Pumpazing is a newish game from Drummond Park. It has various play options, making it suitable for different age groups and is good for getting children running around a bit too, although that's not the original aim of the game.

Pumpazing (£19.99) consists of a blue round 'man' called Zingy with extendable arms, and pull out hair or Zingers and a few Zinger cards.

The 'hair' are actually balls with faces on them, that slot into the Pumpazing 'machine' Zingy.

In order to play the game, each player takes a turn 'pumping' Zingy's arms in and out, and at random, the hair things shoot out. As each one launches it makes one of three sounds, 'boing', 'zing' or 'uh-oh'.

There are two ways to play the game. 

Amazon are selling this Hello Kitty version of Twister for £7.13 instead of £13.99 - just a quick word of warning though: they've already been messing around with the price, so if you think you'd like it, don't wait too long before adding it to your basket...unless, of course, playing Amazon price roulette does it for you!

• Click HERE to take a look at Hello Kitty Twister*

My youngest niece will be celebrating her fifth birthday at the end of April and she adores anything Hello Kitty.  I think, therefore, that it's time she was introduced to the wonderful world of Twister via her favourite little cat.

Personally, I'm not fussed about Hello Kitty but I DO love a good game of Twister - it's provided much hilarity over the years, from when I was a little girl, through to college days and then after dinner parties after a fair amount of wine had been consumed.

Apart from the giggles it produces when everyone is about to come crashing down, Twister, in any form, is nice and simple, doesn't require any batteries and requires players to GET OFF the sofa, and this version is exactly the same as traditional Twister, it just features Hello Kitty images on the mat and spinner.

Thanks to carloszoe1982 at HUKD

Morning!  Sainsbury's are selling this Orchard Toys Monster Bingo for £7.49 instead of £9.99 - only a little discount, but a little discount all the same!

• Click HERE to take a look at Orchard Toys Monster Bingo *

Now listen, if I tell you something you have to promise not to tell anyone else...okay?  PROMISE?!  I am a secret bingo fan!!

I've never been to a bingo hall to play bingo, but my nan and granddad took the whole family away years and years ago (I was 14, that's how many years ago it was!) and one of the scheduled events was...BINGO!   My mum actually won that evening and it was rather fun.

So whilst I wouldn't be seen dead setting foot inside a Gala Bingo place (or playing on line with Babs Windsor for that matter!), I'm rather partial to bingo games like this Orchard Toys Monster Bingo.

Using bingo principles, your youngster will get to grips with shapes and colours whilst having a fair bit of fun at the same time - you could also use it to help develop early counting skills too.  The target age range is three years and over and between two and four players can play at once.

You can arrange to collect your Orchard Toys Monster Bingo in-store for free; standard delivery will take between three and five working days, will set you back £3.95 and the sale price is valid until 29 January.

HOUSE! 

JUST in case your child didn't get enough toys and games this morning, John Lewis have discounted Whac-A-Mole Molehill Mania down to £8.40 from £16.95.

• Click HERE to take a look at Whac-A-Mole Molehill Mania *

My youngest son, Edward, LOVES playing Whac-A-Mole and I have to confess...I'm rather partial to it to, especially giant versions at kids' play places!  What can I say?  If you're feeling frustrated, a good game of Whac-A-Mole can relieve all those feelings in a matter of minutes.

Whac-A-Mole Molehill Mania is a new spin on the traditional Whac-A-Mole:

You grab a mallet and bash the lever at the base of the play set. With every wallop, moles fly out of the molehill and onto the ground, which you then have to catch with your special mole-catching mallet

Be the first player to fill your mallet with moles to have your 'mallet' mole reach all the way to the top and win the game. There are three different levels of play, so you can adapt it to suit the whole family; awesome!

Thanks to flyingirl at HUKD

Argos are selling that good old classic, Scrabble, for £11.22 - I've not seen it on sale for this low a price in quite some time; in fact, the last time was over a year ago.

• Click HERE to pick up your own box of Scrabble *

I've written about Scrabble a couple of times before: I love it, my children love it, my mum loves it, my dad loves it and that's all down to my Grandma and Gramps.

My Grandma and Gramps look lovely and mild mannered with their silver hair and their 'grandparent' demeanour BUT, when they sit down to a Scrabble board and get ready to play...they TURN!

GONE are the sweet old people who'd do anything for you, their beloved family, and instead you're faced with the most ruthless wordsmiths who've ever stalked the planet - I kid you not, they're MEAN!

Of course, growing up with those two as my Scrabble adversaries has equipped me with a certain ruthless Scrabble streak of my own; there is only one policy when it comes to getting all  your tiles down on the board first, and with the highest possible score - NO MERCY!

Now, if any of your nearest Argos stores have stock then you can pop along and collect your game of Scrabble - a game or two after Christmas lunch then!  Otherwise you can arrange for home delivery, which will cost you an additional £3.95 and usually takes a couple of days - I've no idea what their delivery time scale's like at the moment, or what it'll be like during Christmas week.

Christmas fun aside: I've found Scrabble a great way to help children with every aspect of word formation, increasing their vocabulary, helping with spellings and generally spending some quality time with them.

Adults and younger children can make up two-man teams, or you can just jump between each child as the 'letter advisor', when they get a little older and want to start trying to work out more for themselves.

Thanks to Issue One at HUKD

OHHHHH my goodness, I'm properly excited!  Argos are selling Giant Pass the Pigs for £12.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at Giant Pass the Pigs *

It's not Argos selling Giant Pass the Pigs for £12.99 that has me excited - it's the fact that Giant Pass the Pigs exists at all!  I've not come across it before and I. WANT. IT!!

I've written lyrical about Pass the Pigs plenty of times before - I STILL believe that whomever dreamt it up had been having a merry old time on the cooking sherry, and it's still one of the games that's the most fun to play.

If you've never played Pass the Pigs, here's a quick piggy 101:

You don't play with dice when you play Pass the Pigs, you roll pigs instead and your objective is to score 100 points before anyone else - how the pigs land determines the number of points you score:  roll a Double Snouter, you score 40 points; roll a trotter and you'll get 5 points.

It won't all be plain sailing though because you need to decide whether to bank your points, and hand the pigs over to the next player, or keep rolling and risk losing them. You see, if you roll a Pig Out you'll lose all your points for that turn; what's worse, roll a Makin’ Bacon and you'll lose ALL your points!

NOW imagine playing that with GIANT inflatable pigs!  My goodness, it would be AWESOME!

Giant Pass the Pigs isn't available for in-store collection (gulp!) but it is up for free home delivery within four days:  four days - if you order today and keep your fingers crossed then you might be lucky and have it in time for Christmas day.

If you don't need it for Christmas day, and are happy for it to arrive when it arrives, then you don't need to cross anything.

Thanks to otdmum at HUKD

It's funny, you know - I still have a hard time getting my head around Marks and Sparks selling games, but sell games they do and they're currently selling the rather cool LEGO Minotaurus game for £8.75 instead of £17.50.

• Click HERE to take a look at the LEGO Minotaurus game *

Based on the Minotaur legend, you have to get your knight(s) to the middle of the maze.  You build the basic maze with the LEGO pieces and then you block your opponents knight(s) by moving the walls of the maze, you can also send in the Minotaur who can move eight places at a time.

There are various ways to change up the game play to suit the time you have available to play and the ages of the little ones you're playing with; awesome, I'm buying it for Edward, my youngest son, but will have to brace myself for losing tantrums!

He loves to play games, you see, but only all the while he's winning and  OHHHHH the tears, tantrums and declarations of, "That's not FAIR!  I'm never playing with you AGAIN!" when he's not.

Edward loves all things LEGO, so even though he'll run the risk of losing this LEGO Minotaurus game I think he'd quite like it; it looks fun!

Thanks to rayne at HUKD

Toys R Us hold the crown for the 'lowest price for Creationary' at the moment - they're selling it for £18.74, rather than £24.99.  Argos are next in line, with their selling price set at £19.96 - if you were to have a mooch around Amazon, you'd find it up for grabs for a whopping £38!

• Click HERE to take a look at Creationary *

Creationary was the hot topic of conversation between myself, Edward (my youngest son) and his dad a couple of night ago - basically, think Pictionary but using LEGO pieces instead! - and whether or not it should  make Edward's 2012 Christmas list.

First you need to roll the dice to select a category: vehicles, buildings, nature or 'things'; next, pick a card and build, according to the category, whatever the word on the card is. You have limited time to build a model which will allow your team mate to guess the word on the card.

There are three levels of difficulty, so youngsters can play along with adults.  I've read a fair few reviews and there is a common theme running through them - adults say the game is HARD, whilst their kids are finding it 'easy' .  Some think it's because their adult brains are trying to make it too complicated where the kids just build the bare minimum to get the guess done - interesting, I thought!

Adult difficulties aside, almost everyone comments on the hilarity that's been enjoyed whilst playing; it sounds like a winner for any LEGO fans to me.

Happy Lego model creating!

Amazon are selling Get Knotted for £35.36, rather than £41.99 - if you've not heard of Get Knotted before, think Twister but for up to 30 players instead of just a few!

• Click HERE to take a look at Get Knotted *

Get Knotted is the sort of game university days are made of; the sort of game that is GREAT when there's a huge gang of you who hang out; the sort of game that's perfect for kids' parties and the sort of game that all Cub, Brownie, Scouts and Girl Guide leaders should have tucked away in their camping activities arsenal.

I wrote about classic Twister late last week - it's such a great game and can you imagine what it would be like playing something similar with up to 30 others?!  I think it would be seriously awesome and absolutely hilarious.

The mat is three meters square and there are two large inflatable dice which will determine which body part must be placed where on the mat.

Here's what a couple of existing owners have to say about Get Knotted:

I bought this product for my daughter's 14th birthday party as something for the kids to do out in the garden. The Twister game is always popular indoors and is a great ice-breaker. The kids were soon screaming with laughter and falling all over each other. They also used it firstly as a picnic mat and then finally poured water on it and used it as a slide (not my idea). A great idea for the summer.

Used for a scouting event It was fantastic and washes easily. A good purchase. :-))))))"So there you go - far too much fun to be had by far too many people.

Happy getting knotted!

Amazon are selling Kerplunk for £7.49 instead of £12.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at Kerplunk *

I'm so happy that Kerplunk is still being made so that the next generation of kids can also enjoy the tension that comes with playing it!  I don't actually remember the first time I played Kerplunk, it always seems to have been in my gaming life, but I distinctly remember always loving it.

If you're not familiar with Kerplunk then here's everything you need to know:

In the box is a clear plastic tower that comes in two halves, then there's a middle section that's full of holes.  You put all the pieces together and fit the tower into the tray, which has four sections - oh, I forgot to tell you that the bottom part of the tower has a hole in it.

Next, you make a 'web' in the middle part of the tower by sliding the straws through the holes, making sure there aren't any big gaps.  Finally, you drop all the marbles into the top part of the tower so they're all balanced on the top.

Now you're ready to PLAY! Each player has to pull a straw out of the middle section whilst trying to not to release too many, if any, marbles - the player who has the least number of marbles at the end, when all the straws have been pulled out, is the winner.

Happy Kerplunking!

Amazon are selling the FABULOUS Twister game for £10.49, rather than £14.99.

• Click HERE to grab your own Twister *

I was going to tell you about a rather awesome Twister rug; yes, that's right, a rug that you can play Twister on - it even has its own spinner built into it.

It was originally a bargain Amazon deal - £20 something, but they've put the price back up to almost £60.  If you really want a Twister rug, then Wilkinsons are currently selling them HERE for £45 - I can't find it any cheaper than that anywhere.

However, if you want to play Twister - but not for £45 - then the original version in the box is your best bet, and if you don't know how to play Twister (well, you never know - there may be a few people out there who don't!) here's a quick Twister 101:

There is a large play mat with a series of four coloured circles on it: red, blue, yellow and green; there is a board with a spinner in the middle and sections for right hand, left hand, right foot and left foot each with the four coloured circles.

When it's your turn, the spinner is spun and if it lands on 'right foot green' you put your right foot on a green circle.  Then it's the next player's turn and they do the same, perhaps they get 'right hand red' - and so it goes on; the winner is the last person standing.

I adore Twister - it's just FAR too much fun: fun for the kids, fun for grown-ups and kids and even more fun after a couple of glasses of wine when the kids have gone to bed on Christmas day, leaving the grown-ups to carry on the festivities.

Happy "right arm GREEN!"

Argos might need to call it the Chad Valley Tension Tower - I call it Jenga.  Potato-'pot-AR-to' if you ask me, but I'm not the game designer or the patent attorney - so for the rest of this post 'Chad Valley Tension Tower' it is and it can be yours for the princely sum of £4.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Chad Valley Tension Tower *

I suppose it's possible you've never played Jenga Chad Valley's Tension Tower before, so here's a quick lesson in 'how to':

1. Stack the wooden blocks three across, then three across the other way until the tower is complete
2. Each player must then remove one block at a time
3. The person who makes the tower fall is the loser

It's a wonderfully simple game and rather awesome - especially after a glass of wine too many after a dinner party when the kids have gone to bed!

Chad Valley Tension Towers are currently out of stock for home delivery - not such a bad thing, it'll save you having to part with an additional £3.95 - so you'll have to arrange to collect it in-store when you're passing your local Argos.

Thanks to Wadjet at HUKD

I love, love, LOVE games like this Don't Say It! game from Paul Lamond.  I love, even more, that they're selling it for £6.49 instead of £9.95.

• Click HERE to take a look at Don't Say It! *

It doesn't take a genius to figure out the object of Don't Say It! just from its title alone - you have to describe something to your team without saying the key words.

For example - could you describe a balloon without saying "pop", "inflate", "bang" or "float"?  Or get your team to correctly say the word PIG!  but without you having said 'sausage', 'sty' or 'pork' (I'd say: it's a pink animal that makes the sound OINK!).

You and your word-guessing team are up against the clock - if you beat the buzzer you score points, if you don't then you score nothing and if you SAY IT! then you're out.

The reviews for Don't Say It! are very good and range from parents who bought it for their children, adults who've 'borrowed' it from their kids to play after dinner at dinner parties, through to English language teachers!

"Great fun. Played it with the family, and we are all adults! See it being a success at Christmas/New Year parties,either with or without alcohol!! Will take it into school to use too, obviously without the alcohol!!!"

"I have twin 6 year old boys and an 8 year old girl and the whole family can sit down and play this game together. With differing levels of difficulty available for each individual player it is challenging for everybody and really expands your vocabulary. A really good game that can be taken anywhere (adding the scores also helps with basic addition and multiplication) Hours of fun for the whole family."

Thanks to taswir1 at HUKD

This is a game from Orchard Toys, and would make a lovely Christmas gift for under the tree. It is on offer on Amazon for £4.70 - the RRP is £9.50. Delivery is included through Super Saver Delivery.

• Click here for your Old MacDonald Lotto game*

A simple version of the game of 'Lotto' with a farmyard theme, involving lots of noise and action, making it especially suitable for very young players. The game consists of 4 farm boards, 24 farm cards and 4 farmer cards. Each player chooses a farm board; all the farm cards are spread face down on the table.

The farmer cards are also placed face down on the table, in a separate group. Players take it in turn to turn up one of the farm cards, making sure the other players all see what it is. If the player has the same picture on their farm board, they place the card on the matching square, making the noise or the action of the item pictured on the card.

If it is not on their board, it is returned to its original place on the table, and play passes to the next player. Once a player has collected all their farm cards, they try to find their farmer by turning over one of the farmer cards to see if they can match the one on their farm board. If they can match the farmer, they win the game; if not, they try again on their next turn.

Children will love the colourful illustrations, showing different farmyard scenes and lots of friendly animals. It can help children with their literacy and PSHE skills, particularly if you find extra things to talk about: what can you see standing in the ploughed field? What is the rabbit holding? What is sitting on the stone in the pond? How many bees can you count?

The game is made of sturdy, recycled board, and is suitable for children aged 2 to 6.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD!

You actually have a choice as to where you buy your Pumpaloons game from - it's £7.50, instead of £20ish, at both Amazon and Tesco so if you have a preference of one over the other you're in luck!

• Click HERE to buy Pumpaloons from Tesco
• Click HERE to buy Pumpaloons from Amazon

How's your sanity fairing now we're coming up to half way through the summer holidays?  Are you counting down the days until the kids go back to school and wondering what on earth you can keep them entertained with, that doesn't cost an arm and a leg (and possibly half of the other arm too), until then?

This cheap, cheerful and FUN Pumpaloons game may just be able to come to your rescue.  Pumpaloons is a nice simple game for your kids to play - there are no pieces to be lost, no arguements over who's going to be banker (and then get accused of stealing money when no one's looking), it's just nice and straightforward.

The aim of the game is simple: take out the two inflatable characters and two pumps and the person who fully inflates their Pumpaloons person first is the winner!

I do like games like this - they're silly, have the potential to produce lots of silly giggling and they can be quite physically demanding (especially if you have competitive little offspring!) - if you've ever blown up an air bed then you'll know what I mean, let alone trying to do it in record time so you beat everyone else!

Tired kids mean 'early to bed and quickly asleep kids' and in the remaining, often torturous, weeks before they all go back to school (YIPPEEEE!) this can only be a good thing.

Thanks to nadine78 at HUKD

I do like offers like this 2 for £10 Mix and Match Toys and Books currently going on at the Early Learning Centre - if you get in early enough you can pick up some fabulous bargains.

• Click HERE to see everything included in the 2 for £10 Mix and Match Toys and Books offer

A grand total of 179 items are included in the ELC's 2 for £10 Mix and Match Toys and Books offer, so there's bound to be at least a couple of things that take your fancy - this, and I'm sorry to be mentioning the C word again (that's twice this month, shame on me!), is the perfect time to pick up a few things to be put away until Christmas.

There are lots of puzzles for different age groups - I'm really drawn to this Lift and Look Alphabet Puzzle.

This magnetic fishing game also looks like lots of fun, I loved this sort of thing when I was little - I still do, truth be told - and this Touchy-Feely Farmyard Tales 'Animal Hide and Seek' book looks good too.

There are a few of the well-known and much-loved books from the 'That's Not My..." series and this Calm Down Boris! hand puppet book could raise a few laughs at bed time.

The discounts are all applied at the checkout and there no delivery charges to pay - there's only one problem that I can foresee...picking just a few things from the 179 you have to choose from!

Happy Mixing and Matching!

Amazon are selling Gator Golf for £4.85 at the moment, instead of £15.99 - this is the lowest price I've seen it for and if you don't have it, then I'd recommend you buy it.

• Click HERE to take a look at Gator Golf

My youngest son has Gator Golf and we've played it often; I wouldn't pay £15.99 for it (but then I'm tightfisted like that) however, for £4.85 I'd definitely say BUY IT and buy it now before Amazon whip the price back up.

I have a real love-hate relationship with golf.  My husband plays amazing golf and has a handicap heading into single figures (he's had to relearn to play after breaking his neck three years ago); my golf game is truly shocking - I don't do well at doing things badly, so come September I will be having lessons with a pro' and I won't rest until I can at least hold my own on the green.

That said, I am pretty damn awesome when it comes to Gator Golf putting - all you need to do is putt the ball into the gator's mouth and he'll flick it back to you with his tail; each ball in the mouth is worth one point and you need just four points to win the game.

Aside from the fun element of Gator Golf, it's great for developing hand eye coordination; I think you'll like it and who knows maybe you'll have the next Rory McIlroy on your hands in a few years!

Delivery is free if you choose the SuperSaver delivery option, otherwise there are quicker delivery times but you'll have to pay for those.

Happy putting and then enjoying a drink at the 19th <------ one of the best bits of playing golf!

Amazon are selling classic Scrabble for £13.89 at the moment, rather than its full price of £21.99.

• Click HERE to go and take a look at this Scrabble deal

I've been playing Scrabble with my kids ever since they could sort Scrabble tiles and make simple three-letter words; my eldest son is now a worthy opponent.

I found it a great way to help children with every aspect of word formation, increasing their vocabulary, helping with spellings and generally spending some quality time with them.

When I was little I used to play Scrabble with my Grandma and Gramps - either as single players or as two-man teams.  If you don't have equal grown ups to kids, ou can just jump between each child as the 'letter advisor' when they get a little older and want to start trying to work out more for themselves.

If you look at my Grandma and Gramps you'd see two people in their late 80s (my Grandma will be 87 this year).  They're not old and doddery but they do look kind and gentle; they are your stereotypical mild-mannered grandparents.

I swear this gentle look is a finely honed Scrabble tactic though, because the moment they sit down at a Scrabble board they turn into ruthless wordsmiths who will make your high hundred and something score look pathetic; they'll think nothing of smashing you with amazing words on triple word scores.

Telling you about this Scrabble deal has brought back some great memories for me, I hope you make some fabulous ones of your own if you decide to play Scrabble with your own children.

Happy triple word scoring!

Amazon are selling this Pop Goes Froggio matching card and action game for £8.99, rather than its £15.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at Pop Goes Froggio

My youngest son is a right at the upper age range for games like this now, which is a shame as it looks like it would have been fun to play.

In a nutshell, Froggio is placed on his lily pad and you must spread the 12 character cards out around the room. Next, spin the buterfly spinner on the side of the lily pad to discover which character you need to find a matching pair of cards for.

You must rush around the room to be the first to find a pair and when you have, RACE back to the Froggio, stomp on the launcher and send him flying off his pad - the first one to launch him is the winner.

I know how Edward plays games - making up his own rules as he goes along, whilst everyone else must abide by the official ones - and he'd have just as much fun jumping up and down on the Froggio launcher, to see how high he could get him to jump, as he would playing properly.

It looks rather fun, even though younger children will probably need some help (additional weight behind them) to send Froggio launching off from his pad.

Happy matching and launching frogs!

Amazon are selling this Pumpaloons pump-up game for £7.50 instead of £19.99.

• Click HERE to go and grab Pumpaloons

If, like me, you're sitting listening to the rain POUNDING against the window you may be wondering WHEN the summer weather is going to put in a decent appearance and if it doesn't, just what you're going to do to entertain the kids during the looming school holidays!

Cheap, cheerful and FUN games like Pumpaloons may just prove to be your saviours.  Pumpaloons is a nice simple game for your kids to play - there are no pieces to be lost, no arguements over who's going to be banker (and then get accused of stealing money when no one's looking), it's just nice and straightforward.

The aim of the game is simple: take out the two inflatable characters and two pumps and the person who fully inflates their Pumpaloons person first is the winner!

Not only does it sound like a lot of fun, with plenty of scope for lots of crazy giggling, it's also going to be rather physical too - if you've ever pumped up an inflatable bed in record time, you'll know how tiring that can be (or is it just me who's done that?!).  Tired kids mean early to bed kids and THAT can only be a good thing.

Happy pumping!