International Quidditch at Oxford University
It’s been a while since I given you a List of 11, so today I present…
11 Games my children play
1) Zip cord – Invented on a rainy day, a string is tied from an upstairs baluster to a piece of furniture in the living room below. Every possible toy imaginable is then slid down the rope. Scores are awarded based on speed of slide and distance travelled.
2) Baby Koala – One of my least favourite because it involves ET crawling around whining like a baby… or baby koala, I guess. CJ takes care of him and supplies the eucalyptus leaves.
3) Hug Match – Wrestling, but given a cute/sly name so that Mommy won’t get angry when they break something.
4) Yeti! Yeti! Yeti! – A throwback to the annoying Pablo the Yeti character from the Backyardigans. My boys’ game has nothing to do with the Backyardigans except for the loud and grating call of “Yeti! Yeti! Yeti!” that CJ makes as he crawls around the floor chasing ET while covered in a blanket. The game always ends when my last nerve is frazzled and I order them outside… NOW!
5) Spy – Self-explanatory, I think. The beauty of this game is that it is inherently quiet and can be played in any venue. Indoors and outdoors, at home or at the grandparent’s… even once in church!
6) Slinky Kitty – This might sound a bit like an adult bedroom game but it’s much more innocent in our home. ET stands upstairs and drops poor Kitty wrapped in the end of a slinky. CJ is down below and tries to grab Kitty before he springs back up.
7) Wipeout – Similar to the TV show but a winter sport played around obstacles involving telephone poles, shovels and snow banks.
8) Quidditch – Just like J.K Rowling’s version but played in our backyard while riding hockey sticks in lieu of brooms… oh, and goals are scored in garbage pails.
9) Minecraft – Yes, I know everyone’s kids play Minecraft but mine play it outside without a computer. From what I have observed, the game is rooted around BDN’s son being a villager who makes an unacceptable barter trade. Of course, this leads to the arrival of an angry horde and chaos ensues.
10) Catch – A pretty standard game of catch but my boys stand only a few feet away and toss gently underhand. Apparently, they are aiming for a world record number of catches rather than an impressive degree of difficulty.
11) Queen Elizabeth – It is played outside with the whole gang of neighbourhood boys and CJ always plays the part of Queen Elizabeth. I have absolutely no understanding of this game.
I’m not sure what this list conveys about my children… I just wanted to share some of the craziness!
Do you have a favourite invented game from your family or your own childhood?
Escaping Elegance 
So that’s what they do all day in the backyard…
These are only the ones I know about! I’m sure there is some sneakier stuff going on too.
Hahaha to the Koala game! My wife and I hated, just hated when Ace use to act like a puppy and crawl around barking and whining, etc. Geez!
Oh God! I feel your pain. The worst is when they “kiss” you goodnight with a sloppy lick. Why do they make it so hard to love them sometimes?
That’s awesome that your boys play so imaginatively. What is the age difference? I wish my boys played together more nicely, but it doesn’t happen very often 😦 They’re 3 1/2 years apart, and it just seems like they’re always in different stages. Plus my 11 year old never entertained himself very well, until he got past the “play” stage. Do you think your boys are naturally imaginative or do you feel like you’ve encouraged them to play like this? (or both I guess!)
Good question. I’m not sure why they are so imaginative. They are 2 years apart and have always played super well together. However, I give full credit to CJ. As the older brother he has always been loving and inclusive to ET.
I remember taking a map (it was free) from an information centre. I then used to ride up and down the garden on my scooter pretending to go to different destinations on the map. Our garden is basically just a pathway, so literally I went up a down a path pretending there were destinations at the end. The game needed a strong strong imagination! 😀
That’s great! Similarly, I remember making a passport with a friend and riding our bikes “around the world” which was really just the block. good times, eh?
haha that sounds like my sort of game! They were the best 🙂
Hahahaha! Nice! Very funny!
Me and my sister were had some very quirky games when we were children. One of them involved leaflets of museums, theme parks, zoos, and other touristy places to go and another one involved Argos catalogues, I think I’ll save the explanation for a blog post at some point though. But we were right weirdos I can tell you that much.
We’re all weirdos when we’re kids… I’m looking forward to that post!
Love this! So many inventive games that do not involve a screen!! My brother and I used to play canasta with 8 decks of cards under a mattress/pillow fort at the cottage. The longer the game went on, the better.
Sadly there is still plenty of screen.I don’t know how to play canasta but everything is fun in a fort!