Analog Adventures for Christmas!

Christmas is an amazing chance to inspire and invest in high quality, high-engagement activities. Today we’ll talk about five of our favorite ways to engage the minds and hearts of young people in real-world, tech-free play:

Board Games
Art
Combat
Books
Personal Tech & STEM

Listen to "Analog Adventures for Christmas!" on Spreaker.

SHOW NOTES

Resources:

1. Board Games

Animal Upon Animal ($20)
Richard Scarry’s Busytown Seek & Find ($20)
OutFoxed ($16)
*Bonus: Zingo – Sight Words ($22)

Family

Throw Throw Burrito: Family Fun and Silly ($20)
Dixit: A storytelling game ($40)
Splendor ($22)

Upper Elementary / Middle School

Dice Throne: Marvel (combat Yahtzee) ($41)
Carcasonne (cooperative puzzle) ($35)
Wingspan (for bird lovers) ($52)
*Bonus: Superfight (part random monsters, part an excuse to argue)

Need something more intense?

Star Wars Legion ($95)
Battle Tech: Game of Armored Combat ($50)
*Bonus: Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game ($55)

2. Art!

Art for Kids Hub (easy to follow lessons)
Art supplies – markers (72 for $30)
Crayola Art Supply Case ($27) — Our kids love it!
Get yourself some awesome paints for those miniatures you bought for a board game! ($42 for 16)

3. Combat

Battle Club (aka: Tag with Swords) is a Sutherland fam-favorite.
Nerf: Our boys got the X Shot Skins (Zuru) version ($15), the Nerf Elite Disruptor ($10), and X-Shot Excel Ranger X8 ($30 for two) — if you can’t find that, you can do something like the Excel Combo Pack ($20)
Airsoft: If you have the spare cash, or want something to save for, you can get into airsoft. It’s like old-school BB gun wars but WAY safer. It’s more fun than laser tag, and way cheaper than paintball. =) It’s not inexpensive, but once you’ve got the gear it’s very reasonable (like $15 for 3,000 bbs and you’re good).
You can go as inexpensive as you’d like. An Double Eagle pump from Amazon ($27)
If you want something fancier, and much faster (like 20 bbs / second), $180 will get you a solid gun (Lancer Tactical Gen 3): You’ll need some equipment: bbs (.25 or .28, biodegradable is best), battery, eye protection, mask. better magazine for options 2 and 3, something to load magazine