small hands they would knock over the tree and then the ball would drop from the tub and so forth and of course we’d fix it but it was a bit tight. I know my kids really enjoyed how they incorporated all the various characters into the new Mouse Trap game. I was impressed with the integration of it myself. My kids knew all of the different names and told me about those games/characters. It was loads of family fun that we’ve actually continued do once a week and on our weekends together.
The Game of LIFE:
Let me go on and talk about the other two games. LIFE I was not sure if this would work or not but my kids were really into the choices that they had to make regarding their futures. My daughter at one point of playing had so many kids I was like gosh, just here, take another car! We laughed and laughed and they did great with the money part. This got me to thinking about another game that I was not sure about for my two rugrats but seeing how they did with LIFE two weeks later we purchased Monopoly Jr also made by Hasbro gaming. We were going to get their Bop It game but it wasn’t at the store. We’ll eventually get that one. Anyway, if you remember this game let me just say they have made changes and to me for the better. It’s much easier to understand and follow and play. I still have the old game of LIFE the actual one I grew up playing and we pulled it out and dusted it off and played it. We all three agreed the newer one was easier and more fun!
CLUE: A Classic Board Game
Ahhh, Clue how do I love thee! I really wasn’t sure. I mean murder. But I played it at their age and loved it. This game requires some thinking too. It was a HIT! They do prefer the mansion side more than the boardwalk. They did great on checking off the clues as we went through the game too. It was so much fun! We would laugh and laugh when one of us ended up being the “villain” as we called it. My daughter had to call her dad that Sunday evening to just let him know she seems to be the primary murderess and it threw him for a loop at first until she explained what we had done all weekend.
I have to tell you taking a TECH break was wonderful. I’m glad it rained! I’m glad it turned cold that weekend after it had started warming up (although the cold lasted longer than I wanted). I’m glad we communicated and worked together and helped one another with putting the games together and playing and just having fun. Yes, just as I did as a child (as I was asked by them). I really highly recommend all the games I mentioned along with many others from Hasbro. Keeping my kids and myself lets say 90% offline helped us reconnect as a family. It was something in this day/age/time that we don’t do often enough. And again, we were not ‘board’ at all! Have some fun and be creative and get some games and do something with your kids on a rainy *blah* day instead of watching a movie or spending exorbitant amounts going somewhere. Plus these games will stay with you forever and offer learning experiences to children in different ways. These are the games where just as I did with mine they may one day do with theirs.
Check out
HASBRO to see more of the board games that they offer.
HASBRO also makes a lot of other fun toys from Transformers to My Little Pony dolls for both girls and boys. We’ve really been incorporating a lot of free-style play and I for one am looking forward to this summer and all the new products coming out!
I was not paid for the reviews of the games made by Hasbro. It just happened to be that the games we chose were all in the Hasbro family (along with all the toys that are currently on my kids wish list or what they are playing with
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