It’s getting close to Christmas and I’m behind on my shopping. I missed all the Black Friday Christmas sales for one reason or
another and now I’m scrambling to find presents for my family.
This year I’m taking a different tactic. I’m focusing on the 3 C’s of Christmas which are communication, creativity and collaboration. Yup, I’m only buying gifts that
fit into these categories. Lofty, perhaps…but here’s what I’ve come up with:
1. Communication
I’m looking at traditional games like Monopoly, Mastermind and Uno. But the game I’m super excited to get for my family is Jenga Giant. I’ve been a Jenga fan for some time, but this new giant set makes it even better. You can build stacks over 3 feet high- I know my boys are going to love building huge structures and then flip out (in a good way) when the pieces come crashing down.
My family seems to have taken to playing board games. I have noticed that board games help our family communicate better with one another. A bonus is that these games also teach
patience, i.e. you need to wait your turn! 😉
2. Creativity
My kids love the Toca Boca Mini app and also love to design t-shirts. Both of these bring out my kids creative juices so I’m hunting for similar games which allow
my kids to be creative. My son is also dying for minecraft and I hear that can get their creative juices flowing, so that’s on my list.
3. Collaboration
A bit tougher to find but, ultimately Lego fits into this category. They are getting a couple of Lego sets since my boys like to build together. Scratch that Santa (cough!) will be giving them Legos.
Also, the console game Skylanders: Swap Force requires collaboration. Similar to Skylander Giants the kids work together to solve puzzles and chapters. The levels are
harder than compared to Skylander Giants so collaboration is a must.
You’ll notice above that I’ve gone with a mix of non-technology and technology ideas. As I have said before, it’s all about balance, especially at Christmas time. You don’t want to overload on technology.
What’s on your holiday shopping list? Lots of technology, a little or none at all? Leave a comment below. 🙂
