Best Classroom Game EVER

Whew! Bet some of you are surprised to see a post from me pop up in your blog roll, huh? :)

For those of you who didn't know, I took on a new (and VERY time-consuming) role at church and had to put this blog on the temporary back burner.

BUT...

I discovered this fun little gem the other day that I just had to share with you guys and thus, here I am with a long-overdue teaching tip.

The Game:

I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old. 

Needless to say, a trip to the restaurant is not the low-maintenance experience that it was 4 years ago. Parents of preschoolers will know that the hardest part of eating out is the hours minutes of waiting before the food comes. 

Such was our life. Then I saw an idea on Pinterest that I had to try. It was a game called Left Right Center and it's the trifecta of family games: 

1. Almost any age can play and enjoy it.
2. It's a sit-down, sorta quiet kind of game.
3. It's small enough to put in your purse for- you guessed it- those occasional restaurant waiting times.

I tested it out for the first time at a restaurant this week and be.still.my.beating.heart, it worked. Kids stayed seated. There was no throwing of the utensils on the floor. No neighboring customers got their hair pulled (though my 2 year old did having  staring contest with one). No yelling at the top of their lungs.

And you know what the first thing this teacher-turned-stay-at-home-mom thought? Why didn't I have this when I was teaching?!

{via}

So of course, I immediately started brainstorming ways I could use Left Right Center in my {future} classroom....

How To Use It In Your Classroom:

Field Trips: Keep a stash of these tiny games in your field trip bag. When the kids have some downtime where they have to wait for an event to start, let them spread out in groups of 3-5 and play this game.

                {See more tips on maintaining the peace on field trip tips here.}

Early Finishers: Since it is a very quiet game, Left Right Center is perfect for that group of early finishers to play in the corner while their classmates finish up their work.

Indoor Recess: Twenty-something kids in a classroom having free-time can go downhill fast, but this game is a sit-still, semi-quiet, but totally entertaining kind of game. Win-win-win!

                 {Need more fun indoor recess games? Check out this post.}

The games are pretty cheap to begin with, but I found a set of three on Amazon that would save you some money if you were thinking of buying a few sets for your class. Every penny counts, right?

Fun Little Idea:

Instead of the plastic chips, we've used mini marshmallows, Teddy Grahams, or Goldfish crackers. The winner gets to eat their winnings.

Oh, and I was not compensated for writing this post by the makers of LCR... I just really like their product :)

Have you played Left Right Center before? What did you think?