FOLIO LINE
Summer break
Got a Hannah Montana mani-
ac? A Major League Baseball
buff? Occasional FamilyFun
contributor Tammy Battaglia of
Rochester, Mich., turned letter
writing into a thrill by helping
her son, Zach, age 10, send
notes to his favorite NASCAR
drivers. (They found the mail-
With this clever
twist on tag,
Wendy Ann
Mattox of
Caldwell, Idaho,
inspired her
daughters, Tracey
and Robyn, then ages 10 and 8,
to write for an entire summer.
WACKY WAITING
GAMES
Whether you’re stuck in line,
taking a road trip, or waiting for
your food at a restaurant, these
stimulating word games will
make the minutes fly by.
■ Word Morph: Pick a
three-letter word, then take turns
changing one letter at a time to
create another word. “Dog,” for
example, becomes “cog,” then
“cot,” then “pot.” See how many
words you can make in a row.
■ Alliteration Sentences:
One person says a word.
Players take turns adding a
word that starts with the
same letter, all in an effort
to invent the silliest sen-
tence possible. ("Miss
Mary-Margaret Martin
makes muffins Monday
mornings.”) Players have
to remember and repeat the
entire sentence before adding
the new word. If they forget,
they are out for the round.
FOLIO LINE
TRICKY
may be in full
swing, but
that doesn’t
mean kids
have to put their minds on hold. We
asked readers for family games that tap
language, memory and reasoning skills,
and, more important, are absolutely
nothing like homework (for kids and par-
ents alike). Try one of these lighthearted
suggestions next time you’re on a walk,
in the car, or looking to fill a rainy day.
You’ll hear everyone’s mental gears start
clicking, and a lot of laughter too.
— By Alicia Potter, Disney FamilyFun magazine
NEWSPAPER SCAVENGER HUNT
Samuel, age 14, and Ellis, 5, have become bona fide newshounds
since their parents, Susan and Terry Parsons of Landrum, S.C., came
up with a scavenger hunt based on the day’s headlines. After reading
the newspaper, Susan and Terry put together lists of age-appropriate
questions that relate to articles, photos, and maps: Who won last
night’s ball game? What’s being built in the new park downtown?
What’s the weather in Chicago? The kids race to find the answers in
the pages of the paper, and the whole family wins when the day’s
hunt sparks a lively conversation over dinner.
I’M YOUR cards. After about six weeks,
the responses came rolling in.
BIGGEST FAN Tammy increased
ing addresses by searching the chances of
team websites.) In addition receiving replies
to telling the likes of Jeff by enclosing a
Gordon how much he self-addressed
admired him, Zach asked for stamped envelope
autographs and collector’s with each letter.
was their turn to write back and
NOTEBOOK TAG plant the books for their mom,
Wendy wrote short messages who sometimes added goodies,
inside two spiral notebooks — such as penny candy, stickers,
one for each child — and signed and movie tickets, to her notes.
off with “Tag! You’re it!” Then As the summer progressed, the
she hid the notebooks around girls even composed messages
the house. When Tracey and in secret codes and included the
Robyn discovered their books, it keys needed to crack them!
THE MAGIC
MAILBOX
Hilary Masell Oswald of
Denver, Col., came up with
this weekly letter-writing
game when she worked as a
writing tutor. She had each child
decorate a shoe box, then pick a
“creative” pen pal, such as a fic-
tional character, family pet, or
favorite stuffed animal. Hilary
wrote brief letters from the pen
pals to her students and left the
letters in their mailboxes. Writing
back, the children came up with
questions to ask (“Dear Fido,
What do you do all day?”) and
anecdotes to share, then waited
for replies. Hilary reports that
one formerly reluctant writer car-
ried on a long-running correspon-
dence with his goldfish.
BRAIN BOOSTERS
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
M c C l a t c h y - Tr i b u n e
TREASURE
HUNT
Patricia Slaga and her husband,
Paul, of Winston-Salem, N.C.,
help their grandkids exercise
their powers of deduction with
rousing treasure hunts. In
their house or yard, the
Slagas hide five or six
wrapped “treasures” — inex-
pensive items such as candies,
art supplies, and tiny toys.
Working as a team, Lucy, age
11, and twins Max and Lily,
8, must solve a brainteaser to
locate each prize. “It’s real-
ly fun to try to figure out
where the presents might
be,” says Lily, especially
when the hints are cre-
ative and a little hard.
The Slagas’ favorite
types of clues: verses
with a missing rhyme;
symbols or pictures
taking the place of
words; and numeric
codes for the kids to
crack. For instance,
“Stop at the 2-12-
21-5-3-8-1-9-
18,” translates
to “Stop at the
blue chair.”
FICTIONARY
Practice your poker face with this classic parlor game, where seeing who
can bluff is part of the fun. One person (the Picker) chooses an obscure
word from the dictionary and shares it with the group. The Picker jots
down the real definition, while the other players write down false defini-
tions of their own. Once the Picker has read each definition aloud,
including the real one, each player chooses the one he or she thinks is
correct. Win a point if you get it right; win an extra point if another play-
er picks your phony definition. After everyone’s had a chance to be the
Picker, the player with the most points wins. Think fast!
ALPHABET WALK
Frequent FamilyFun contributor Patrick
Baumann of Virginia, Minn., has kept all four of
his kids entertained — and exercising — with
this simple ABC game. On a walk, one per-
son must find something nearby that starts
with the letter a (“anthill”). The next per-
son does the same for b (“blue jay”), and
so on through the alphabet. Patrick reports
that these animated outings boost the fami-
ly’s observational skills, recall, and
knowledge of nature. If a less common
letter stumps a walker, the group pitches
in to help. “We might look for an x in
crossed tree branches or on a license
plate,” explains Patrick. “Or an x-cellent
piece of driftwood!”
P H OTO S B Y A N D R E W G R E TO
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y J E S S I E H A RT L A N D
I M AG E S C O U RT E S Y O F D I S N E Y FA M I LY F U N M AG A Z I N E