How to Play the Waiting Game with Kids
How many times have you sat in waiting room and sat some more with bored kids?
Personally, I don’t care to recall how many times we have had to play the Waiting Game. I will guess you have been there and done that too many times too.
A friend of mine was going over the products I sell from my business when a light bulb came on in his head- he has an 11 year old boy-
“Malika, can you put together a Waiting Room Packet?”
Well, yes I can. So this post is going to start to share some boredom buster ideas for your sanity, parents…
I don’t have much time to type-o today…so my No Non-cents wisdom will be added in spurts and it will be worth WAIT, I promise.
I Spy With My Little Eye
This waiting game requires no game pieces- only what is in that boring Waiting Room has in it.
You say, “I Spy With my Little Eye…something BLACK.”
Child guesses what the object is. I spy your black pants!
It’s fun and easy. But, if you are not familiar with the directions click HERE for directions from 45+ Fun Indoor Games for All Ages
Simon Says
When your child must sit still be quiet in a Waiting Room you may as well try to nail a blob of Jello to a tree.
Growing muscles MUST move. But, a Waiting Room is no place to run around and scream. So, we want to tell the kids what exactly they CAN do.
Playing a version of Simon Says combined with the Lamaze exercises you learned can be a life saver. Kids can move muscles in a calm and controlled manner while focusing on something besides waiting and waiting.
Example:
Simon says, Flex your arm muscles. ( Use ‘bicep’ with older kids after you have played a few times.)
Simon says Lift up your left knee-
Lift up your right knee-Ha-ha Simon did not say to do that.
Simon says raise you right hand.
If you are not familiar with how to play Simon Says click HERE for directions from 45+ Fun Indoor Games for All Ages
Animal Vegetable or Mineral?
OH MY! I can’t tell you how many times this game save my sisters and my behinds when we Played the Waiting Game…and we did it all to often.
Some preachers kids knew the rules and taught us how to play as we quietly waited for our verbose parents to stop talking and takes us home ( That is another drama.)
The trick is the players will have to quickly learn the difference between an animal a vegetable and a mineral. Yes, a fruit like a banana does qualify as a vegetable…tho; it did not seem correct to me when I was 6.
One person thinks of something. Lets pretend he is thinking of a skunk.
He says, “I’m thinking of something. Is it an animal , vegetable or mineral?’
The players take turns asking one question. ” Is it a vegetable?”
NO! not a vegetable.
“Is it a mineral?”
NO. Wrong!
The next player knows that what ever is on the leader’s mind is an animal. “Is it an animal?”
Yes! You get to ask another question.
Is this animal really big?
…and so on until the animal is narrowed down.
Is this animal brown?
Does this animal live in the woods?
Is it a skunk?
Ah you guessed it! A SKUNK! Pe- ew!
Most Waiting rooms do not have skunks there, but, at the time I just happened to have skunk tails for sale in my now retired eCommerce store, so I picked Skunk as an example.
……to be continued….
Discover this blogger…
I enjoyed reading another blogger post and you will too: Indoor Fun at Home: No Energy, No Space, No TV, No Problem
Waiting Rooms: A Parents Survival Guide
here are some tips we can use to teach our kids: How to Wait Patiently
Who wants help putting together Waiting Room Activity Bags?
Sneak peak at ideas for Waiting Room Activity Bags Contents….
Stickers…
Small coloring books not pictured.
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