Jenga Game Fun Tweak For the Sandwich Generation Granny Nanny and Grandchildren

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Yesterday was National Grandparents Day 2011. The history of Grandparents Day is fairly recent, actually. It was created in 1978 by order of President Jimmy Carter, but many people, including myself, didn't even really hear about it for many years after. Fast forward to 33 years later and it's still not a holiday on the same level as Mother's Day or Father's Day but it can certainly be another sweet opportunity grandparents and grandchildren to enjoy each other's company. So what did the Sandwich Generation granny nanny DO about Grandparents Day, you might ask? Enjoy grandkids, of course. Several of them, over the course of the whole weekend, from going to church with one sweet young grandboy to a lovely chat with a long distance grand-princess. 🙂

Over the weekend, my grandson and I also enjoyed playing one of the Milton Bradley games together – the Jenga game to be specific. We had such a fun time playing it pretty much according the official Jenga rules, with a couple of minor modifications we mutually agreed upon. (If you'd like the official rules so you know how to play Jenga, you can just click here.) After a few of the traditional games, my grandson had an intriguing idea.

He divided the Jenga blocks into two exact piles and we each built our own Jenga tower. Then, we took turns pulling the blocks out, like usual, except that he was working on his tower and I worked on mine. Even though they weren't as tall, this was still quite challenging and he loved it when he beat me at it two games out of three. It seemed to add to the "spice" of the game for him and I enjoyed it as well. I also had fun giving it an educational flavor by discussing "load-bearing" and what that meant. And helping him think through why different pieces of wood pulled out easier than the other. Overall, we had a great time, and his new idea was a big hit!

So, if you have a Jenga game of your own, are only playing with one grandchild (or have more than one set of Jenga blocks) and are looking for different challenges, you might give this a try. A fun challenge for grandparents and their grandchildren – in AND out of the Sandwich Generation.

P.S. No Jenga blocks of your own? If you'd like to get your own, or see more about this fun and interesting game for all ages, just click here. 🙂