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• Mancala: The World's Oldest Game?

  Mancala was my first choice for our indoor toys series, but the pieces are often shiny, throat-sized pebbles. So be forewarned... Mancala is actually a family of strategy games - played for thousands of years throughout Africa and Asia. Ancient Egyptians were entombed with boards so they could play in the afterlife. Also known as Bao, Aware, Omweso and dozens of other names, mancalas have lots of different boards and rules, but in the U.S. you'll usually see a variation of the board above. You play by picking up and transferring the stones from hole to hole (mancala means "to transfer" in Arabic). You can make your own mancala board with an egg carton and pebbles, seeds or paperclips. And there are lots of versions on amazon for $7.99 and up. My kids started playing it when they were around 4, and they'll probably still be playing it in the afterlife. Posted Jan 28 2008, 09:41 AM by Sarah Verdone with | with no comments Filed under: Toys, gifts, games, 7 days of indoor toys, mancala

• And On the 7th Day... Wedgit!

  Not only do I like Wedgits, I like cleaning them up. No, really. I start tidying and I can't help trying some new configuration. In fact, I dare you not to play with these things. I first saw them at my daughter's preschool, so I knew they had all the right moves "learning toys" have. But even my twelve year old and her friends fool around with them. Read More... Posted Jan 27 2008, 07:28 AM by Sarah Verdone with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Toys, educational, 7 days of indoor toys, Gifts: Building, Wedgits

• 7 Days of Indoor Toys: Cranium Hullabaloo

  My kids are 3 1/2 and 1 1/2, and finding a game that we can all play together has been a challenge. If my eldest is enjoying it then my youngest invariably wants to be a part of what's going on too - which usually ends up destroying the game itself (every try playing dominoes with a one year old?). Cranium Hullabaloo is the first game we've played that everyone has fun with.   Read More... Posted Jan 26 2008, 08:03 AM by moderndaydad with | with no comments Filed under: Toys, Cranium, games, 7 days of indoor toys, twister, cranium hullabaloo, hullabaloo, simon says Toddlers, mdd

• 7 Days of Indoor Toys: Balderdash

  Balderdash ($22.89 at Target online) has been a Behan family favorite for as long as I can remember. While it's a word game that rewards creativity, a large vocabulary isn't necessary to play, only a wild imagination and decent guessing/bluffing skills. The box says ages 12 and up, but as long as your kid has a good grasp on writing, she should be able to play. The gist is this: All the players are read a seemingly impossible to define word that's not used in everyday language; each player then makes up a ridiculous but semi-plausible definition; the round's leader (dasher) reads them all; and players get points for guessing correctly or for having their incorrect defitinition guessed. It may sound dry, but I guarantee you, before long someone will be in danger of laughing so hard they pee their pants. Bonus: Do you know what balderdash means? Click through to find out. Read More... Posted Jan 23 2008, 10:47 AM by Erin Behan with | with no comments Filed under: Toys, games, 7 days of indoor toys, balderdash

• 7 Days of Indoor Toys: Battleground: Crossbows and Catapults

  Besides reissued G.I. Joe action figures, there was one other revived '80s plaything that found my kids and me bonding in geekdom over the recent holidays. The latest incarnation of Battleground: Crossbows and Catapults ($40 for the starter War Chest) turns your living-room floor into a Lord Of The Rings-style battlefield, and unlike the flimsier version many of us played as kids, it also packs stronger plastic armaments and better-detailed figures. Read More... Posted Jan 22 2008, 09:02 AM by Aaron Burgess with | with no comments Filed under: indoor toys, games, knights, moose toys australia, orcs, spin master, battle sets, strategy games, battleground crossbows and catapults, classic '80s toys, 7 days of indoor toys

• 7 Days of Indoor Toys: Portable Ping-Pong

  I played a lot of games at my grandparent's house, but none that I enjoyed more than ping-pong. Kids can play ping-pong for hours--trust me, I did. And although the paddles can produce welts, the balls are harmless, so one out of two isn't bad in the safety department. Of course the main problem with ping-pong is space. And so I give three options for the space-confined parents who would like to teach their children the joys of ping pong. The first is the portable mini ping-pong table ($99 on sale) at Amazon. Smaller and less satisfying than a real table tennis table, sure, but at a fraction of the price, and with two paddles, a net, a ball and an amazingly small storage size, you really can't go wrong.  Read on for the other two options ... Read More... Posted Jan 21 2008, 09:55 AM by Erin Behan with | with no comments Filed under: games, top spin, joola, table tennis, ping-pong, 7 days of indoor toys

• 7 Days of Indoor Games ...

  ... starts on Monday. Yep, next week we're going to be featuring a whole week's worth of games that you can play with your kids (inside). Some of them will be Droolicious blogger favorites. Others will come from readers. So if you've got an indoor game that's always a winner, send it on over. It just might make our list!   Posted Jan 18 2008, 08:31 AM by Erin Behan with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Toys, games, 7 days of indoor toys