Dan

How to Play Marbles - Part 2

(Part two in a five part series on marble games for kids. . .)

Few kids' activities are as versatile, durable and long lasting as marble games. Versatile because there are so many different ways to play. Durable because marbles don't wear down. And long lasting because marble games grow with your child through the years. Best of all, marble activities hold your child's full attention and strengthen the ability to stay focused on 1967 Topps baseball cards activity.

Game 1: Start with three marbles each. Each person takes one marble and sits on opposite sides of a rug. Shoot your marble a little way toward your child's marble. Now she shoots her marble a little way toward your marble. Keep approaching each other's marble in small increments. If at any time during the game one of you shoots your marble off the rug, you lose. When one of you feels confident enough, take a shot at the other person's marble. If you click the other marble, you win the marble. Add it to your collection. If you miss by a small margin, chances are your marble will make an easy target. Keep playing until one person is out of marbles.

Game 2: Make a loop with kite string and place it in the middle of a carpeted area. If you have an area rug with closed shape patterns in it, then use one of the closed shapes as the Superman comics area (and forget about the kite string). Sit two or three feet from the target area opposite one another. Let your child pick twenty marbles with the same feature- all red, for example. You pick twenty marbles with a different feature-all green, for example. You each take five marbles from your total collection to begin play. Now take turns shooting one marble toward the target area. Knocking the other person's marbles out of the target area can be part of the strategy. After you have each used your five marbles, count who has more marbles left in the target area. That person wins all ten marbles used in that round. Resume Ouija boards with five marbles each. Continue until one person's marbles run out. (This game can be played by more than two people.)

Marble games are a great way to spend quality time with your child. There's Batman to plug in, no batteries, buzzers or loud noises-just good old fashioned fun you can enjoy for years to come. Have fun!

Anthony Vecchioni runs Spaghetti Box Kids---a parenting site that offers creative play ideas to enhance child learning. For more great kids activities visit: http://spaghettiboxkids.com

posted by datdk @ 5:33 AM