Hide and Seek

 

If you are anything like me you probably enjoy occasionally picking up the matchbox cars your children have left on the floor before pretending to drift them around the kitchen table blessing everyone in the room with your perfect rendition of a turbo and blow off valve.... No? I guess that's just me then. Playing games with children is a great time to bond and work on our relationships with our children but what happens when they ask us to pick the game? Here I will post some of our favourite games to play together. I will also add new games as we discover them.

Please comment the games you play with your children also so others can give them a try.

HIDE AND SEEK-My Least Favourite/The Children's Favourite

As a man who's 6'3 I have very valid reasons to dislike this game. Unlike my children who can disappear into the smallest cupboard or literally become part of the furniture when they hide under the lounge cover, I have very few places I can hide. It's for this reason that I usually nominate or more often than not am told that I will be the seeker. 

The benefits of this are:

• I can delay finding the children (mainly the youngest) who will otherwise be found quickly by her siblings.
• By finding the children I am able to see where they are choosing to hide. This gives me the ability to make sure they are aware if the place they chose to hide is dangerous or "out of bounds"
• Not being able to find a child's hiding spot creates a huge sense of accomplishment for the child. As long as the place chosen was not dangerous or deemed "Out of Bounds" I usually make a big deal of letting them know I'm proud of their hiding efforts.
• Finding my youngest makes me laugh every time. Walking into a room and seeing the sheets moving as she attempts to keep her laughter quiet will never get old. She may have used the same hiding spot 20 times that day during our game but to her there's every chance I won't find her and I love the innocence in that.
  

ALTERNATE WAY TO PLAY

• Pretend to be a monster and take the children to your lair as they are caught. They can be set free if one of their siblings manages to get to them and free them without being found and caught (This can go on for a while) For those with one child allow them not to be found every now and then. Sit on the floor near where they are hiding and pretend to cry. When the child asks what's wrong inform them the monster was just looking for a hug. Also allow them to be the monster occasionally, be sure to escape once in a while for another level to the game.