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Are we dumbing down board games these days? Remember when children were actually encouraged to use their imaginations? Have we forgotten how much fun it was to play dress-up, acting out fantasy tales, or run races with our imaginary friends?

With a bit of creativity and ingenuity, it is still possible to play imaginative games today.

CHARADES

Of course, a store-bought board game is available for this age-old pastime. If you want to march pawns around a map on a board, then go for it. I prefer the old-fashioned game. Pick movies, song titles, TV shows, books, famous people, or another category. Write names on slips of paper, and put them in a basket. Players draw names and attempt to act them out, without speaking, so others can guess. Play in teams, if you want to keep score.

PICTIONARY

This is a lot like CHARADES, except that players must silently illustrate the names, instead of acting them out.

TREASURE HUNT

This takes a bit of clever preparation. Hide a special item (perhaps a bag of candy) in a secret spot. Create a series of clues that will lead to it, step by step, and hide them. (I like to rhyme these, as it adds to the fun.). Players must follow the clues, collecting them as they go.

SCAVENGER HUNT

Make a list of unusual items. Produce a copy for each team. Players must work together to collect all of the items. This may be done indoors or out. If you live in a friendly and safe area, and you know your neighbors well, you might send teams out all over to collect the things on their lists. Make the list crazy and fun: pine cones, rubber bands, tennis balls, bandannas, apple cores, bookmarks, garden gloves, fish hooks, flags, and more! (It can be fun to collect items that fit a party's theme too).

ABC's RAP

Players sit in a large circle. Moving clockwise, while clapping out a rhythm, each must name something that starts with their letter of the alphabet. The first player may say, "accordion." The next may say, "balloon." Continue from A to Z. For clever groups, each player must recite all that has gone before. You can make this more challenging by selecting only items the players can spot in their surroundings.

Learn more about this author, Linda Ann Nickerson.
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