Every year, we try to make our family gatherings fun by playing silly games. This year we ran into a problem. A few of our family members have diminished sight and hearing and our regular games have become a source of frustration (they can't follow conversation, read the cards etc)...any suggestions on fun family activities that everyone will enjoy??? Thanks for your help!
christmas bingo...no matter how old people get they still seem to be able to play bingo!
O. game that my family has enjoyed playing in the past is "Win Lose or Draw" where you get an easel and try to draw the name of a song, movie, book, etc. Everyone loved that from about 8-80!
OR you could default to the classic, charades.
What about having small holiday related items in a cloth bag (decorations/toys like snowmen, santas, winter animals -you could even use christmas ornaments) and each person has to reach in and guess what they are holding by just feeling it.
Our family recently had a story telling time. Ahead of time, we picked a funny title to a story, "Ghost-yo and the Giant Foot" about a yo yo that was a ghost. But, of course, it could be anything. And we each wrote a short story with that Title (some a paragraph, some a couple of pages), then we read them aloud. They were all really funny and fun.
Although- my family is sort of wierd.
Good luck- happy holidays!
We just had a really fun time at my brother's house over the weekend playing music. My son recently received a kid's guitar and drum set. He loves music and while normally reserved, really gets into performing. My brother requested he bring his instuments and cd's so he could play for him. Everyone got involved using other instruments my nieces had - maracas, tambourines, harmonicas, etc - and we passed around the microphone from the karaoke machine. We played some songs that the older folks would know as well as ones the kids liked. It was a blast!
Have you seen Apples to Apples ? it's a card game with fairly big print. The RED cards get handed out (7 to each player) and they have words, people and places on them. The green cards are mostly adjectives and adverbs. The "judge" picks a green card and reads ita loud. Everyone picks a card from their own hands to be the closest thing to that green card. After all the cards are down, the judge turns them upright, reads them aloud, and the various parties can lobby for their ideas. The judge decides which is the closest, or just tickles his/her fancy, and the winner keeps the green card.
To help everyone play, you could play in teams, a younger person with better eyesight teamed up with an older person with better discretion, and some history. As in, who is Cary Grant, anyway? It would make for good interaction across the generations to have them play together, and make the decisions together. And I told think the extra talking would hurt the game. It would probably be more fun for the elderly, because it would give them some one on one time with the grandchildren, at the same time they are playing a game wiht the whole family.
