Minute To Win It Fun For The Whole Family [GSN]

I was super excited to hear that the Game Show Network (GSN) is bringing Minute to Win It back to TV!  The new season even comes with all new episodes and a new host, Apolo Anton Ohno.  Minute to Win It is such a fun show for the whole family to watch together and the 60 second challenges in each episode make great family night activities and fun games for just about any party too.

I recently watched a sneak peak episode with my kids and then we replicated some of our favorite challenges for a little summertime family fun.  A quick hunt around the house turned up all of the supplies we needed for the four challenges we played, but we also found plenty of supplies for more games whenever we need an easy boredom buster!  Below is a description of the four challenges that we tried and a fun little video that shows you highlights from each one.  And remember, you only have a minute to win each challenge!

Face the Cookie -  try to get a cookie from your forehead to your mouth without the use of your hands

Chocolate Unicorn - try to stack 7 snack cakes on your forehead, like a unicorn horn

Hoop De Loop - using backspin, try to roll three hula hoops and get them to land on 2 liter bottles of soda (we substituted water bottles in this one!)

Movin' On Up - the player is given a stack of 39 blue cups with a single red cup at the bottom and has to move the red cup up the stack by continuously moving one cup from the bottom to the top (sounds easy enough, but is hard to pull off in 60 seconds!)

Here is what you could call our highlight reel and you can finish it in under a minute!  49 seconds to be exact!

The best thing about Minute to Win It challenges is that they are easy to modify for almost any age.  My 5 year old daughter played right along with her older brother and sister, age 9 and 12.  Some games didn't need to be modified.  She easily got the hula hoops to land around the bottles, but others, like the chocolate unicorn, were made a little easier for her by decreasing the number of cakes she needed to stack to win.  This way, everyone can play together and everyone has fun.

Now when the kids watch the show with me, I know they will be looking for new games we can play together.  We may even get some neighbor kids in on the action before summer is through.

Once summer is over, these games will be making an appearance at class parties too.  Last winter we played a version of Nose Dive at my daughters winter party.  In Nose Dive, you move cotton balls from one bowl to another using only your nose, with a little help from some Vaseline.  We called it shoveling snow and the kids moved snow balls (aka cotton balls) from their table and tried to get them onto the neighboring teams table.  In the 7 years I have planned classroom parties, that was one of the funnest games we have ever played!

So whether you are looking for a fun game show to watch as a family, want some ideas for a fun family activity, or are looking for some games to play at your next party, check out the new episodes of Minute to Win It that premiere Tuesday June 25th at 8/7c on GSN.  For more information on the new season and the new host, visit M2WI on Facebook and Twitter.

Have you ever played a Minute to Win It challenge?  I would love to hear about it in the comments if you have!  If you haven't, let me know which Minute to Win It Challenge you think your family would love to play.  Your comment will enter you to win a $100 Visa Gift Card.  It could be the prize at your next Minute to Win It Challenge party!

Sweepstakes Rules:No duplicate comments.You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this postTweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this postBlog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this postFor those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here.This sweepstakes runs from 6/18/13 - 7/17/13.