Fulltime Mama My name is Elizabeth, and I am the happy wife of ten years to Fabio and fulltime mama to four beautiful children: Joshua-9, Dominique 7, Israel- almost 5, Johann-3 and expecting a new baby in April 2012! We are currently living in Brazil as missionaries and life never ceases to be an adventure!!! I love motherhood with a passion and am passionate about providing a place here at MamaKnowsBest where mothers can learn, grow, and share ... pooling the wisdom of many into one big jackpot for mothers. View all articles | Contact author

A few years ago, we found a real gem at our local library called "Games for Learning" by Peggy Kaye.  Let me tell you, it is a keeper!  If you have children from pre-school through 3rd grade or so, I think you will find this book very worthwhile.  For me, it was the answer to the quandary I was in at the time – a child who was getting bored with learning. (Read more about that here: Make It FUN!)

We started playing the games in this book and we were having so much FUN! Even I enjoyed trying some of them out.  Some are geared toward developing coordination of hands, eyes and ears, others to develop logical thinking, others more for math and developing math concepts, still others for reading, etc.  None of them require more than a paper and a pencil, or some colored pencils.  One requires two dice, but all are super simple and require no prep time on the part of the parent.  However, if the parent is so inclined, the author does give a very interesting real life story about how this game worked with a particular child and how it helped develop in a certain area. I found the stories that preface the games fascinating, but you don't have to read them to do the games.

Besides being a great way to jazz up your school routine and make it fun, I think that the games in this book would be a great thing to tuck away in your memory for those times when you are stuck waiting in a doctor's office, or a Consulate, or a broken down car waiting hours for a tow truck, etc. All of those scenarios have been mine in the last couple of months, and in the future I will be prepared with a paper and pencil to play these games, pass some time, have some fun bonding, and develop the minds of my little ones at the same time. :)