Here is a compilation of NDS Games for boys, Girls and Nintendo DS games for younger kids

Nintendo DS Games for Boys:

Mario Party DS This is a new release based on the popular Mario Party series- and the first to come out for Nintendo DS. It is a TON of fun and you have option to play wireless with other kids from around the world. This is good game for both girls AND boys.

Luxor: Pharaoh’s Challenge This has all kids of puzzle game. If you are familiar with Zuma and other Popcap games this is similar. The puzzle all have an Ancient Egypt theme. Also good for both boys and girls. This came out this week and we rented it. Not what I thought it would be- ton of puzzle games set in Ancient Egypt. Great for kids who like Brain Academy, etc. Another good for both boys and girls if kids share games.

Yoshi’s Island DS Very , very popular Nintendo DS game. It is considered one of the the top ten games for NDS of all time. Girls don’t like it as much as boys…

New Super Mario Bros. Classic Mario Brothers stuff. Based on the original Super Mario Bros, game for Super Nintendo. One of the top games and great for both girls and/or boys.

Metroid Prime Hunters Very high cool factor – you have option to play with others wirelessly. with wireless function.

Pokemon Diamond The is the most popular and best selling game for Nintendo DS- along with Pokemon Pearl. If you don’t own it all ready- get it.

Pokemon Pearl See above.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Vampires set in scary castle.

Sonic Rush Just release. NDS game featurug Sonic the Hedgehog.
Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol for Nintendo DS Very addictive Nintendo DS game. Good for both boys and girls.

Mario Kart really really neat can race others players worldwide with wireless feature.

Nintendo DS Bundles (Game Console with game)
Nintendo DS Lite Gold with Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (NDS Bundle)
Nintendo DS Lite Crimson & Black with Brain Age 2

Nintendo DS Lite Onyx Black

More Nintendo DS Games For Children- Good Nintendo DS Games For Girls

very popular Nintendo DS game for girls : High School Musical
Can’t escape her.. Hannah Montana Nintendo DS Game This is just enormously popular- lslap Hannah Montana’s name on something and girls go nuts for it. Depending on child this is good for ages 7-10 -ish. Older girls may not like this as much.
CRAZY popular. Good for girls 8-12 years.

Master of Illusion Do Magic tricks on your Nintendo DS.. nt sure how this works or how you cold be tricked my a visoe game(!) but this is selling very well.

Zoo Hospital- For any girl who is into animals this is really good. Has a lot of play value.

Pocket Pets (Dogs, Cats, Hamsters more) This just game out… you can look after and “feed” , cats, guinea pigs, rabbits. This will be a slam dunk gift for girl who like to take care of animal kind of fuzzy creature.

American Girl: Julie Finds a Way From the American Girls” book series- I am thinking if it does well they wil continue to relaese more Nintendo DS games based on the series.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass For girls you like playing the RPG-type games ( role playing). This isan excellent NDS game has good play value. Good for older girls- 10-16 years old.

Boogie Lots of “mini-games” and my kids have been begging for this one.

Mario Party DS a safe bet- this is an excellent game. Probably one of the best games of the year for Nintendo DS.

Nintendogs (Chihuahua) DS This is a HUGE favourite, and one she will pick up and play a lot. Probably her most played game in last year. This is older game and will be a HUGE hit if you are lloking for Nintendo DS game for 8-10 year girl. Any of the Nintendogs series and good to go.

Cooking Mama. This was good – sounds more boring than it is- you use the Nintendo DSstylus to “cook” meals and meet cooking challenges. This was a bonus as my 4 year old son ooves to watch her play… so they enjoyed on long road trip to Florida last year. Again- very fun- good for 8-10 year olds..

Animal Crossing Very popular with girls, good for 8-12 years.

This list is updated regularly. My kids are WAY into video games as are most of their homeschooling friends. I am a big believer in video games being a part of learning- as much a reading or crafts or math, etc. I am as happy for my kids to read a book as I am when they are playing together on their Wii.

The latest and hottest Nintendo DS Games

New Release NDS Games

Luxor: Pharaoh’s Challenge

Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2008

Left Brain, Right Brain

Master of Illusion

Pocket Pets (Dogs, Cats, Hamsters more)

American Girl: Julie Finds a Way

Strawberry Shortcake II for Nintendo DS

Boogie

The Golden Compass

Coming Soon:
Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command

Wow- where was this when GIANT cardboard boxes were common place. I remember building elaborate forts in my backyard from refrigerator boxes.. and making plans to “live” there indefinitely and BEGGING my parents to let me sleep there overnight. I even remember rigging up electricity and putting lights in one of them .

This is VERY cool- the site has plan for making your own cardboard castle. They are very well thought out elaborate and in my mind this is the quintessential homeschooling project. The kit includes Rivets , knife for cutting and plans.

http://www.mrmcgroovys.com/p-13-cardboard-castle-kit.aspx

A good list of recommendations for the current most popular board games- this list is updated often.
The list includes favourites like Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan, as well as some you may not have heard of…

If you are homeschooling your kids and they have been asking to learn cursive writing, don’t botthre buying expensive worksheets. There are many sites online that offer free downloads that you can print of cursive writing worksheets.

You can also use MS Word or similar to print out sheets with cursive font on them. If you don’t have a “cursive” style font installed you can get a free font here If you know of others or better- let me know and I will happily post.
Here is a list of sites that have free cursive writing worksheets.

Cursive Writing WorkSheets and Printables Sites

Handwriting for Kids These are PERFECT. Blank pages with the traditional red and blue lines- and available in different heights. Also excellent worksheets for each individual letter.

Handwriting for Kids These are PERFECT. Blank pages with the traditinal red and blue lines- and avialble in different hieghts. Also excellent worksheets for each indiviual letter.

Exceptional worksheets here at Kidzone.ws They offer workseets by age/skill level.

ABC Teach offers Zaner=Boser printables

It Advent calendar ( or is that avent calender??: ) )time at Neopets. Neopets are a GREAT way for kids to learn to read and practice math skills. What dofference does it make if they are doing addition and multiplication from a dry textbook or in an online game? None, except one is more fun .
For those of you play Neopets – go daily to get your new items !

http://www.neopets.com/winter/adventcalendar.phtml

Saturday, December 1st, 2007

You get 920 Neopoints , a Neohome Heater and a Snowager Cap

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007

You get 489 Neopoints, , Quilt Cape and a Kougra Defender Action Figure

Monday, December 3rd, 2007

You get 328 Neopoints , a Snot Holiday Tree and a Snot Ladder

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 neo Pet Advent Calendar prizes

You get 238 Neopoints , Shining Star Tree Topper and Fir Cookies

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

You get 934 Neopoints, Sliding Bruce Plushie and an Ice Garland

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

You get 732 Neopoints , Snow Yooyu Plushie and a Snow Splat

Friday, December 7th, 2007
You get 859 Neopoints and Gift Wrapped Presents

Saturday, December 8th, 2007
You find 203 Neopoints, a Homemade Gingerbread House, and a Pet Pop-up Card
Sunday, December 9th, 2007
You find 859 Neopoints, Directors Slate, and toolbox

Monday, December 10th, 2007
You find 904 Neopoints , a Christmas Arkmite and a Seaweed Garland.
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
You find 839 Neopoints, You find Smores, and a Fiery Marshmallow Hat

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
You find 483 Neopoints, Meepit Carols, and a Christmas Wocky Plushie.

I have ALWAYS since I was a little girl been fascinated by miniatures, and when I was a teen I first saw a picture of a Faberge egg and literally lost my breath- it was absolute perfection. The eggs have everything- mystery, jewels, royalty, money. romance and beauty. Tomorrow Christie’s auction house in London will be auctioning off the Rothschild egg- called that because it was commissioned by the Rothschild banking family.

Rothschild’s Faberge Egg Up for Auction

The egg- set to go up for auction November 28 at Christie’s is unusual for several reasons. It was previously “unknown”. Before 2007, it was never publicly documented, and had never before been seen in public It one of only 12 ever made for some one outside the royal Russian family and the egg not only has working clock- but when it chimes the rooster “cluck”
The egg is HIGHLY desirable and will go for record setting amounts. Some figures predicted have been in the 18-20 million range. I personally think it will go for much more- maybe even over 30 million dollars.

The Faberge eggs have universal appeal- My daughter is enthralled by them. From a homeschooling viewpoint Faberge eggs are a good way to introduce history an talk about the Russian Royal family. The eggs are a good way to explain frustrations felt by the Russian masses as the starved in the cold – while these eggs were being commissioned as Easter gifts year after year.

The story of Rasputin, Peter the Great and the Royal Princesses will intrigue most kids

Some Ideas for “Lesson Plans” using the Faberge Eggs-

Draw Your Own egg- what colors would you use? What kind of jewels? Who would you make it for? Would it do anything or hold a secret surprise inside like the Faberge ones do? There is no wrong answer- use your imaginations. Get out the pencil crayon and crayons and go to town!
Here are some pictures of some of my favorite eggs- use them inspiration. below is Youtube video of the newest egg- and maybe my favorite:-)

Newest “Rothschild’s Faberge Egg”

Gorgeous “lily of the Valley” Faberge Egg

Video of Newest and Uknown “Rothschild’s Faberge Egg”

More Info about Faberge eggs:

For Kids ( and Adults!) Who want to learn more about Faberge Eggs

http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Faberge/eggs.html

PBS Lesson Plan for Faberge Eggs ( very structured): http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/a_nav/ed_nav/level_1/ed_faberge_frm.html

http://eeuropeanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/fabergeeggs

Wow- Talk about time beeing sucked into a black hole! I discovered this site earlier in the week, www.stardoll.com. it is basically “virtual” paper dolls. There are dolls of Dylan and Zack Sprouse, Rhianna, The Olsen twins, etc. And they have a closet of clothes you can dress them up in. They have quite a few free ones and then you can pay for others.
My kids have been playing this for HOURS each week..

This site has put together a list of best wii games for girls. With brief description of games and best age the Wii game is suited for

Massively-multiplayer online role-playing game = MMORPG

Silk Road – is a free MMORPG. The game is based on the historical Silk Road and involves commerce and strategy. Silk Road reproduces the Silk Road in China and combines realism with fantasy. Silkroad Online a neat premise that throws you in the middle of the time in history that revolved around trading on the Silk Route.

Toontown Online ( Disney) : Very kid friendly and kids can play from around 6 years old.

Runescape The Grand-daddy of free online MMORPGs. Still HUGELY popular- and free

City of Heroes

Renaissance Kingdoms : Free web-based MMO, Renaissance Kingdoms takes place in a realistic environment: Western Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. The player starts as a tramp that has to get rich, famous in his community, in order to take power and lead the destinies of thousands of players. But he can also prefer to become a monk and enters a cloister or a travel through the many cities of the Kingdoms to sell products on the markets, as a merchant.