Speedy Word-Guessers

Directions:

As this activity will show, if you have a pencil and a paper napkin or place mat (or a note pad), you're all set to pass some time until the waiter or waitress takes your order or brings your food to the table. (It's actually a take-off on the old "hangman" game, but in honor of the meal-time spirit, we've done away with the unpleasant metaphor.)

Find a word on a menu, a sign on the wall, a decoration, advertising placard, and so on. Then draw enough blank lines for each letter. The players then take turns offering letters. Write down each correct letter in its proper place. For each incorrect guess, you write down a letter, in sequence, of the restaurant's name.

The object is for your kids to figure out the word before you spell out the entire name of the restaurant. (Note: If the name is exceptionally short or long, you might want to offer another name or word that you'll use to record incorrect guesses.) The person who finishes the round gets to choose the next word, and the game continues—until the food arrives, at which point EVERYONE is a winner!

More on: Games for the Whole Family

Excerpted from:

© 2005 by Steve and Ruth Bennett. Excerpted from 365 Unplugged Family Fun Activities with permission of its publisher, Perseus Books Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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