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Melissa Rogerson: Family Festival - of games?
At a “parents’ get-together” at school this evening, I was approached about participating in the school’s upcoming family festival.
The idea of the event is to have a day for families to spend time together (with other families as well as with their children), trying something new and generally having fun.
After the success of our Family Game Nights at school, they are keen to have a room for people to try out some games - and for us to organise that.
We’ve already committed to this year’s Family Game Night later this term, so this would be a separate event - and something where we could expect people to wander in and out of the room, rather than commit to staying for a longer period of time.
That, to me, suggests a different sort of game choice.
At the moment, I’m thinking that different dexterity games might be a good way to go. We have Bamboleo, Bausack, Tier auf Tier, Dancing Eggs and Make ‘n’ Break (I am sure we have some others too) that would go over well. Add a familiar title like Jenga and I think we might have a winner - they’re all quick to play, easy to learn (and teach) and look enticing. If I am feeling like sharing, I could take Beppo der Bock and my - errm, I mean my children’s - beloved Trötofant as well.
If we need to add other games, I suspect that word games might be a good way to go. Again, titles like Boggle and Scattergories are familiar to many - but we can add Apples to Apples, M is for Mouse and maybe a couple of other titles that overtly support literacy learning but are also fun to play.
I’m very aware that this is likely to be a 5-hour event, so finding games that don’t need a lot of teaching effort will be critical.
Another option might be memory games - Sherlock (der Plumpsack), Dawn Under, The Same Game, Spooky Stairs, Chicken Cha-Cha-Cha and similar. These are likely to appeal to the younger children and families in particular. The risk is that they might need more teaching than some of the others.
What about you? Have you run a similar sort of game-demonstrating event? What games would you suggest we consider?
Happy gaming,
Melissa
© 2008 Melissa Rogerson
Posted by Melissa Rogerson on Apr 22, 2008 at 01:00 AM in Columnists, Gone Gaming, Melissa Rogerson / 795
Comments:
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I’m running a game day next week for 500+ students and XX number of family members… I am using games that fit the following bill:
-easy to teach
I have also selected quite a range of games to hit a good selection of curriculum - maths, language, logic etc etc… Dexterity games are a good idea, any game where the premise is simple and the rules easy to grasp/logical will be a winner in this situation. Good luck with your day!!! Cheers, Giles. Posted by Giles Pritchard on Apr 22, 2008 at 08:00 AM | #
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Okay, the suspense is killing me. What games have you picked, Giles? Posted by David Lund on Apr 22, 2008 at 08:29 AM | #
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Sorry - I didn’t mean for it to sound suspenseful!!!! :D Things like:
Apples to Apples Junior
and so on for the Middle to Junior Kids (5-10yos) - of course things like Apples to Apples is above the very juniors :) For the more senior kids I have a selection of deeper games - Diamant, Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Niagara, To Court the King, Cartagena, Buccaneer, Citadels, Saboteur etc etc. as well as a range of common/easier games - Scattegories, Trivial Pursuit Junior, My Word, etc. The list of games I would recommend for various curriculum areas can be found here in the Teacher’s Corner (although it could use some updating...) I have trained up a cadre of older kids who will act as the primary teachers/ambassadors for the games - they will take the main role in teaching the games. It should be interesting! As I said though - good luck Melissa! You should ask the school for some senior kids who woulod be ‘extended’ by the opportuinity to mentor peers and adults… - ie: some helpers - this will really make your day much easier! Good luck again! Let us know how you go! Cheers, Giles. Posted by Giles Pritchard on Apr 22, 2008 at 08:44 AM | #
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Hmm, for easily explainable games on the slightly more complex scale I’m a fan of Cloud 9, No Thanks!, and Pikomino. They’re all usually short enough that people won’t feel a need to wander away in the middle of a game. Posted by Matt J. Carlson on Apr 22, 2008 at 08:51 AM | #
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Matt, I agree with Pickomino (No Thanks may be a bit tough for the younger kids - and I don’t know Cloud 9). I’ll save it for our Family Game Night, though, rather than the quickie demos. Posted by Melissa Rogerson on Apr 22, 2008 at 08:53 AM | #
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When we did the Mercer Game Thing, I had an open foyer which I filled with a few games that did not really need rules. Games that are almost giant playthings. Bamboleo. Bolo/Ladder Golf. The Champagne glass stacking game. Some of the through traffic would avoid the gamers and organized stuff, but would begin spontaneously to play with the Ladder Golf. Posted by Frank Branham on Apr 22, 2008 at 10:35 AM | #
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