WAITING-ROOM GAMES
Prevent kids from getting antsier than necessary at the doctor or dentist with these time-passing strategies.
Doctor's Office Distraction: Paper Play Mat
With their popular pediatrician often running late, Bethany Lyons of Greene, Maine, and her son, Ashton, age 4½, do a lot of waiting in the exam room. To keep things lively, they use crayons to draw play mats on the exam table paper. "We're not totally artistic, but we can come up with some pretty good roads," says Bethany. They decorate their mini villages with barricades, stop signs, rivers, parking lots, and police stations. Ashton then goes to town, exploring the neighborhood with the toy cars he brings along.
Waiting Room Challenge: Magazine Search
As a teenager, Tia Ward of Denton, Texas, spent a lot of time waiting in doctor's offices with her younger brother, who needed weekly allergy shots. To pass the time, she invented a game she now uses with her own kids. Tia lets each child choose a magazine, then she calls out something for the players to find in their magazine's pages -- a red car, a dessert, a swimming pool. She keeps an eye out for future search items during each round and sometimes helps by offering the page number. Bonus: "They're ages 3 and 4, and it's helping them learn those double digits," says Tia.
