choices game

this is a really simple game that i made for our family to play.   

it's just a piece of paper and a die.   that's it!

i started by making a document with 5 columns and 8 rows (i think) evenly spaced.   then i asked the kids for some help and we came up with half of the squares things we struggle with like: hitting, disobedient, whining, arguing etc.   the other half of the squares are good things we do: talking about it (instead of arguing), hugging, serving, doing it the first time . . .you get the picture.   cut all of them out.  this was easier since my hubby bought me a paper cutter last year.   yah!  

 now, just mix them up and lay them out in some pattern.   we did a path and a square tonight.   we used the extra pieces of paper from cutting out the game for our marker pieces.   you can use game pieces or have everyone go find something for their piece, whatever.

the basic rules are that you roll the die, travel that many spaces.    if what you land on is good, then you get to roll again.    if it's not, you stay put.  we laid them all face down and turned them over as we landed on them.

first, we did a path.   you had to land on the end exactly and it had to be a good thing for you to win.   if it hadn't been a good thing, we were going to start taking things from the end and adding them on until it was.   (i think my son wanted to just add things on because i was ahead)   the game changes really fast because if you keep landing on good things, you can go all the way to the end pretty fast.

the second way we played was in a square.   since there were just the four of us this time, we each took a corner to start.   the rules were established before we started to play this time.   you had to get past your own corner and land on something good to win.

 you could make start and end squares if you want.   you can make this game with good and bad food, school practices, anything that needs review in your house.    this game goes really fast so you can play it in just a few minutes.  you could complicate it or simplify it.  this is just a start.

have fun, be creative, and just play together.