Flash - Another Winner of a Children's Game from Blue-Orange

Another winner of a game that my grandchildren loved! FLASH from Blue-Orange is a game for ages 7 to adult. It's a fast paced dice game for 2 to 6 players. My grandchildren ages 6 to 11 played. The age limits given are accurate as the 6 year old (he just turned 6 last month) had some trouble. 

There are different challenges to meet. Sometimes each player tries to get 6 of a kind, sometimes it is 3 pairs or other variations of the dice tosses. Players toss their dice, quickly decide which are "keepers" and which need to be thrown again to complete the challenge, then toss again. 

The 6 year old's siblings ended up letting him stick with trying to get 6 of a kind because he had trouble understanding the concept of 3 pairs and the more difficult sets. He also had a little trouble keeping up with the fast pace of the game and making decisions as to which dice to keep and which to throw again. But he enjoyed playing!

His older siblings had no trouble at all. They loved the game although they did need a little help from me to understand the rules. But that's good because the point of these games (for me) is to bond with them and spend some fun quality time together. 

I use these games as a opportunity to talk about history and our ancestors. I say things like "Do you think our ancestors played games like this?" and then we talk about what a child might get for Christmas in the 1800s or what games Great-Grandpa or Grandma McGinnis had to play with.

This game won the following awards and I can see why:

• Dr. Toy Best Vacation Products
• Parents’ Choice Award
• Tillywig Toy Award
• The National Parenting Center Award

Disclaimer: I was given a free game to review but I was not told what to say. The opinions here in my blog post are my own.

Much to My Surprise...

My Beta Genealogy Board Game

My two oldest grandchildren spend a few days every summer with us on the farm. They've been doing this since the oldest was 7 years old, so that makes 8 years. Every year I create genealogy activities for them, ranging from a Genealogy board game I created to ancestor stepping stones to Cemetery Hunts. Every year it is something different, but always with a genealogy theme.

They have listened to my genealogy stories on every car trip from their home to ours and back. Usually it's the same stories and they used to request specific stories each year... "Gramma tell us about our ancestor who walked Niagara Falls on a tightrope"

So I've been feeling pretty proud of my brainwashing. I figured my grandson would be the next generation genealogist as he was the most interested and the most fascinated by the stories.

My Ancestor Wall

What a shock yesterday to find out I've been deluding myself! We were sitting and having lunch and I casually asked "Can you show me one of your great great grandmothers on the wall" As a preface I should explain that we have dozens of ancestor photos in antique frames hanging on our walls and I've used those to play my own Genealogy version of I Spy called I Spy With My Genealogy Eye with my grandchildren for years. So yes I figured they would remember who was who.

Wrong. They could not name or even point to one of the three photos of their 2nd great grandmothers. They seemed puzzled when I pointed them out and provided the names plus the relationship such as "This ancestor is my dad's grandmother". Ali, my grandson, did say at one point, "Oh yeah I kind of remember that name."

What a shock! My constant and repeated brainwashing has not born fruit! I'm still hoping that at some point in the future there will be a glimmer of "Hmmm I think I  remember my Gramma telling me blah blah blah" But I don't want to risk losing my candidate for the next in line to take up the Genealogy torch. I do have a backup candidate in a younger grandson so all is not lost. But I'm  revising my strategies and coming up with a new plan. I haven't gone one yet but when I figure one out I'll share it with you.

Ideas and suggestions are very welcome!