Kids Win some Marvel X Miniso goodies!

The author of a new book of puzzles, riddles and in- real- life games, Peter Cosgrove, tells us why it’s so much fun to play for real

Ask this riddle: “if you are running in a race and you pass the person in second place, where are you? Don’t be surprised if you say rst, which is of course wrong as, if you pass the person in second place then you are in second place! This is just one of the chapters in Family Fun Unplugged which is all about getting families reconnected and talking to each other in a world where we now seem addicted to our phones.

We all remember great holidays or festive periods where we played games, told jokes, challenged each other and had hours of fun just using our brains and talking. Things are much harder now, trying to take a teenager o their phone to chat when they have an Instagram feed to look at or are binging on the latest box-set. It’s not just teenagers – the screen addiction is starting earlier and earlier. For the next generation of kids one of the biggest challenges will be social interactions as they spend so much time online and not enough in the real world. Even when they are in the real world, they are regularly sporting headphones to almost avoid other human contact. Building friendships, building trust and helping others takes time and e ort but the rewards are huge.

The interesting thing is how much fun people do have when they start to play a game or challenge each other. There is a reason some of the best games are the oldest, why people still love to gather round a card table or play board games. I hope that Family Fun Unplugged will have your family sitting around roaring with laughter at everything in the book. All the riddles, brain teasers and questions are designed to interact with someone else and it seems to work especially well for grandparents and grandkids. Don’t be surprised if the kids do better than the adults though! Here is one more to get you thinking: If an elephant weighs 5 tons and you have a truck that can carry 49 tons, how many elephants can you t into the empty truck? By the way, the answer is not 9; to nd the right answer you might have to buy the book! Family Fun Unplugged by Peter Cosgrove is published by Penguin Ireland and is out now