Online Games

A funny thing happened on a recent walk through a toy store…I found toys which brought back memories of my son’s childhood, and that in turn led me to CartoonNetwork.com where I now play online games! The series of events that landed me there are as follows:

While in the toy store, I posted a picture of the nostalgic toys on Facebook and soon received comments from my son, some of his friends, and my daughter. Her comment informed all that the cartoons can be seen on Boomerang TV, along with other classics such as Scooby Doo, Thunder Cats, Smurfs, Power Puff Girls, and a lot more.

I remember watching these cartoons with my three children and was interested to find out more. After “googling” Boomerang, I found CartoonNetwork.com loaded with free online videos and games (including Boomerang’s shows) for kids both young and old…and older.

Being an “older” kid myself, I checked out the website in order to surprise my grandson with online games we could play together the next time we visit. (He’s not into playing with his toys with me, but when it comes to computer games he doesn’t hesitate to play with me.) I know he likes Scooby Doo, so I focused on that character’s 12 online games.

In addition to the benefit of quality bonding time, the games can help improve hand-eye coordination because while the left hand taps the spacebar, the right hand is working the mouse or direction arrows…and the brain is working on cognitive skills deciding when to jump, attack, go faster, slow down, and then repeating again choosing moves that could work better towards the end goal. For those of us who need a little more support, the tools are shown to the right of the game with reminders as to how they are used. Also, full TV episodes can be watched on the computer and fans can socialize on Fan Talk.

And this is how I got from the toy store to playing Scooby Doo online! I know my grandson will pick up on these skills easily - so if you’ll excuse me - I need to go practice!