Games and Puzzles: Where We Go, What We Do Part 3

There are all sorts of studies linking board games and jigsaw puzzles to heightened critical thinking skills,  logical reasoning, meta-cognition, intellectual intelligence, and enhanced social skills and while I am sure all of these studies are legitimate, this is not why we enjoy board games and puzzles. We just like playing together. It's fun.


We keep all of our board games and jigsaw puzzles in the living room. They were on an open shelf, but, well, it's looked cluttered and ugly.  So, I bought a cabinet with doors and now the game boxes are well hidden.



We own several board games, but this is a list of our favorites:

Chess
Monopoly
Hiss
Headache
Slamwich
Connect Four
Checkers
Kerplunk
Operation
Picturika
Guess Who
In a Pickle
Othello
Mastermind
Gone Fishing
Battleship
Rumikub


We also like to do puzzles.  Right now, a 100 piece puzzle is the perfect size for our kids to complete in one sitting. There are all kinds of jigsaw puzzles available. I try to look for puzzles with pictures that I think Bailey and Zack would be interested in. So, we do not have puzzles with pictures of gardens, houses, flowers, historical buildings. I look for pictures that are fun and interesting. We have puzzles of m&m's, glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs, cupcakes, ferocious animals, cute animals, a glow-in-the-dark ocean scene . . .


Our little family looks forward to evenings at home with popcorn and board games. It is a great way to spend time together!