Tips For Promoting Focus In Young Children

Product samples were provided to us at no cost in hopes that we might share our honest thoughts with readers. Regardless, all photos and opinions contained below remain genuine and property of Momma Told Me Blog 2017.

When I was a young girl I would spend the majority of my holiday school breaks flying with my father to the East Coast to visit with my family in Massachusetts. Because of Momma's previous fight with cancer she wasn't cleared medically for the long flight journey and was left staying home. As a result I spend large chunks of time in my grandparent's tiny living room while he helped with 'honey do-list' chores around the house. It was a very simple, but extremely well lived in room. No more than 14' x14' with a full couch, 2 rockers, a fireplace and (old tube) television, the walls were as full as the floorplan. From curios cabinets chocked full of collectibles to hundreds of frames with family photo collages, old magazines, military decorations, and more.

For a young child of 5 or 6 it was a dreary, boring, place at first glance. But my grandparents had a trick up their sleeves- a small 2" Waldo figurine borrowed from the elaborate 'tiny town' display in the main dining room. Every day I'd wake up in that house Waldo would have moved to a new location- my sole mission for the day being to find him without moving a single object.

It was pretty genius, looking back.

I'd sit on that antique couch with the floral ruffles in the tiny living room that smelled like moth balls, incense, and grandpa's Old Spice after-shave and spend hours just combing the room with my eyes. When I was youngest there would be a reward- a cookie from grandma's cookie jar, or a scoop of ice cream. But, as I grew older, the reward quickly turned into the act of actually finding Waldo. Even better- if I found him with enough time before the adults finished their conversation or tasks I had the authority to hide him again, myself.

While Where's Waldo, and the concept of Find It games holds treasured family memories for me, I'll admit I was quite tickled to see that Waldo is no stranger to today's generation either. When I presented 6 year-old Carter with the new Where's Waldo Find It game I was quite tickled to hear him exclaim "It's Waldo from the books!" after all, the books are where the real Waldo magic began. A more perfect character for a game designed to captivate and mesmerize may never exist.

Much like the I-Spy style books every generation is familiar with Find It games are tangible object exploration experiences that are constantly changing. No item is ever in the same spot, due to the array of colored beads and the constant movement involved in locating items. It's a self contained Find It game designed to travel anywhere and withstand plenty of handling. Much like my grandparent's genius game of hiding a physical Waldo, the Where's Waldo version of Find It has over 40 hidden objects inside one mini bead-ridden universe and is intended to help keep busy minds and hands occupied for extended periods of time.

Object search games are not just useful to occupy children, games such as Find It can be played in a variety of ways to keep the content constantly new, and always growing, along with your child's verbal and processing skills. Each Find It game includes a set of cards with special scavenger hunt descriptions that go beyond just naming or showing an item. For example, a card might read "Find something that you'd see outside" and potential correct items would be a sleeping bag, bunch of flowers, or dog. Another card might read "Find something you would look through" and correct items might be binoculars, a magnifying glass, or eyeglasses.

By giving children verbal search cues that require them to problem solve to first identify possible items, then search them out Find It is promoting focus through vital skills children of any age can benefit from. This also means the game is always changing and less likely to run out of engagement. Most of the cards have multiple answers, too, which is great for playing in the back seat on long car seats with siblings.

Carter, age 6, is quite bright and has a unique way of thinking that typically outsmarts even adults. I especially enjoyed listening to and watching his unconventional solutions to the Find It prompts. A card would read "Find something made of plastic" and he would wave the entire container in the air and exclaim "It's all plastic"- sometimes the answers are 'too simple' I guess- Psh, or the kid is too smart for his own good!

We also got a bit of reading practice out of this game- as the contents of each Find It are printed on the top of the tube. It didn't take long for him to learn to consult the content guide before answering the card prompt and searching for items- though there was a fair amount of distraction when something shiny or new would sift through the colored beads and throw him off the hunt.

For all his problem solving skills the Find It container, itself seemed to pose a problem he couldn't quite solve. A few times he'd want to 'remove' the top (don't worry, it's virtually impossible,) while others he'd turn the tube around and around in circles making no progress.

Enter the problem solving skill of engineering and flow comprehension. Younger children may not immediately grasp how to get the beds to sift and move in new patterns. There's a fair combination of turning, tilting, and twisting involved in revealing new tokens and items inside. This is the game's real challenge and even the adults on hand sometimes struggled with coaxing a hidden piece out of the mountain of beads.

Find It games come in 14 different themed varieties including the new Captain Underpants and Sesame St Jr editions, so your child can showcase their favorite shows and characters in a fun game that will captivate the whole family while promoting focus and problem solving skills. Honestly- even if you don't have kids in the house keeping one of these in the living room or on a coffee table is a genius way for visitors to pass the time while you're in the kitchen or preparing to entertain. Find these great Find It titles, and more fun online at Find It Games. Now, tell me, what sort of activities did you enjoy doing with your grandparents when you were a child?

MyMonopoly Makes It Hard To Say No to 'That Property'!

**I received a MyMonopoly game board as a member of BzzAgent. I was in no way required to share on my blog, consider the following my genuine and honest thoughts. Copyright Momma Told Me 2014.

Momma Told Me: It's your game, make your own rules.

True story, I did not learn how to play Monopoly until I was 16 and spending the Summer with my first sweetheart's family in Rhode Island. Why are these details important? Well, anyone who's ever played the gripping game of Monopoly (Disney Anniversary edition was my learning ground) knows that details do matter. Especially when it comes to House Tules- and this family had a lot of them! In fact, it may be safe to say I never really learned how to play Monopoly, because everywhere I encountered it since had their own slew of special circumstances and pre-determined perks. For instance, does your house double down when you land on Go? Does the youngest automatically get a player's hand when they fold, or does the bank?

A lot of the finer scruples of the game are up for debate, but the general spirit remains; after all, how many board games will you refuse to let die as it enters into it's 4th hour? And fewer board games have been licensed, or imitated, in as many themes and forms as Monopoly. Heck, part of the fun of the game is that every family member has their favorite cartoon character, or geekdom, board hidden in the closet. The real fun starts when the Death Star property makes it's way into The Simpsons board while playing with My Little Pony tokens! And that's the premise behind My Monopoly- for $15 you can print the included stickers and create your own spaces and tokens as unique as your family.

The concept is simple, and it's hard to gripe with the price, but there are some exceptions to the awesomeness of the idea. For starters, do not expect to sit down and have this board ready to play in an hour. It's likely you will spend a few hours slaving over the printing process and selection photos. My Monopoly has created an online landing page for users to create free accounts and select/edit photos for their space and player tokens. Unfortunately, while Instagram was an option, Instagram would not give me the option to connect so I had to week through thousands of Facebook Wall photos or upload my own. Next, the printing process is near impossible to align, even with the very simple instructions. I suggest you change your printing scale percentage by 5%, down from 100%, and print your sample sheet on plain paper before using one of the 8 included sheets.

In the end from unboxing to sticking the clocked time was 2 hours 45 minutes- something well worth it if you are creating a Monopoly to commemorate a celebration such as a wedding or 50th birthday, but not so much for general family play. My best suggestion, choose some real meaningful photos, and let your kids decorate/draw on the stickers for the remainder spaces/stickers. I also quickly realized that the stickers we placed on the special Chance/Community Chest cards covered the actual card reasoning (ie: Doctor's Bill, Building Loan Matures,) so DO use the MyMonopoly editing browser to add text to images you intent on putting on those cards. Go crazy, create your own events and ocassions!

In general, the affordable nature of this cool concept is evident in some more 'affordable' design options made by the brand; you will only get 4 token holders in your box and need to 'borrow' from other boards if you play with more than 4, the stickers would use a glossy finish or clear sticker cover to protect from water damage/scuffing/fading during play, and you will want to keep all the 'property' tiles in a bag when the game is in storage or I suspect they will disappear as fast as that final puzzle piece. One thing we DID especially like about the 'tile' format of the custom properties is that a player could 'collect' the tole when they bought it, making it easier to immediately tell whether a property was owned or still up for sale.

So the main point? You really can't complain for the price of this customizable board game. Whether you're grabbing one to make as a 'commemorative' keepsake for a lifetime event, or just to have a little more fun with a beloved family game, it's worth it. Just don't beat yourself up if the photos don't print exactly center on the stickers or a property mysteriously goes missing. However, if you're a mother, do expect, anytime you play you will feel the guilt of being expected to buy any properties your kids are on or involved in! It makes strategy just a little harder! MyMonopoly is in stores such as Walmart and Toys R' Us nationwide, and online at Amazon.

What Daughter Says: MyMonopoly brings new meaning to 'house rules'!

Kinda Wordless Wednesday: Hedbanz Act Up! From @SpinMasterGames Review

*** We received the following product as a sample, in exchange for our honest opinion. All photos contained below are copyright Momma Told Me Blog 2013.

Momma Told Me: You're supposed to be silent, why are you yelling???

Isn't it ironic how LOUD a game of Charades can get?

There are some games, as children, we watch adults play with fascination. No, I'm not talking about Strip Poker, though it's not my place to judge your childhood. I'm referring to Charades. Most children seek to emulate the actions of the adults they look up to, but there are certain entertainment activities young children simply do not hold the patience, or skills to participate in. Sabrina (10) is fascinated by the concept of charades; ironically, since she had great difficulty keeping her mouth shut for 2 seconds, let alone 30. When Spin Master toys sent us one of their hottest games for the Fall I was a little skeptical. Hedbanz Act Up! is marketed for 2 or more players, age 8 and up, but I was unsure how the age differences (adult vs. kid), and the lack of a loud group, would impact the game.

The premise is simple. There are 3 categories of cards (person, place, thing) with singular words written on them. Players attach a snap on plastic Hedbanz to their head and clip a drawn card, word side out, to the center of their forehead. A multi-color die is then thrown to determine which color player will be acting out the card on the current player's head. In the case of a 3 player game, each player gets 2 assigned colors. If the player whose turn it is to guess roles their own color the remaining two players both attempt to act out the card at the same time. When a successful guess is made, the player gets to toss 1 of 12 blue tokens in the center of the table. When all 12 of a player's tokens are gone, they are crowned the winner.

It's a modern improvement upon classic charades, with the Hedbanz adding a touch of silly that will excite kids. In all, we truly had a blast. After our first game, there were demands for a second game. By the end of the second game, Jay was offering to take some of his blue chips back, just to keep the game alive. I had been worried about the cards being too complex for 10 year-old Sabrina to act out, or even know what the words were. Boy did she, and the game, prove me wrong. The chosen words are very common items, places, and people, nearly anyone off the street would know. And, if anything, acting out common words like 'plumber,' 'cloud,' and 'Superman,' only aided in grander actions and hilarious skits. We did seem to find the 30 second timer went a bit fast for us though- and will probably swap it out with a 45 or 60 second one from another game box.

While 30 seconds was plenty for the adults, we had to give Sabrina basic hints to help guide her mind down the right path. Simply telling her that her card was a 'thing' left a very broad category to guess in 30 seconds. Instead, for the younger players, we decided to offer a category hint with each of her cards. This seemed to help even out the competition. When playing in bigger groups the person acting, and the person guessing each get to toss a token if the guessee is correct. Since we only had 3 people, we skipped this rule for our first few games.

I wish I could replay some of the actions done, by all parties, during our several games of Hedbanz Act Up! Particularly, Jay's impression of a 'gymnast,' pretending to air cartwheel, while remaining on both feet- or my personal impression of a 'lobster.' The fun really starts when more than one person is trying to act out a card. Since players are not allowed to use any pointing (to items), or sound, while acting out a card, the magic truly happens when two actors begin working together to build shapes and interactions. I made a big circle with my hands, and Jay made a smaller one, inside, for 'bagel.' Sabrina motioned for rain, while I tried to cover myself for 'umbrella,' etc. I'll just say, I never had an aspiration to be a method actor until I had to convey 'bull rider' or 'Harry Potter.' In all, this game is great for players of all ages, and groups big and small. Why not take your Wordless Wednesday to the next level with a family game night and Hedbanz?- Hedbanz Act Up! is currently sold at fine retailers such as Toys R' Us, Target, Walmart, and online at Amazon.

What Daughter Says: A great game brings it's players to life- that's exactly what Hedbanz Act Up! does.