Ah, remember the good ol’ days? And I don’t mean the days of “yore” whatever those might be (though I hear about them a lot). I just mean the simpler times of pre-PC and the era of simpler childhood games that didn’t involve a cell phone or some sort of – how does T put it? – “DS”? Yeah, I remember, too, and I make a concerted effort to keep those memories alive by exposing T to some of those oldies but goodies along the way as well.

Made by Lauri Toys, this wooden magnetic Hangman game is a current favorite of T’s.

It’s your turn! T asks me to take my next guess during a game of Hangman.

Take for example a game that can be played pretty much anywhere with just a pencil or pen and paper: Hangman. So simple, so easy, and such a fun way to teach spelling, memory, reading, and guessing games all at the same time. Hangman also gives the kids control over choosing the words that they want to spell, and I’ve discovered that when kids have some power in the situation, they (and we parents) are already winning no matter the end-result.

The information on the back of the Hangman game T received from his Grandma.

I’d pretty much forgotten all about Hangman until T’s Grandma S brought him this souped-up version of the game, complete with magnetic dry-erase board, magnet letters and body parts, and dry-erase pen for writing the blanks and any double-letters that come up in the game. I have no idea where my mother-in-law got this game from as it just showed up at our house last week (I wasn’t home at the time), but my expert research skills (AKA Google) brought me to this site for more information on the version pictured here. After playing a few rounds with T over the past week, this definitely could be added to my list of things to do with kids while waiting in line, at a restaurant, or anywhere else really.

T places a correctly guessed letter during one of our games of Hangman.

T’s favorite words so far seem to be: Cat; bat; frog, his name (five letters); boy; and jet. We work on a new word or two each time we play, which makes learning to spell fun and also makes the guessing a little more like actual guessing each time we sit down and play since there are more and more words to choose from. C also is taking this opportunity to hone his own spelling skills, too; don’t worry, RMT’ers, he’s not offended as he’s quick to admit that he’s a notoriously horrible speller, AKA an engineer. But no matter who’s learning what, we’re all having a lot of fun with our new board game, which is all that truly matters.

T shows off his new Hangman game. I happened to “win” at this game. 😉

What are some of your oldie-but-goodie games from your own childhood, RMT’ers? Have you introduced any of them to your own kids yet and if so, were they receptive or not? I’d love to hear from you!