games – Mediocre Mum

Card Games for the whole family – Giveaway

Dobble is Brilliant!

As a family we really should play games more often. We have a sideboard full of games from Kerplunk to Kerfuffle plus a few traditional ones like The Game of Life. We do play cards on occasion and daughter a dab hand at Snap, Go Fish and War.

However, I had never played Dobble and had no idea how brilliant it is. I would describe it as super-charged snap. It’s both simplistic and challenging at the same time. The first time we took it out we played 8 games back to back. There are 55 card with 8 symbols on each card and there is one identical symbol in common with each card. I have no idea how they did this. There 5 mini games to choose from; Towering Inferno. The Well, The Hot Potato, Gotta Catch ‘Em All and The Poisoned Gift. We’ve only played two so far and are hooked.

It comes in its own storage tin and is very portable so we will definitely be taking it on car journeys, plane trips and camping.

Win Dobble for your Family

To enter simply use the Rafflecopter form below. In short it’s open to UK residents 18+ years of age. Full Terms and Conditions can be found at the bottom of the form.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

If you don’t manage to win it, I’d suggest popping out and buying yourself one, Argos and WHSmith are currently offering 20% off.

This competition is listed on Loquax, Prize Finder and Competition Hunter.

Who needs Marriage Counselling?

How to survive summer holidays

Not suggesting we do, but I haven’t laughed so hard in ages. We both work from home and it does get fractious at times. Being school holidays, I’ve done as predicted and chucked money at it, not because I have a surplus of cash but with an only-child and a tiny garden, I’m always looking for things to entertain my five year old during the school holidays.

I don’t want to give the impression that it’s expensive. It cost me £20 and worth every penny.

Growing up I never played Swing Ball, I have no idea of its origins but guessing it didn’t make it across the Atlantic, but I could be wrong. We played a similar game called Tetherball but it didn’t have paddles, players used their hands and it was a hard plastic ball, more football sized.

After a few goes with our daughter, we decided to play each other…. is it just me or does it look like he’s trying to kill me?

So, if you’re looking for something to save your marriage or to have a right laugh with your kids this summer in limited space then this is the answer. Great family fun!

Gotta love traditional games!

Hubby reckons we should try it after a few beers. Can someone warn A & E?

I bought mine from Cuthberts Toys.

My Friday Five: Quick Games to Play with Kids

Here a small handful of games you can play with your kids when they’re bugging you to do something with them, you can’t be arsed getting the craft box out and dinner will be ready in 5 minutes.

Rock Paper Scissors – I successfully taught my five year old, although she does have a tendency to cheat. Remember, paper covers rock, scissors cut paper and rock smashes scissors. We don’t include dynamite.
Sofa Statues – one person sits on the sofa, with a straight face the other person attempts to make them laugh. This usually results in a lot of tongue poking, bum waggling and really bad jokes.
Sausages – take turns asking each other questions (e.g What do you clean your ears with?) you’re only allowed to answer ‘sausages’. If you laugh, you lose.
Guess the letter – take turns writing letters on each other’s backs with your finger and the other person has to guess which letter sound. It’s great if your child is learning phonics.
Shoe Tying – take your shoe off and give it to your child to practice tying. This is something I need to do more of as Velcro seems to put this skill off till later and later.

Do you have any quick games that you play with your kids?

iPad App Review: Eurotalk Maths Age 3-5

I have to say I tutted when I was first asked to review this app as the first Topic is free and then you have to pay for the others. However, my daughter is loving it and keeps going back to it again and again. She only has the Sorting and Matching Topic. I think the most motivating thing for her is the certificate we can email to ourselves when she completes each section. I’m tempted to purchase the other modules but do think they are a bit pricey. All ten topics are £9.99.

For more of our App Reviews click here!

Don’t fancy letting your kids at your iPad?

My daughter has been flying around my iphone since she was about 2. It’s loaded up with tons of fantastic educational games for her. However, there are times when I need to use my phone for work, but I also need her to be quiet in the background when I’m trying to make calls which can be a conundrum There is nothing worse than talking to a head teacher or potential client and she shouts loudly that she needs a POO! It’s not the professional air that I want to give off! ;-)

So, this is why I was so pleased when the lovely Kirit from out local toy store Cuthbert’s offered us a vetch Mobigo Touch Learning System which retails for £49.99 to review. It’s a handheld device for children 3-8 years of age, similar to a DSI, which in fact is what my daughter calls it, that is touch sensitive.

Ours came with the Disney Princess Cartridge which had 6 different games which teaches everything from colours, counting letters, shapes, and matching. If I’m completely honest my daughter, who is four, struggled with the activities as it didn’t seem to respond to her touch which left her frustrated. I had a go myself at connecting the dots (pearls) and I couldn’t do it either.

However, once I realised you could download other games from the Learning Lodge, that were more age appropriate, she was much happier with it. It was very straight forward to register for the Learning Lodge and to download games. I had a wee hiccup with Flash but we sorted it quickly. Plus, the Mobigo comes with 3 tokens which entitles you to 3 games which normally cost £2.99 each. I opted for Monkey Disco, Shopping Spree and Rapid Recycling.

Unfortunately, shortly after the arrival of the Mobigo I received an iPad for my birthday and it has superseded the Mobigo for the time being.

I would never suggest buying an iPad for a preschooler as it’s far too expensive and fragile. Yes, apps are cheaper than the learning lodge games but the outlay for the iPad is about ten times as much as the Mobigo. If you purchased an iPad and 10 apps it would cost you in excess of £500; now if you purchased the Mobigo and 10 games it would set you back about £60. It’s a no brainer really.

The Mobigo is a good alternative and would be a great Christmas present.

Thanks Kirit!