Many of those nights were spent watching a movie with our pizza, but some times we would opt for something else. Since the children are older now, we have moved on to some intricate games or puzzles.
For puzzles, we have enjoyed the White Mountain Puzzles. Some of the other ones we have completed are the State Flags and Birds of the Backyard.
When it comes to games, Cranium Rules! The Family Fun game, Zigitty, and of course Whoonu are our favorites!
One of my favorite games is Blokus. Anton is really starting to like this one too as his spacial reasoning skills improve. Thus far, I believe I am the champ but have yet to clear all my pieces and save the single block for last.
Last year, Karl's parents gave us this game. We had never heard of it, but one day, Karl decided it was time to give it a try. This game is similar in strategy as Risk but more taming in the world domination drive. In this game, players try to acquire resources to construct roads, settlements, cities, and ports. The first person to reach 10 victory points wins the game. It takes us over two hours to play the game out. Once you get good at this game, you can purchase additive sets for the game to include Seafaring, Knights, and Merchants.
Now, people have always accused me of giving my children educational toys and not mind numbing "just for fun" toys. I do not disagree, but in this case, I am innocent. Karl's parents had no idea we would be studying American History this year for school, we had ended with the colonies last year. The game gives the children a chance to build up their settlements into prosperous living, to see the need to barter and acquire resources to move forward. But we have had some simple games also; like playing Greed. Greed is a simple dice game where one rolls six dice to acquire points. The greedy part come into play when you must decide if the points you roll are enough or do you want to chance it and continue to roll with the possibility of loosing it all. We also play card games like Skipbo and Phase 10.
Family Fun Fridays has been something set into our schedules and mind set now. Having created this tradition through repetition for fours year, it has created some fond memories. I actually had taken the concept for granted until one day when the children and I were picking up pizzas. They told me how another young girl had told them how lucky they were to have their parents let them have pizza every week and do something together. This girl tends to spend a lot of time away from her parents who have very busy lives. It struck me as very sad and then snuggled my two a little tighter that night on the couch over a family picked movie.
