How To Play The Games Of Yesterday by Scholastic
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction (August 1, 2009)
Cautions: None

Kiwi Magazine Review:
Forget about the kids! This book sent me catapulting back to my childhood when Freeze Tag and Capture the Flag defined your after-school playtime. I didn’t see my old favorite “Kick the Can” but now I think that one may have been created by that know-it-all John Cunningham who lived on my block (he’s most likely still trying to patent it now!). This book is a great gift to reignite the tried-and-true games of times past.

Buy this book on Amazon.com

My Book of ALPHABET GAMES
Kumon Books - 2007
Ages 4-6
Cautions: None

Kiwi Magazine Review:
Summer is a time of relaxation, renewal and rejuvenation. But, for many parents, summer also means long car rides, bored kids and a search for educational things to do. For our last spring break trip, we stocked up on Kumon workbooks which are education camouflaged as colorful fun. Without any cajoling necessary, the two preschoolers in the car were completely occupied tracing mazes, writing upper and lower case letters and rhyming words. We actually had to utter the words, “pencils down” even though we had arrived at the much-anticipated Hershey Park, that sweet mecca for kids. They hadn’t even noticed we had arrived!

Product Description:
In this third book in the alphabet sequence, children learn to link uppercase and lowercase letters while working on strengthening their sense of alphabetical order. All of this is done with fun and familiar games used innovatively, like tracing, connect-the-dots, and color-by-letter.

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Pokemon Platinum Playing Card Decks - Flourish and Rebellion
Ages 10-16
Cautions: Not suitable for children under 3 - choking hazard. Some scary stuff on cards.

Kiwi Magazine Review:
The one thing we really like about Pokemon, besides some of the cute characters, is that their website has a complete parent’s guide where they speak s-l-o-w-l-y about their cards, the online game and the characters. It’s a must-read before entering the world of Pokemon. Our tween consultants tell us that the Platinum cards are the hottest new thing and that the Pokemon game truly involves strategy, sportsmanship and some serious thought (thank you, Lucy and Sophie).

From the Producers:
Flourish Theme Deck
Sweet Victory is yours with the fast-moving Flourish deck! Silcoon becomes the powerful Beautifly in the blink of an eye, while swarms of Fire and Grass Pokémon catapult into action. The amazing Shaymin enables you to dish out damage to your opponent’s Pokémon with Energy Blow, while keeping your team in top condition by removing damage counters with Aromatherapy. When you don’t have time to mess around, go ahead and win with a Flourish!

Rebellion Theme Deck
What do you get when you team up Fighting and Psychic Pokémon? You get a hard-hitting team with some tricks up its sleeve! The mighty Giratina keeps you safe with its Dragonbreath as Mismagius and Dugtrio use their sneaky traps to catch your opponents off guard. Then, unleash Gardevoir and its double-barreled Energy Burst attack. The more Energy in the field, the stronger it gets! With your strength and savvy, you’ll lead your Rebellion to supremacy!

Each theme deck contains 1 complete 60-card deck. Many of the cards exist in multiples to provide a more enjoyable playing experience.

Congratulations to Lucy for winning these cards!

Buy this at Amazon.com

Recommended for tween boys.

Description:  http://www.chaoticgame.com/

What is Chaotic?

You may already be familiar with trading card games - games based on specially designed sets of cards that children play and trade. Chaotic combines the trading card game experience with a television show and online game play. As with other trading card games, there is a rich story at work in Chaotic. The Chaotic television show follows the adventures of a teenage boy named Tom and his friends. When Tom and his friends play the Chaotic trading card game, the Creatures, Locations and items they play in the game come to life. The elements of the Chaotic game all reside in the world of Perim, a parallel universe inhabited by hundreds of unique Creatures. Perim is a place of magic, danger and adventure. Though Perim’s Creatures live in a magical world, they are subject to the same kinds of personal jealousies, deep-seated animosities and bitter rivalries familiar to humans.

Your child probably watches the show on Saturday mornings. If you haven’t seen it, you might enjoy watching the show together as the TV show is all about the game and the game is all about adventure and strategy.

Is it safe for my child to spend time here?

ChaoticGame.com is designed to be a safe place for Chaotic fans of all ages to enjoy friendly competition and explore the mysteries of Perim. Our staff monitors site activity and we also encourage members of this community to let us know if they see anything that might be inappropriate for the kids, young people, parents, and adults who visit on a regular basis. Inappropriate behavior or content — such as insults, sharing illegal material, religious comments, hurtful speech – is removed as soon as possible and the offending user’s account is suspended.

As a parent or guardian of a Chaotic user, you can also play a role in ensuring this is a safe space. You may want to talk to your child about ground rules for all their online behavior in order to keep them safe. The ChaoticGame.com Parent Zone

Because your child’s safety is of the utmost importance to us, ChaoticGame.com includes a Parent Zone where you can manage your child’s activities.

Once your child has registered on ChaoticGame.com, you can log into the Parent Zone to approve your child’s level of participation on ChaoticGame.com. You’ll be able to choose the activities in which your child can engage and control their access to forums and chat, including limiting those users with whom a child can chat.

If you ever have any questions about ChaoticGame.com or your child’s activities on the web site, we’ve included a “Parent Hotline” feature that makes it easy for you to submit questions or concerns.
Does it cost anything to participate in the activities on the site?

No. The Chaotic Online Experience is provided at no cost to those who have purchased Chaotic trading cards.

Kiwi Magazine Review:

I am in danger of finding one more cool game that I feel compelled to play; Chaotic is the one.  Just to be sure you know, parents have a zone on the website that speaks s-l-o-w-l-y so we can understand the rules and ensure that the site is safe.  I went there first to understand the rules and know that there weren’t any crazy charges online.  And, the part I liked the best was that, depending on the age of your child and his/her interest level, it’s pretty fun to play the game just with the cards and consider going online later when your child is more interested and the parent is more comfortable.  There are one million users of this game online…phew!