game Archives - Mommy Kat and Kids

Make Time For Family Fun and Bonding This October with Tips and Games from Mattel-Giveaway #PlayAdvocate

October 26, 2015 by Kathryn 91 Comments

October is one busy month, and making time for connecting with family isn’t always easy. That’s why my family and I have started a weekly game night so that even during the busiest weeks, we can spend an hour or so talking, playing and laughing together. Mattel understands the importance of family time, so the company has five great tips to help your family connect no matter how busy your lives get!

Start Traditions.

It’s never too late to create new family traditions this fall season. One of the best ways to create a tradition that ensures your family is spending quality time together, rather than just being in the same room together, is to play a game everyone will enjoy. Fun and interactive games like Card N Go Seek™ and Bounce-Off™ offer an exciting and engaging game that your family will be excited to play. Try breaking out the same game, or dedicating a game “time” at your next fall family gathering and make it a tradition for the years to come! [Read more…]

Introduce Kids to a World of Fun and Learning with the Safari Tales App

September 18, 2015 by Kathryn 25 Comments

When it comes to relaxing and unwinding after school, both of my boys love spending an hour or so playing video games. And while I don’t mind that, I do prefer that they do something to enrich their minds if possible…as long as they’re still having fun, that is! So when I learned about Safari Tales, an iOS, Android and Amazon app from Kuato Studios that combines engaging gameplay with literacy skills, I couldn’t wait to see what it was like.

The fact that this game, created by the same developers as the award-winning Dino Tales app, featured baby animals was something I especially loved. My youngest son adores animals, so a game that let him play and interact with a baby lion, elephant or giraffe was something that I knew he would enjoy. I downloaded the app on my iPad, entered Benjamin’s name and reading age and let my son sit down to play.

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Connect with Your Family with 3 Tips for the Best MATTEL Family Game Night-Giveaway

August 2, 2015 by Kathryn 124 Comments

It’s a pretty common fact that summer is the perfect time for kids to try all kinds of new adventures and activities, since they have a lot more free time. But with all the fun options available during the warm months, making sure to take time for family bonding is important too!

In my opinion, there’s nothing better than a family game night for spending quality time together and connecting with one another. So implementing a weekly night of games is a great way to add some extra fun to the summer season. For a successful game night that will get both kids and adults excited, these three tips from MATTEL Games are a great starting point!

Prepare your space.

Transform your everyday living room into the ultimate game room! This can be as easy as ensuring there are enough cozy seats for everyone who is playing, turning on background music that is upbeat but not distracting and setting up a variety of delicious snacks. These small changes will show your little ones that you’re taking the game night, and family time, seriously. [Read more…]

Give the Gift of Classic Fun with Rubik’s Cubes and Pro Packs-Giveaway

December 12, 2014 by Kathryn 154 Comments

For forty years, The Rubik’s Cube has been a top gift choice during the holiday season. The best-selling puzzle in history provides endless hours of entertaining fun for kids of all ages, even though it’s generally sure to inspire some frustration as well! And this year, in celebration of the cube’s 40th Anniversary, Rubik’s is making a good thing even better with a new design and even some fabulous new-to-Canada products!

The Rubik’s Original Cube looks just like the one you remember from your childhood, but it’s had some noticeable upgrades! First of all, a brand new mechanical design makes turning the cube smoother and faster. And there are no worries about faded tiles or peeling stickers with this cube. The all-plastic design ensures that the colours are always bright and stay in place!

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Big Fish Games is Celebrating Midnight Castle on iOS with an iPad Mini Giveaway

March 20, 2014 by Paresh Pandya 2 Comments

Relaxing with a good computer game is one of those things that just instantly distracts and relaxes me, so I always enjoy testing out new games. Midnight Castle by Big Fish Games was released a few months ago as a free game for the PC and it was so popular that the company just today released it for iOS on the iPad as well. This hidden object adventure game begins as you find out you’ve just inherited a magnificent estate from your uncle, who met his demise under mysterious circumstances. Your goal is to enter the castle and solve the mystery behind your uncle’s fate. Along the way, you meet and interact with a variety of colourful (and some supernatural) characters. Each person sends you on mini quests before they’ll help you on your journey.

The game is beautifully rendered with incredible detail and lush colours. Each scene really sets the mood, but the plot can be a little overwhelming too. As the game progresses, new features unlock and more quests are added for you to monitor and keep track of. Quests become cross-linked, so in order to progress you need to complete all the parallel tasks handed to you by your would-be allies. [Read more…]

The GS Preschool Games App Will Provide Hours of Free Fun for Preschool Kids

January 8, 2014 by Kathryn 26 Comments

With both an Android smartphone and an Android tablet in my household, I use quite a few different apps. In addition to a large number of practical and social media apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Evernote, I also download numerous entertainment apps and games. Some are downloaded because I find them fun and diverting personally, but most I put on my devices so that when we’re away from the house and my boys are restless or bored, I have a way of entertaining them.

Zackary, at seven years old, is pretty easy to occupy. In fact, he likes many of the same games I do, so finding apps he enjoys is no problem at all. But Benjamin, at only four, is a different story. Finding high-quality games for preschoolers is harder than one might think and while he often wants to play the more complicated games his brother favours, he quickly gets frustrated when he can’t complete the different levels. Of course, I also love choosing games that have some educational value and that makes finding an appropriate app for Benjamin even more difficult.

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Racing is a Blast with New Angry Birds GO! Telepods Sets from Hasbro-Giveaway

December 15, 2013 by Kathryn 74 Comments

If you have kids that love Angry Birds in your house, you’re probably already familiar with the huge collection of Angry Birds toys, games and merchandise available. But now, birds and pigs are facing off in a whole new way with Angry Birds GO! Telepods! These fun new sets feature race tracks and karts that power through obstacles in a mission to beat the pigs once and for all. Even better, the sets include a Telepods base that lets you teleport your kart into the new Angry Birds GO! App for even more fun!

I received the Angry Birds GO! Telepods Pig Rock Raceway set to review and I knew my oldest son, a huge fan of both Angry Birds and racing, would absolutely love it. The set contains two karts featuring favourite Angry Birds characters, a track, three pig heads and the Telepods base. We set up the track and got racing!

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Get Competitive and Host a Mattel #GameOnParty Night-Giveaway

September 23, 2013 by Kathryn 149 Comments

It can be hard sometimes to take a break from the rush of school and work to spend time having fun with loved ones, but if there’s one way to ensure a night of laughter and great bonding, it’s a game night! And whether you love lots of socializing, plenty of activity or witty banter, Mattel has tons of great board games that will be perfect for your next game night with family or friends!

Recently Mattel challenged me to host a Mattel Game On! party and sent me a fabulous Game On! party pack to help with the fun. I started by taking the adorable Gameology quiz on Facebook and learning that when it comes to games, I’m a Strategicorn, a careful planner that believes thinking things through can result in victory in any game. As a result, my party pack was filled with games perfect for a strategist including Mad Gab, Phase 10 and Apples to Apples. But because I’d planned a party involving my extended family including younger children, there were also strategy games for all ages including the fun and kid-friendly Kerplunk.

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