Category Archives: Fun with Kids

Fun with Kids

FAMILY GAME TIME

 

This is an EXCELLENT GAME to get to know if anything WRONG is going on in your child’s life outside your knowledge. This game also brings a lot of closeness and bonding amongst family members and helps you discover things about each other you probably did not know. #mustplay #GAMES#family #parenting

                                                                                            BACKDROP

Dhreya was very excited and eager for her turn to open the chit. Every chit had a special surprise question to which each of us have to answer. At first I thought this game may hold her attention for long but then I realized she loved it! Kids can surprise us with how well they can respond to ‘new learnings’, after all they are naturally curious and playful.

I have been fortunate to have a Masters in Psychology. Even though I have not specialized in Child Psychology, it has helped me a great deal to extend that knowledge to my upbringing and guidance of her and other kids. I am proud of the way she is growing up and the games we play as a family are pure ‘treasure’. This is a game that I have invented just a week ago. My mind bursts with creative ideas in my pursuit to give her the best upbringing that I can. Bonding with others and staying connected to our inner-self, our emotions is the most important element of existence. Today I am sharing this game with you, it is going to give you a huge amount of information about your family members and about yourself which you probably never knew!

AIM OF THE GAME: Finish all the chits or as many chits as you wish and have each one answer every question. Have fun!

HOW TO: All players sit in a circle. Players must know each other well like family members or very close friends because chits involve some personal questions too. Players must be 5 years + and must include at least one mature adult.

One person draws a chit from a bowl of chits. The chit is opened and question is read out aloud. The person holding the chit answers the question first and then the other players take turns giving their answers. Everyone must give an answer to each question, each chit.

WHAT YOU NEED: Chits made for each of the question I write below, water and some fun snacks if you wish

DURATION: You can decide how long you wish to play. To get through all the chits it may take a good 40 minutes but you can divide the game in 2 parts to play over 2 times.

WHERE: You can play this game anywhere where you have privacy. It is a great game to play when you are on a vacation or travelling but if you play in public, make sure you leave out some of the personal questions.

OTHER IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS: Let the participants know that there is no right or wrong answer. All answers are accepted gracefully and that there is no judgment and also that none of their answers will be shared with anyone else if they don’t want to. Ensure confidentiality for any sensitive information shared. Also let each individual know that – If some questions feel uncomfortable, pay close attention to those feelings. Why are they uncomfortable, what are the triggers there?

                                                                              DISCLAIMERS and REMINDERS

It is important to not avoid difficult questions esp. with children because that discomfort will give you very important clues about what is happening in your child’s life that you may not be aware of but remember to play it only when EVERYONE FEELS COMFORTABLE WITH EVERYONE ELSE IN THE GROUP and to stop when anyone asks to stop or if anyone is way too disturbed to answer or continue. Ask everyone, even small and older children if they are okay sharing their personal likes and stories with everyone in the group. Stop if anyone requests to stop at any point.

 

QUESTIONS: Note that you can add on your own. When I made up the game, I had 15 minutes before it was our family game time and I quickly thought of the questions I could.

  1. The sport I always wanted to learn is ____ and that sport that seems least fun is _____
  2. The one thing I love at school or work is _____ and the one thing I dislike at school/work is ___
  3. MY favorite person at school/work is _____ and my least favorite person at school/work is ____
  4. If I could change one thing about myself it would be _______ and if I could gift one thing about myself ____
  5. If I had a million dollars _______ and If I had very little money _______
  6. If I could change one thing about my life _______ and the one thing I love about my life _______
  7. I feel happy when ________ and I feel sad when _________
  8. I feel confident when ________ and I feel inferior when _________
  9. I feel comfortable with ________- and I feel uncomfortable with or when ____
  10. My favorite body part is _______ and the least favorite body part is ________
  11. I love the touch of _______ and I don’t like when _____ touches me
  12. My most memorable trip so far is _____and the least memorable trip is _______
  13. The best moment of my life _______ and the worst moment of my life________
  14. I felt proud of myself when ______ and I felt ashamed or embarrassed when _________
  15. I feel loved when ________ and I feel rejected when ____________

As you notice the questions can go on and you can add your own questions as long as they feel ‘safe’ to answer to a child and adult. If there are deep emotions that emerge or discomfort, please be supportive of the person without any judgments or advice. Just hear the person out and say that you understand or that you will like to understand more. PLEASE DO NOT FORCE ANYONE TO ANSWER IF THERE IS CONSIDERABLE DISCOMFORT. Esp. with teenagers or around negative event memories, the aim of the game is to help not hurt more.

When we played this game, I was able to validate some answers like my daughter confirmed with me that she has hated the hugs and touch of her uncle which she remembers from 4 years of age. He used to force hug her tight and after several messages to them, he would not stop. Dhreya would come back home and talk about the hug in a fleeting way but I knew as a mom and a psychologist that it was bothersome to her. I finally wrote a stern message involving all concerned family members and ensured that he stopped touching her. Today after 3 years she still remembers that negative feeling! ON the other hand, I never knew that her least favorite body part was her nose!

This game is excellent to also teach your child that negative and positive emotions are normal part of life and that it is very important to be aware of what disturbs us and that it is okay to share it with people we trust! I played part of this game at a temple workshop that I did recently and received many positive reviews for the game.

Please feel free to share your views and how your experience was. Also, I would like you to honor this exercise as a reference to this article and my efforts if you happen to use it professionally or for any group or individual work. Any similarity found with any other similar creation is merely a coincidence.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE TO BENEFIT OTHERS AND FOLLOW MY BLOG FOR MORE RESOURCES FOR PARENTING AND PERSONAL GROWTH. You may like this important family game as well 

Adios!

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Fun with Kids

Comedy with Kids! Free Tickels…All Day!

Also posted in Parent-Edge Magazine on Aug 28, 2015

http://parentedge.in/free-tickles-all-day-fun-with-kids-like-never-before/

Having fun with kids is as easy as 2 + 2. Literally, all one needs is Kids and the willingness to be open, to be guided by kids themselves. We truly know a lot more about life as kids than as adults. Think of it – as adults we are stressed, we need Yoga, we need therapy, we need medicines, psychiatrists, and what nots! As kids all we need is – AN OPPORTUNITY, ANY OPPORTUNITY and we can create that into fun, laughter, joy, charisma!

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Today was our ‘Planned Funny Day’. We did not have any activities planned until the day began. All we knew is that we were going to wear our T-shirts ‘Backside Front’ and have fun! What began with a simple I-D-E-A, transformed into a day of thrill with a bunch of absolute crazy heads!

Here is a quick post (may be edited later) on the dozen ideas that ‘popped’ up like a string from a magician’s hat, merely from the start of a single wish to have fun!!!! I wont have some pictures here which features all the front faces but some cropped images to look forward to.

So we had my daughter’s friends visit me for this ‘Fun Day’. As they came with T-shirts rolled back, it was fun to see the spirit splashing around. Here’s one kid who totally flaunted this:

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And then I was the role-model of course. Got the kids ‘cracked up’ with these ones :D

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We used props to become different ‘Personalities’ and believe me we laughed, danced, marched our funny bands too!

PERFECT NOSE FLAUNTS

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MERRYING WITH MOUSTACHES

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MUSIC ON THE MOVE
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I AM THE SOCCER GUY
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2 o LALA, LADY GAGA!

That’s that for all the snap shots for our big shots! Let’s move now to fun activities. Who knows about the ‘Donkey’s Tail’?

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Our art was about making Funny Puppet Faces. Kids can be K-reative!

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We Colored Mr. Clown

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Then I had TICKLE – FINGERS: tickles18 (SOURCE Google Images Filtered Search)

and lastly we played a Game which kids love. We call it the Freeze Laugh games. We freeze in groups and kids in pairs must make us laugh around some rules.

It was a Crazy, Fun Day for Us. Feeling Inspired for Fun?!

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Fun with Kids

ARIZONA’S REAL LIFE STORY: A Contagious Act of Kindness!

ACTS OF KINDNESS

Often as parents we are frenzied over what to teach our kids and what to leave out. It seems the world’s encyclopedia cannot fit in everything that we may want our kids to learn. The most popular is of course, all the classes we want them to take; especially influenced by the ones their friends and cousins are taking. From all that could be possible under the sky, I give EXTREME Importance to teaching Kids KINDNESS and COMPASSION. These are ‘Qualities of Character’ which cannot be taught by ‘lecturing’ or by narrating ‘stories’. We – Adults, must be involved with the kids for them to see, to know, to experience. We must have a heart filled with Kindness which spreads joy and affection like a ‘contagious, irresistible hobby’.

Read this real life story, fresh from June 2015 ~ with Rima Desai

A story of 4 innocent hands powered by The Joy of Giving!

As the car screeched Stop by the beautiful waters, we could see how the heat at 37 degrees Celsius had left the place to a mere silence. Not a single soul! Out jumped the 4 little Heroes as I clamped their caps 1,2,3, .. The walk from the car to under the shaded tree was a bit of a journey, as the soaring sun stared angrily at our path. Finally under the shade, I removed our ‘packets of kindness’. With the intention to surprise the ducks, all of our 5 hands began offering bread crumbs in the water.

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Kids were thrilled to see that ducks that were snug and rested on the other side of the shore, began peddling into a flock and soon into a raft of little hungry mouths. The excitement was contagious! We saw some of the ducks fly in a frenzy. Our act of kindness drew not just the animals but also many ‘hidden’ pigeons and other birds into this ‘feast’. Our expressions clearly screamed more enthusiasm- “Where did they come from!”
We stood there for a good 20 minutes making our offerings in the water and on the grass. Most of the kids (except mine) were experiencing ducks up close for the first time; almost nibbling at their feet! It was a bit scary at first but soon became a sense of thrill and joy.

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We walked further looking for more ducks as we saved 1 full bag of the ‘kindness crumbs’. The lake was huge and so was our need to feed!

Walking further, we saw a pair of ducks swimming towards us. We realized that it was a ‘New Born baby’ being accompanied by its Mom. A cry of extreme excitement filled the air as all 5 of us were overthrown with joy to witness a new born baby duck for the first time! Our love for the cute baby spilled out ‘as if’ it could understand all that we said. We wished we had more food to offer and decided to return another day.

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Back home, we shared the pictures with each kids’ family. Parents were thrilled and overjoyed to know their kids were involved in such an act of kindness and that their kids were eager enough to share more kindness in days to come!

This post is brought to you by Facebook/Parenting Booth by Rima Desai. It is inspired by ‘It is a Happy World’s’ motivation to spread Happy News. Thank You Mihir Upadhyay for your contribution and for inspiring me to bring more ‘life’ to the post.

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