Link That Stuff

Link That Stuff

Required:

• Common household items

One way or another, you can find links between even the most seemingly unrelated objects. Here's how to turn those links into great fun.

Place several objects in front of your child and ask him or her to describe how they might be connected. For example, the objects might be a green marker, a set of chopsticks, and a toy dinosaur. How do they relate? Well, green is the color of plants, chopsticks are made of wood (typically), which comes from plants, and many dinosaurs were herbivores (and those that weren't ate their plant-eating buddies).

You can vary the difficulty by changing the number of items involved or by setting a time limit for making the connections. Another alternative is to award points for each link made and subtract points for items that can't be folded into the explanation. To reduce competition, kids can compete against their own best scores, rather than against each other. Or they can work together to boost the family's score. In yet a third variation, players walk around the house, randomly pointing to objects that must be linked together.

Ready? What's the connection between this book, your socks, and your toothbrush?