"This game is for ages 3+"

Three and up? Memory? ppsssshhht.

About a year ago, KMart had a sale on some classic children's games. My mom and I hit the sale and got Dont Break the Ice, Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, Memory, and a few others, at $5 each. Several have been given as birthday gifts for family or friends, but I saved a few that I KNEW Whitney would love.

In the same trip, I randomly grabbed the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD. I had heard nothing about the DVD prior to bringing it home, but I figured it wouldnt hurt to expose Whitney to the letters and their sounds, even at a young age.  I am quickly realizing that the one trip I made to KMart in the last ten years was likely the most productive shopping trip I've ever made. 

Ive bragged about Whitney's ability to recognize the letters of the alphabet AND tell you the sound they make. I can definitely attribute this to that Letter Factory DVD. It is 26 minutes long, was $8, and I played it once a day, a few days a week. I never "practiced" with her. I never shoved it down her throat, and in fact, some days I wasnt even sure she was listening, as it was sort of on as "background noise". But that silly song stuck in her pretty little head, and she knew the ABCs by the time she was one year old.  At 16 months, Whitney still loves the Letter Factory, and has even learned to recognize numbers and count to 10 from the other Leap Frog products and DVDs.

The other great find that day was the "Memory" game.  I didnt pull it out until this week, and I wasnt even convinced the first try at it was a success...but I whipped it out again today, and Whitney was a rock star.
I didnt try to make her match the pairs, as the instructions direct. But I brought it down to Whitney's level, and we had SOOO much fun.
I started with two cards.  I showed her the pictures on the cards and named them.
"Whitney, this is a DOG and this is a SHOE. See the dog? See the shoe?"
Then I flipped the cards face down and asked her, "Whitney, which card shows the DOG?"

Whitney got it right 100% of the time.  And we tried this a LOT. I thought it was a fluke. I mean, there are only two cards and she has a 50% chance of getting it right each time. We both sort of got bored with it when we went through all the cards in the deck, so I put it away.  Until today.

We tried it again with two cards.  She got them all right.  So, I added in a third card.  I lined up three cards, face up.  Showed her each picture and named it.  Most of the time she could name the objects before I even told her.
"TRAIN!! choo choo!"...."BUG!"....."GIRL!"....."BALL!"......."DOG! woo woo woo!"
She's smart....but "watermelon" is still a tough word. :)

She would look at the cards study the cards intently, waiting for me to flip them face down.  I flipped them over so she couldnt see the pictures,  and she would dance like she had ants in her pants until I asked her to find a certain picture.  Then, she would squeal and bounce up and down when she grabbed the right card. Im not sure who was having more fun!!?!

Let's play, Mommy!!

"girl.....apple.....cat.....okay, got it!!"

Studying round three. :)

Mommy, can I pick the card up yet?!??

HERE it is!!!!

High Fives!!

This is funnnnn, Mommy! Let's keep playing!!

I was sooo excited when Whitney tugged at my legs as I cleaned up dinner. She looked up at me, smiled, and asked, "Game?!" then ran out of sight, headed for the game I had left on the table in her playroom. We played a few more rounds of Memory before it was bed time.  I love making memories with her :)