Jenn Writes

Writing my way through life, one word at a time.

Board games I like for kids on the Spectrum.

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Last week I blogged about how I use board games to help teach turn taking skills to kids with ASD. I’ve been asked what games I recommend and while I have some general guidelines and games that I always try out, not every game will be a hit with every kid.  I mentioned last time that Chutes and Ladders can be tricky as there is an element of chance in it, but it doesn’t have any text to read (a great thing in a kid’s game) and some kids really love the game. Some games come in character variant like Dora the Explorer or Transformers so that they engage kids’ interest. If you can find a game the child is interested in, that’s half the battle right there – they’ve bought in.  So, what games do I have in my stash for kids with ASD? It’s probably not what you’d expect.

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Board Games I Love

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I admit it, I’m a board game fanatic.  Luckily I have a great group of friends who also love playing board games and we get together 1-2 nights a month to play.  I own a lot of games myself, and though there is some duplication in collections (Many of us own Settlers of Catan for ourselves, along with Dominion and Carcassonne) I’d say that between all of us we have at least 500 unique games / add ons to games / variants of games. That’s a LOT of choices – though some get played very rarely (I’m looking at you Risk and Axis and Allies). Board games are my favourite choice for a night out with friends since it’s social without being in a loud restaurant or at a movie and I don’t have to have pre-read a book like at book club. [Read more…]

Book Review – Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson

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I’m a historian, and as such, I’m generally leery of reading historical fiction set in the time period I studied – World War One.  Small inaccuracies can drive me crazy.  Especially ones that I consider to be lazy – when the author didn’t do his or her research and messed up dates or places. Or when they have a character write a letter from France and their loved one in England gets it within days.  That rarely happens now, it sure as heck didn’t happen with a war going on and mail being censored.  [Read more…]

Book review – Juliet’s Nurse by Lois Leveen

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The Roman Philosopher Marcus Aurelius said that: “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth”. This is true even of the greatest works of fiction. The stories we know and love come to us from one perspective – that which the author has chosen to give us. Major characters are (usually) well developed and minor characters are often not given a second thought by the reader. [Read more…]

The Book Lover’s Ball – After Dark

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I’m a classic introvert – I love to spend an evening curled up with a good book and with my BlackBerry at my side.  That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy going out but it’s not something I *have* to do.  Still, when my awesome friend Wanda Lynne Young posted a contest for the Book Lover’s Ball After Dark party on the Bookalicious blog on the Yummy Mummy Club website I had to enter. I’ve spent many a day at the Toronto Reference Library and the chance to spend an evening there was too good to pass up!

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