5 Second Rule!

I love playing board games! Whether it's Scrabble with a glass of wine on a Friday night or Trouble with the kids on rainy afternoons, they're the perfect way to spend time together.  It's also no secret that I often use board games in the classroom, either to focus on math or literacy skills or just to facilitate friendly play (read this post to see what I mean!).  Today I'm here to review a new game called '5 Second Rule' that fits both of those situations perfectly.

As you can probably tell from it's name, the aim of '5 Second Rule' is to answer questions within the 5 second time limit.  When I read the questions this seemed like such an easy task!  Naming 3 things that start with R should be simple, right? Um, maybe not! The fun of this game comes with the pressure of time - answers either completely evade you, or you end up blurting out something ridiculous.  Cue lots of laughs!  When you're successful you move forward 1 space on the board.  If the question is too tricky you can use one of your 'Switch' or 'Pass On' cards to relieve the pressure.

We first played together with the girls and, unlike other board games, this one was perfect for them to join in with.  When it was our 3 year old's turn we didn't flip the timer and just let her answer in her own time.  I also hand picked questions for her to make sure she would have some ideas.  For example, one of her questions was 'Name 3 places you would wear shorts' and she said kindy, the beach and the shops. :) When our 6 year old had her turn, we let her have 3 flips of the timer to have 5 seconds for each answer (she didn't always need that extra time.)

A few days later we had a family lunch, and after we'd eaten I brought out the question cards and timer (we had too many people to use the board properly).  We enjoyed a glass of wine and a hilarious hour taking turns to answer the questions using the timer.

Setting up '5 Second Rule' is quick and easy.  Unfold the board and make sure the question cards are in the box and you're pretty much ready to go!  The timer makes a funny noise that the kids thought was great - it became a toy in itself!

If you're looking for a Christmas gift for your children (or any board game fiend!), '5 Second Rule' would be a great choice.  It would also be the perfect addition to the game shelf in your classroom if you teach in the older primary grades, too!

Five for Funday!

It's been soooooo long since I linked up with the Five for Friday party! Today I thought it was time to get back into it... even though I'm two days late. 😃

1. Our household has been bitten by the Christmas bug already!  We celebrated early with part of the family because we won't be together during the holiday, and because we hosted it made sense to put our decorations up!  The girls wore their new dresses for our family lunch - long enough to pose by the tree before they jumped in the pool.  Instead of swapping presents this year we made (or bought) festive costumes to wear during the day - you can see how gorgeous we looked below! We've also posted the girls' letters to Santa - we got the postcards from the post office and posted them into the special box.

2. Speaking of the Christmas season, I saw this image on my Instagram feed and haven't been able to get the idea out of my mind!

It is so easy for kidlets to get caught up in the 'gimme!' attitude that comes along with Christmas time.  Every day there's treats, cookies, candy and gifts galore - it's easy to get selfish and greedy.  I absolutely LOVE the idea of a 'Classroom Kindness Challenge'.  Each day a challenge card is revealed and kidlets complete the act of kindness. What an easy way to encourage children to think of others during the materialistic holiday season.  You can start any time and could even use the challenge at home with your own children - maybe alongside 'Elf on the Shelf'! Click on the image above to see the pack. 

3. We had another reason to dress up this week! (And yes, the girls wore their same new dresses.)  We spent a lovely afternoon in the hinterland at a wedding.  

4. Being out of the classroom this year has left me really missing the hands on work of teaching.  I was beginning to feel like my days of impacting kidlets were over - and then I received this feedback on one of my resources: 

It really warmed my heart to know that even though I'm not face to face with students each day, I can still do my little bit to help here and there. 😊

5. Some of the oldest products in my store were in desperate need of a makeover!  The past few days I've updated one of my all time fave freebies - counting snowman buttons or marshamllows, and my Christmas playdough mats. Click on the pictures to go to each resource.

That's all from me today.  I'm off to grab some ice cream and to read the rest of the posts in the Five for Friday linky!