doing fun stuff with kids

[diebitter]

Okay, wondered what stuff you parents/uncles/aunts do that you wouldn't do if you didn't have kids to look after/entertain?

I have 3 children, 2 boys (Ages 11 and 7) and a girl (4), and with children you end up doing stuff you wouldn't ever go out of your way to do by choice. However, sometimes it's a hell of a lot of fun.

I got a fish tank, for example, to try and deflect the constant request for kittens, puppies, hamsters and suchlike (not that it worked much - my little girl has progressed to requesting ponies).

However, one thing my boys have got into heavily at the moment is a thing called 'warhammer' - which is a sort of game that's a bit like dungeons and dragons in that it involves dice and little models, but is more based around battles than quests. You have 2 opposing armies, you throw dice to determine each part of the battle, and it's sort of fun (if you don't mind constantly referring to manuals as you play to work out the complex rules).

Anyway, that's only part of it. The thing they like best is that the armies are made up of models you collect, paint, etc with many different characters/types/etc. You can also build battlefields to play on, and decorate it with your own adornments (such as buildings, hills, trees and suchlike).

Sooooo....I built a battlefield and some adornments.

Here are the stages of building the battlefield:

1) get the wood. 6 feet by about 3.5 feet, and an inch thick:



Paint it both sides with wood primer to seal it (so I can take it indoors for playing without bare wood)



Cover one sidewith glue and put fine sand on it (for texture)



Once the glue dries, paint it with brown emulsion


Finally, stick on the pretend grass (we run out of the grass to completely cover it [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]):




We also have many sets of characters/armies, and odds and ends left over from sets, so we cannibalised the remains of a few sets in order to build a graveyard adornment. I painted the gravestones and spears and empaled giant's head with my boys.

I cut out a piece of hardwoard about 15 inces by 15 inches. here it is already painted like the table, with some spaces to stick the trees on:



and with the trees:




and here's various shots of it once done (I had to do the closer work without flash, so it's quite dark). I include dice to give you an idea of scale.






Finally, my little girl also got sort of excited about all the models, and kept asking for 'warhammer', so I bought her a little miniature of Arwen from Lord of the Rings, and painted it for her, below. (I included the dice to give a sense of size). Sorry the flash one is not focussed, I couldn't do any better, so I include a darker one to make the features clear.








This has actually been a ton of fun, and not something I'd ever do alone in a million years. I just hope after all this building, my kids enjoy the game and want to use the battlefield! (It takes a while to learn all the rules, and we're still beginners at it).


So, any stories about what you've done when looking after kids?

Fun as Hell, or just Hell, either is good.

[The X-Factor]

DB,

This looks awesome but you have way too much time on your hands to be doing something like this. I give you a 10 for effort! I hope the kids enjoyed because I know if I put that much time and effort into something like this I would be upset if they didnt. Again, looks awesome. Nice work.

X

[SoloAJ]

I have no kids. But I do have two little sisters that are 9 and 10 and they would love something like this. Actually, a friend of the family built them two doll houses from Christmas...in a project somewhat similar to this (without the crazy battle adornments).

I think stuff like this really makes good memories for young children. While they won't remember all memories like this necessarily...if they look back fondly on just one..I think it can really have positive effects on kids as they go through the hellish years of teen-time.

PS. Awesome work DB.

[Sniper]

DB tell the kids that "Uncle" Sniper is coming across the pond to play some warhammer... nicely done...

[rothko]

no similar stories to add (i love playing legos with my nephew), but wanted to say this was cool of you to spend the time on this with your kid.

[Runkmud]

Wow DB, that's awesome, you're kids are lucky to have you.

When I was a kid, from around 5 til I was 9 or 10, every Christmas my dad would set up a huge Lionel train set up. It was probably 10'x 10' with two stories, tunnels and towns, the whole kit and kaboodle. He would set it up at the beginning of December and tear it down at the end of January. Man I wanted to play with that thing all year, but in a way it was great, we never took it for granted and waited for it every year.

[Autocratic]

Having fun with kids is easy.

"Hey Timmy, over here."



::click::

[diebitter]

[ QUOTE ]
DB,

This looks awesome but you have way too much time on your hands to be doing something like this. I give you a 10 for effort! I hope the kids enjoyed because I know if I put that much time and effort into something like this I would be upset if they didnt. Again, looks awesome. Nice work.

X

[/ QUOTE ]

All this spans quite a lot of hours over 3 weekends. Just finding and buying the stuff took a fair while. Like. no one sells brown emulsion.

[katyseagull]

Db that is awesome. I think your kids are lucky to have such a nice dad. I wish my dad had done stuff like that with me. I would have loved it.

Parents who spend time with their kids are cool. One of my favorite memories of my mom is when I was in the 2nd grade and sick at home. She took the time to play with me. I've always remembered it because she sat on the floor and taught me how to do oragami and make paper flowers. Good memories.

[Tennenbaum]

You are an AWESOME dad!!