About Golly Gee-pers – Golly Gee-pers is a Green company devoted to making your job as a parent, teacher or caregiver easier and more fun. Staff research, test and develop new products that help teach children important social skills and inspire them to become good citizens. Did you know it’s never too early to begin teaching empathy, civility, integrity, and conflict resolution? Each of these has at its core an understanding of mutual respect. Through music, art, story and games Golly Gee-pers hope to provide you with fun and easy ways to engage children in the practice of constructive social conduct.

Table Manners Cards

Today’s families are super busy and sitting down together for meals tends to be an exception rather than a rule. When you do have this opportunity you want it to be an enjoyable experience,not a time when you are criticizing your children or nagging them over their manners. What to do? Forgo teaching manners? Absolutely not! Bring out the Table Manners Cards. This fun mealtime game encourages your little diners to compete for thumbs-up cards while avoiding thumbs-down cards in an effort to win a coveted Ready-to-Dine-Out award. Once introduced, kids will want them at every meal!

Sara’s Thoughts

Are your children out of control during meal times? Are you tired of disciplining your children because of their table manners? Do you dread taking your children out to eat because of their manners? If you’ve answered yes to any of the above questions, then it’s time to invest in Table Manners Cards. This is a fun, creative game you can play with the whole family and is an effective way to teach table manners to your children without causing a fuss. Your kids will learn positive ways to behave at mealtime without even knowing they are learning. Each Table Manners set comes with directions to two different ways to play the game, thumbs-up cards, thumbs-down cards, and blank cards to create your own table manners.

So how is the game played? Before the game begins, you will model a positive manner and compliment on it (ex: put your napkin in your lap and then say, “I just put my napkin in my lap, so I get a thumbs-up card). Next, introduce a thumbs-down card by making a mistake and explain it (ex: Oops, I was talking with my mouth full, so I get a thumbs-down card). As the meal begins, the selected card keeper will handout thumbs-up and thumbs-down cards as they see positive and negative table behaviors. The diner with the most thumbs-up cards and the least thumbs-down cards at the end of the meal wins a Ready-to-Dine out award. There are two such cards in the desk in case of a tie. Of course, everyone really wins because they practiced good table manners!

It’s such a simple concept, but I absolutely love this idea. With a rambunctious 4-year-old nephew who can be quite a handful during mealtime, I can’t wait to introduce this game. To start,I will award “prizes” for positive table manners such as a sticker on his sticker chart or an extra story at bedtime. As the manners progress, prizes will be limited until completely eliminated. It really is the perfect game for all ages. The game comes in the perfect carrying case that can be stored in a drawer or your purse. Keep it at home OR take it with you the next time you go out for a family dinner. You don’t have to be home to play! With Christmas around the corner, this is a perfect stocking stuffer for your little one and is completely affordable at $12.95 per game. So check out the Table Manners cards and many other games and help your child learn the manners they need to succeed in life.

You can learn more about Gollygee-pers (the company) by visiting their site online.

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Disclaimer: Sara M. has personally reviewed the product listed above. Sara has not received any monetary compensation for her review. Sara did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ.