Tobey: Games with rules

Maybe it's the prospect of preschool coming up, but I've been thinking that Tobey should be ready to start playing games with rules. His first "board game" ever was over New Year's this year when he played Ting-A-Ling Bingo, my childhood game. But it occured to me that he was mainly searching for stuff and the only "rule" he needed to follow was taking turns. He could find the pictures but detecting 5-in-a-row seemed beyond him (he can't even count 5 items much less in a row).

But the other night Tobey and I had an impromptu game of Red Light, Green Light. We were running around the house in circles and it occured to me that we could start and stop according to what we shouted out. Tobey did really well (and I got a little exercise!).

So my next trip to Toys R Us, I decided to get Tobey his first board game. Debating between the classics like Candyland or Hi-Ho Cherry-O, I chose Chutes and Ladders (the non-Elmo and non-SpongeBob version of course)...mainly because it didn't involve contraband like candy and also because it was cheaper than Hi-Ho Cherry-O! We haven't pulled it out yet, but it will be interesting to see how he fares. I remember playing Disney Concentration with Emily when she was 3.5. The idea of taking turns and just flipping over two cards seemed beyond her.