I totally stole this from The Pirates Republic!
Fun little game to increase Situational Awareness...
I wanted to help my Wife and teach my boys how
to be more aware of their surroundings. I kind of came up with a little game
that they just love to play. Turns out it works FAST. Much faster than I ever
would have thought possible.
Basically its a contest of environmental awareness. Here are some examples I used just last night.
In Wall mart, walking down the aisles. I just pop up and ask a question. "How many people were in that last aisle we just passed". Whoever gets the answer gets a high five.
How many spaces did we park from the door. (6 spaces, but the 8 year old was closest with 5).
Later on in the store, "What color hat was the guy in the green shirt wearing". (Hint he was not wearing a green shirt). My oldest boys goes, it was a John Deere hat dad, but he was wearing a blue shirt, not green. AWESOME.
We have only been playing this game for 3 days now. I figured it might help a tiny bit. But was completely blown away at how fast my kids picked up on it and actually pay attention to whats around them. Its getting very hard to stump them now. (I really have to be nit picky, like was that guy wearing cowboy boots or tennis shoes) but its a lot of fun.
They are now testing me too which is a blast. I LOVE THIS GAME, Not only is it fun, but the kids are calmer and quieter in the store (No more running around grabassing) and it keeps them occupied.
Also doing it on the road, they are quietly scanning around the van so as not to get stumped. Makes short trips more interesting and quieter.
I never would have thought it would be this much fun to learn an important skill. If you have kids (Or a accommodating significant other ), you have to try this. It is really a blast. Make it easy at first and get harder as needed to keep it challenging so that they have a decent enough success rate to keep them interested. Then make it harder and harder as they get better at it.
I look forward to going to the store now (Where I always hated going shopping) so my wife is happier with me also.
Doc
Basically its a contest of environmental awareness. Here are some examples I used just last night.
In Wall mart, walking down the aisles. I just pop up and ask a question. "How many people were in that last aisle we just passed". Whoever gets the answer gets a high five.
How many spaces did we park from the door. (6 spaces, but the 8 year old was closest with 5).
Later on in the store, "What color hat was the guy in the green shirt wearing". (Hint he was not wearing a green shirt). My oldest boys goes, it was a John Deere hat dad, but he was wearing a blue shirt, not green. AWESOME.
We have only been playing this game for 3 days now. I figured it might help a tiny bit. But was completely blown away at how fast my kids picked up on it and actually pay attention to whats around them. Its getting very hard to stump them now. (I really have to be nit picky, like was that guy wearing cowboy boots or tennis shoes) but its a lot of fun.
They are now testing me too which is a blast. I LOVE THIS GAME, Not only is it fun, but the kids are calmer and quieter in the store (No more running around grabassing) and it keeps them occupied.
Also doing it on the road, they are quietly scanning around the van so as not to get stumped. Makes short trips more interesting and quieter.
I never would have thought it would be this much fun to learn an important skill. If you have kids (Or a accommodating significant other ), you have to try this. It is really a blast. Make it easy at first and get harder as needed to keep it challenging so that they have a decent enough success rate to keep them interested. Then make it harder and harder as they get better at it.
I look forward to going to the store now (Where I always hated going shopping) so my wife is happier with me also.
Doc
Is this the shit or what???
2 comments:
That's totally awesome! I need to practice. We used to play a game called "Horse Horse" when we traveled. First to see and say horse got a horse point. High score wins when game is called. If you see a Cemetary, yell "cemetary, bury all your horses". Everyone but you loses all horse points. A jump the gun call of horse when it's a cow, loses a horse point. Spot a cat in the window of anything and automatically win the game no matter what your score.
My wife has basically told me if I even START trying this shit with her, she's gonna shoot me right this time!
So of course, I do it! Hell, it helps me be more aware if I'm looking for shit for HER to notice!
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