For this game you need to purchase about 10 – 12 bottles of baby food. Make sure that you get different flavors that look the same; this is especially important if you decide to go with the taste or smell version of the game without using blindfolds. You will also need to remove the labels from each bottle and write down the number alongside the correct contents of the bottle on a piece of paper.

One version of the Guess the Baby Food game and one that can be quite hilarious is to do the taste test. This game can be played with or without blindfold, as this increases the level of difficulty and the fun. It is common knowledge that bottled baby food is not something the average adult likes. For this version of the game some baby food is placed in plastic spoons and the guest or mom-to-be tastes the food and tries to guess what it is. The look on the faces of the persons doing the tasting is priceless and will bring life to any baby shower.

In addition to the taste version, guests can be blindfolded and given jars of baby food to smell and guess what it is. Another version is to just let the invitees try to look at the sealed jar of baby food and guess what it is. With the latter version the sealed jars and the list with the numbers indicating what each jar contains is given to the mom-to-be for future use.

Do you have a favorite baby shower game not listed?  Please comment!

For this game you need to get the following items:

• Bingo cards (these can be pre-printed with words that are associated with babies, e.g. changing table, diaper, nappies. The design of regular bingo cards can be used, so the “B” line would have only items to do with feeding, “I” to do with names etc.)
• Markers to mark the cards
• Papers marked with things associated with babies and pregnancy – make sure that all the words on the cards are included. Place these folded papers into a bag or deep container.

Each guest is given a bingo card when they arrive for the party. Once the game begins, the host or anyone else acts as the caller. The caller’s job is to pull the strips of paper from the container and call out what is written on it. Guests will mark that word off their bingo card. The first person to mark off a line of words based on the type of bingo being played, calls out “bingo”. This person is the winner of the game. Guests can play for just fun, or to get more interaction, small tokens can be used as prizes.

Type of bingo: Before the game, the caller will state what type of bingo is being played such as ‘full house”, that is, all the squares on the card must be filled or ‘corner to corner”. Regular bingo players can make suggestions.

Version 2: Each guest is given a blank bingo card and is asked to write down what types of gifts they think the mom-to-be will be getting. As she opens the presents, the guests tick off the correct answers on their card. The first person to tick all the guesses on the card wins the game by calling out “bingo”.

Version 3: Again this can be played like a regular bingo game, and the numbers on the bingo cards should ideally be representative of the number of persons at the party. Therefore if invitations were sent to 25 persons, the numbers on the bingo card should not go above 25.

Each guest is then given a number between 1 and 25 to place on their gifts which are placed on a table. The mom-to-be will select gifts in no particular order and call out the number on the gift and guests will mark this off on their cards if it is there. The first person to fill in a line vertically or completely fill in the card, depending on the rules, wins the game by calling out the word, “bingo”.

Do you have a favorite baby shower game not listed?  Please comment!

This baby shower version of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” is just as fun and can really bring life to a party. Anyone can join in, women, men, children, even the mom-to-be can safely take part in this game. For the game you will need to get the following beforehand:

• A nice life-sized picture of a baby

• Drawings of a pacifier – you will need one for each guest. Since this is easy to do you can opt for excess in case some guests want more than one try.

• Blindfolds – you can create blindfolds from paper or get scarves or even ask each guest to take their own material or sleep mask to use.

• Tape to use on the drawings of the pacifiers. Tape is safer than pins.

The objective is to have guests take turns trying to place the pacifier in the baby’s open-mouth while blindfolded. The person who comes closest to the baby’s mouth with the pacifier wins the game.

There are many variations to this game, so use your imagination. Some suggestions include:

• Instead of trying to pin the pacifier, other objects can be used instead such as baby bottles, sippy cups, even a thumb.

• Use an image of a mother with hands positioned as if holding a baby, but of course, the baby is missing. The game is to cut out images of babies and try to stick them into the cradled arms of the mommy. Really creative persons can have the mommy lying in bed, sitting in a chair or standing – the choice is wide open.

• Another nice variation is ‘pin the belly button’ with a picture of a pregnant tummy minus a belly button and guests try to place the belly button in the right position.

Do you have a favorite baby shower game not listed?  Please comment!

This fun game is a variation of the popular Price is Right Game. Before the start of the game buy between 15 and 20 different baby-related items – make sure to keep the receipts with the price.

Write down the price of each item and place it face down under each item. Make sure than none the guests sees the price when you are doing this. Give each item a number – make this visible. Next you will also need to place the same numbers in a container and have each guest pull out a piece of paper with a number.

Once the container is empty have each guest write down on the paper what they believe the right price of the item is. The guest whose guess is closet to the right price wins the game.

There are many variations of this fun game. Here are two twists that can be added to provide some variety.

1. Show each guest the items and ask them to write down the prices. Once everyone has written down the price of each item, compare prices and the person who has guessed the prices of the most items correctly wins.

2. Decide beforehand the rules in terms of ‘closest price”. Is it the nearest price without going over, or is it the nearest price within two dollars of the correct price. This means that the winner is the person whose guess is anywhere from the correct price to two dollars more or less than the right price.

Suggested baby items include:

• Pacifier

• Feeding bottle

• Rattle

• Diaper pins

• Wet wipes

• Stuffed toy

• Bottled food

• Hair brush and comb

• Wash rags

Do you have a favorite baby shower game not listed?  Please comment!

For this fun baby shower game, which is also great for children’s parties you need to get a nice gift and wrap it in many different layers of wrapping paper. Try to wrap the gift in as many layers as the number of guest you expect at the party. Make sure that each layer of wrapping paper is different so that it is easy to differentiate one layer from the other. To make the game really fun, add small gifts in between each layer. The gifts do not have to be expensive and can include a cute pen or some candies.

Have each guest sit on a chair in a circle and start the music. The person holding the parcel when the music starts passes it to the person sitting beside them. The parcel is passed from guest to guest until the music stops. The tempo and length of time between stopping the music can be varied to make the game more exciting. The guest holding the parcel when the music stops starts removing as many layers of wrapping paper as they can. If they find a present it is theirs to keep, but they must stop and pass the parcel on to the next person as soon as the music starts again.

The parcel is passed around until the last piece of wrapping paper is removed. The guest who removes the last piece of wrapping from the parcel wins the game and gets to keep the gift or they can give it to the mom to be if they wish.

This is a fun game and can include all invitees at the party, women, men and children.

Note: In another variation of the game, each time the music stops, only one layer of wrapping paper can be removed.

Do you have a favorite baby shower game not listed?  Please comment!

by Kimberly Hargis

Age 1: Invite only family members and close friends only because this birthday is more for the parents than for the child. At age 1, a child doesn’t understand the concept of “Birthday Party.” He or she is getting a lot of attention—which is all a 1-year-old wants or understands anyway. You should not go overboard on presents because too much could scare or confuse a child. You should consider getting specialty items such as a plate that says “First Birthday,” a 1-year-old candle, and possible a table cover that everyone could sign with fabric paint to have as keepsakes that can someday be shown (or given to) to your grown child.

Age 2: 2-years-olds should have one or two playmates over for a small Birthday Play Day. Again I suggest you keep a birthday plate and other keepsakes for your 2-year-old.

Age 3: 3-year-olds should have three to four playmates over, and at this age you might have try a birthday game such as “Who can stack the blocks the highest?” I do not recommend having a clown or playing any games that require a blindfold over a child’s eyes such key due to the fact either can scare children at this age. Remember your child has just turned 3, and the playmates are around that age. They are still not able to understand fully structured games very well. They only know if they do something good or better than other children, everyone will give them attention. Again I suggest you collect keepsakes.

Age 4: At 4, children should now be ready for a “real” party. I suggest four or five playmates. 4-year-olds are ready now for party decorations, but I suggest you do less and save your money for the big number “5” birthday (or buy decorations that you can put away and use again). Games such as Musical Chairs, and carrying a hard boiled egg on a spoon to the finish line without dropping it relay race can be appropriate, but remember that games will be played and finished much sooner than you think. Consider having a few of your child’s favorite videos on hand. Even if the kids have seen them 100 times, they will enjoy them. After an hour or so, you will probably need a break and the children might be cranky. A movie they are all spellbound by will be a great way to relax the kids and you. You might want to consider spreading a couple of blankets on the floor and have some pillows handy for sleepyheads!

Age 5: 5-year-olds should have a big party, but remind them that this is because they are the big “5,” and either starting school or just in school, and having a “big” party will not happen every year. Explain to them that big parties are only for special birthdays such as 5 because they have started or are starting school, 10 because that is the first double-digit number, and of course 16 (“Sweet 16” for girls and “Driving Age” for boys). This will save you money in the long run. On the fifth birthday, I suggest you first decide if you want to do it yourself, rent a building or park area but still do it yourself, or call local businesses (like McDonalds) to see what party-planning packages they offer. I personally suggest renting a park area if weather permits because the kids will be just as happy playing on park equipment as they would if you spent a ton of money on a professionally planned party. Have several inexpensive disposable cameras on hand and let your Birthday Boy or Girl take pictures of his or her first “big” party!

Great games for 5-year-olds whether inside or outside are:

by Rae Pica

If a child is having fun while moving, that child is far more likely to want to keep moving. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s also practicing his movement skills!

Following are activities that help promote the development of locomotor (traveling) skills:

• In and Around. There’s nothing like an obstacle course to provide practice with any number of skills, including crawling, creeping, walking, and jumping. Additionally, an obstacle course will offer your child valuable experience with prepositions such as over, under, around, and through. Depending on your child’s level of development (you can even use obstacle courses with babies who are only creeping), set up a course using large empty boxes to move through, chairs or other pieces of furniture big enough to move under, jump ropes to move over, or small items to move around. Then lead your child through the maze. Every time you play this game, you can arrange the objects differently and even give them different purposes. For instance, if the jump rope was originally lying on the floor for leaping or jumping over, you can later suspend it between two pieces of furniture for creeping under.

• Chasing Bubbles. Want to give children a reason to run and jump? Take them outside and invite them to catch the bubbles you blow! They’ll let you know when they’re tired – but until then, keep on blowing.

• Jump! Place your child on the bottom of a set of steps – or on the edge of a low sandbox or a curb, for instance – and stand facing her. Hold out your arms and encourage her to jump. Repeat the process as long as she stays interested. When she’s ready for something a bit higher, use sturdy plastic crate or something similar.

• Ring-around-the-Rosy. If there are at least three people available (two children and an adult), play this traditional game for practice with sliding – and sitting. It also offers experience with the spatial concepts of around and down.

• Follow the Leader. This game offers a great opportunity for practice of various motor skills. Even if it’s just you and your child, the game is plenty of fun. Just lead the way around the living room or backyard, performing as many different locomotor skills as you know your child can replicate. Don’t’ forget to vary your movements with the elements of movement, changing direction, level, pathway, speed, force, and body shape. And you can incorporate both bound flow and nonlocomotor skills into the game by occasionally stopping and performing, say, a stretch, bend, twist, or shake.

• Traffic Lights. For this game you’ll need three large pieces of paper or cardboard – one red, one green, and one yellow. When you hold up the green paper, the children walk. (You can play this game with one or several children.) When you hold up the yellow, they walk in place. At the sight of the red, they stop and wait. Start with walking until they get the hang of it. Then play it with any other locomotor skills they can perform.

• In and Out. Place one plastic hoop per child on the floor or ground. Then invite the children to jump in and out of the hoop, all the way around. When the children are able to hop, invite them to hop in and out. (The best way to help your child learn to hop is to hold her hand and hop right alongside her.)

• Tag with a Twist. A game of tag is a great way to get children to practice both running and dodging. To be sure the latter is involved, gradually reduce the available area in which the children can play!

About the Author
Rae Pica is a children’s movement specialist and author of Your Active Child: How to Promote Physical, Emotional, and Cognitive Development through Age-Appropriate Activity (McGraw-Hill, 2003). Rae speaks to parent and education groups throughout North America. You can visit her and read more articles at www.movingandlearning.com.

by Armin Brott

At one time or another, all parents struggle with discipline—establishing and enforcing limits, and getting their kids to speak to them respectfully and do what they’re supposed to do. But remember: discipline isn’t only about correction.

It’s also about teaching kids to control themselves and care about others so they can grow up to be productive members of society. Here are some approaches you can use to help your kids to do just that:

1. Be firm. Set reasonable limits, explain them, and enforce them.
2. Be consistent. Your child will learn to adapt to inconsistencies between you and your partner: if you allow jumping on the bed but she doesn’t, for example, the child will do it when he’s with you and won’t when he’s with your partner. However, if you allow jumping one day and prohibit it the next, you’ll only confuse your child and undermine your attempts to get him to listen when you ask him to do something.
3. Compromise. Kids can’t always tell the difference between big and little issues. So give in on a few small things once in a while (an extra piece of birthday cake at the end of a long day might avoid a tantrum). That will give the child a feeling of control and will make it easier for him to go along with the program on the bigger issues (holding hands while crossing the street, for example).
4. Be assertive and specific. “Stop throwing your food now” is much better than “cut that out!”
5. Give choices. Kathryn Kvols, author of Redirecting Children’s Behavior, suggests, for example, that if your child is yanking all the books off a shelf in the living room, you say, “Would you like to stop knocking the books off the shelf or would you like to go to your room?” If he ignores you, gently but firmly lead the child to his room and tell him he can come back into the living room when he’s ready to listen to you.
6. Cut down on the warnings. If the child knows the rules (at this age, all you have to do is ask), impose the promised consequences immediately. If you make a habit of giving six preliminary warnings and three “last” warnings before doing anything, your child will learn to start responding only the eighth or ninth time you ask.
7. Link consequences directly to the problem behavior. And don’t forget–clearly and simply–to explain what you’re doing and why: “I’m taking away your hammer because you hit me,” or “I asked you not to take that egg out of the fridge and you didn’t listen to me. Now you’ll have to help me clean it up.”
8. No banking. If you’re imposing punishments or consequences, do it immediately. You can’t punish a child at the end of the day for something (or a bunch of things) he did earlier–he won’t associate the undesirable action and its consequence.
9. Keep it short. Once the punishment is over (and whatever it is it shouldn’t last any more than a minute per year of age), get back to your life. There’s no need to review, summarize, or make sure the child got the point.
10. Stay calm. Screaming, ranting, or raving can easily cross the line into verbal abuse that can do long-term damage to your child’s self-esteem.
11. Get down to your child’s level. When your talking to your child—especially to criticize–kneel or sit. You’ll still be big enough that he’ll know who the boss is.
12. Don’t lecture. Instead, ask questions to engage the child in a discussion of the problematic behavior: “Is smoking cigars okay for kids or not?” “Do you like it when someone pushes you down in the park?”
13. Criticize the behavior, not the child. Even such seemingly innocuous comments as “I’ve told you a thousand times…” or “Every single time you…” gives the child the message that he’s doomed to disappointing you no matter what he does.
14. Reinforce positive behavior. We spend so much time criticizing negatives and not enough time complimenting the positives. Heartfelt comments like “I’m so proud of you when I see you cleaning up your toys,” go a long way.
15. Play games. “Let’s see who can put the most toys away” and “I bet I can put my shoes on before you can” are big favorites. But be sure not to put away more toys or to put your shoes on first–kids under five have a tough time losing.
16. Avoid tantrums. Learn to recognize the things that trigger your child’s tantrums. The most common include exhaustion, overstimulation, hunger, and illness. Keeping those factors to a minimum will go a long way toward reducing tantrums.
17. No spanking. It’s bad for the kids and bad for you. Children who get spanked are more likely to suffer from poor self-esteem and depression. They’re also more likely to believe that it’s okay to hit other people when they’re mad. After all, you do.
18. No shaking. It may seem like a less violent way of expressing your frustrations than spanking, but it really isn’t. Shaking your baby can make his little brain rattle around inside his skull, possibly resulting in brain damage.
19. No bribes. It’s tempting to pay a child off to get him to do or not do something. But the risk–and it’s a big one–is that he will demand some kind of payment before complying with just about anything.
20. Be a grown-up. Biting your child or pulling his hair to demonstrate that biting or hitting is wrong or doesn’t feel good will backfire. Guaranteed.
21. Offer cheese with that whine. Tell your child that you simply don’t respond to whining and that you won’t give him what he wants until he asks in a nice way–and stick with it.
22. Set a good example. If your child sees you and your partner arguing without violence, he’ll learn to do the same. If he sees you flouting authority by running red lights, he’ll do the same.

Above all, make sure you understand your child. Trying to discipline him without understanding why he’s doing what he’s doing is a little like taking cough syrup for emphysema: the thing that’s bugging you goes away for a while, but the underlying problem remains–and keeps getting worse with time. The most direct way to solve this is to simply ask your child what’s going on and why he’s acting the way he is–in many case he’ll tell you. If he won’t tell you or doesn’t have the vocabulary to do so, make an educated guess (”Are you writing on the walls because you want me to spend more time with you?”).

About the Author:
Armin Brott, hailed by Time as “the superdad’s superdad,” has written or co-written six critically acclaimed books on fatherhood, including the newly released second edition of Fathering Your Toddler: A Dad’s Guide to the Second and Third Years. His articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, American Baby, Parenting, Child, Men’s Health, The Washington Post among others. Armin is an experienced radio and TV guest, and has appeared on Today, CBS Overnight, Fox News, and Politically Incorrect. He’s the host of “Positive Parenting,” a weekly radio program in the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit Armin at www.mrdad.com.

By Elizabeth Pantley, Author of Kid Cooperation and Perfect Parenting

Toddlers and preschoolers require finesse to gain their cooperation, because they have not yet reached the age at which they can see and understand the whole picture, so simply explaining what you want doesn’t always work. Robert Scotellaro is quoted in The Funny Side of Parenthood as saying, “Reasoning with a two-year-old is about as productive as changing seats on the Titanic.” (He must have had a two-year-old at the time.)

You can get around this frustrating state of affairs by changing your approach. Let’s look at two situations – first the typical (Titanic) way:

Parent: David! Time to change your diaper.

David: No! (As he runs off)

Parent: Come on honey. It’s time to leave, I need to change you.

David: (Giggles and hides behind sofa)

Parent: David, this isn’t funny. It’s getting late. Come here.

David: (Doesn’t hear a word. Sits down to do a puzzle.)

Parent: Come here! (Gets up and approaches David)

David: (Giggles and runs)

Parent: (Picking up David) Now lie here. Stop squirming! Lie still. Will you stop this! (As parent turns to pick up a new diaper, a little bare bottom is running away)

I’m sure you’ve all been there. Oh, and by the way, David is my son. And this was an actual scene recorded in his baby book. Like you, I got very tired of this. And then I discovered a better way:

Parent: (Picking up diaper and holding it like a puppet, making it talk in a silly, squeaky voice) Hi David! I’m Dilly Diaper! Come here and play with me!

David: (Running over to Diaper) Hi Dilly!

Parent as Diaper: You’re such a nice boy. Will you give me a kiss?

David: Yes. (Gives diaper a kiss)

Parent as Diaper: How ‘bout a nice hug?

David: (Giggles and hugs Diaper)

Parent as Diaper: Lie right here next to me. Right here. Yup. Can I go on you? Oh yes?! Goody goody goody! (The diaper chats with David while he’s being changed. Then it says, Oh, David! Listen, I hear your shoes calling you – David! David!

The most amazing thing about this trick is that it works over and over and over and over. You’ll keep thinking, “He’s not honestly going to fall for this again?” But he will! Probably the nicest by-product of this method is that it gets you in a good mood and you have a little fun time with your child.

When you’ve got a toddler this technique is a pure lifesaver. When my son David was little I used this all the time. (I then used it with my youngest child, Coleton, and it worked just as well.) Remembering back to one day, when David was almost three, we were waiting in a long line at the grocery store and I was making my hand talk to him. It was asking him questions about the items in the cart. Suddenly, he hugged my hand, looked up at me and said, “Mommy, I love for you to pretend this hand is talking.”

Another parent reported that she called her toddler to the table for dinner a number of times, when he calmly looked up at her, chubby hands on padded hips and said, “Mommy, why don’t you have my dinner call to me?”

And suddenly, the peas on his plate came to life and called out to him; he ran over to join the family at the dinner table.

A variation on this technique, that also works very well, is to capitalize on a young child’s vivid imagination as a way to thwart negative emotions. Pretend to find a trail of caterpillars on the way to the store, hop to the car like a bunny, or pretend a carrot gives you magic powers as you eat it.

It’s delightful to see how a potentially negative situation can be turned into a fun experience by changing a child’s focus to fun and fantasy.

About the Author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.

by Rae Pica

If a child is having fun while moving, that child is far more likely to want to keep moving. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s also practicing his movement skills!

Following are activities that help promote the development of locomotor (traveling) skills:

• In and Around. There’s nothing like an obstacle course to provide practice with any number of skills, including crawling, creeping, walking, and jumping. Additionally, an obstacle course will offer your child valuable experience with prepositions such as over, under, around, and through. Depending on your child’s level of development (you can even use obstacle courses with babies who are only creeping), set up a course using large empty boxes to move through, chairs or other pieces of furniture big enough to move under, jump ropes to move over, or small items to move around. Then lead your child through the maze. Every time you play this game, you can arrange the objects differently and even give them different purposes. For instance, if the jump rope was originally lying on the floor for leaping or jumping over, you can later suspend it between two pieces of furniture for creeping under.

• Chasing Bubbles. Want to give children a reason to run and jump? Take them outside and invite them to catch the bubbles you blow! They’ll let you know when they’re tired – but until then, keep on blowing.

• Jump! Place your child on the bottom of a set of steps – or on the edge of a low sandbox or a curb, for instance – and stand facing her. Hold out your arms and encourage her to jump. Repeat the process as long as she stays interested. When she’s ready for something a bit higher, use sturdy plastic crate or something similar.

• Ring-around-the-Rosy. If there are at least three people available (two children and an adult), play this traditional game for practice with sliding – and sitting. It also offers experience with the spatial concepts of around and down.

• Follow the Leader. This game offers a great opportunity for practice of various motor skills. Even if it’s just you and your child, the game is plenty of fun. Just lead the way around the living room or backyard, performing as many different locomotor skills as you know your child can replicate. Don’t’ forget to vary your movements with the elements of movement, changing direction, level, pathway, speed, force, and body shape. And you can incorporate both bound flow and nonlocomotor skills into the game by occasionally stopping and performing, say, a stretch, bend, twist, or shake.

• Traffic Lights. For this game you’ll need three large pieces of paper or cardboard – one red, one green, and one yellow. When you hold up the green paper, the children walk. (You can play this game with one or several children.) When you hold up the yellow, they walk in place. At the sight of the red, they stop and wait. Start with walking until they get the hang of it. Then play it with any other locomotor skills they can perform.

• In and Out. Place one plastic hoop per child on the floor or ground. Then invite the children to jump in and out of the hoop, all the way around. When the children are able to hop, invite them to hop in and out. (The best way to help your child learn to hop is to hold her hand and hop right alongside her.)

• Tag with a Twist. A game of tag is a great way to get children to practice both running and dodging. To be sure the latter is involved, gradually reduce the available area in which the children can play!

About the Author
Rae Pica is a children’s movement specialist and author of Your Active Child: How to Promote Physical, Emotional, and Cognitive Development through Age-Appropriate Activity (McGraw-Hill, 2003). Rae speaks to parent and education groups throughout North America. You can visit her and read more articles at www.movingandlearning.com.