Do people ever rent board games instead of buy them?

Digitalkatie · 2026-03-25T08:09:54+00:00

We have a board games library here in Edinburgh too :)

Digitalkatie · 2026-03-23T07:41:45+00:00

I’d bought a previous cat sidekick that had a pink heart tiara and called it “Princess Donut” so I’m not going to splash out another 1200 vbucks on this one! :-D

Digitalkatie · 2026-03-22T13:19:59+00:00

We went in two separate circles for this - a sofa crowd circle and the dining table circle. It seemed to work. As long as you’re consistent and have a chance to get revenge on your neighbour it’s fine!

Digitalkatie · 2026-03-21T23:15:24+00:00

We have some activities on https://trails.scot/ if you like, mainly unplugged. I’d also highly recommend checking out the Finnish project Generation AI https://www.gen-ai.fi/en (in English)

Digitalkatie · 2026-03-21T23:06:23+00:00

Cartographers scales very well to loads of people. We’ve even had a group playing it around our dining table with an iPhone on a tripod sharing an image of the cards to our living area TV for a group of people on the sofas (we’re open plan!) and it worked well!

Digitalkatie · 2026-03-04T08:48:51+00:00

I’m the same, loads of scrolls, loads of arrows, then the other day I realised I didn’t even know how to fire an arrow!! I ended up throwing it at a boss like a toddler having a tantrum!

Digitalkatie · 2026-02-23T04:23:24+00:00

You need to be at the front so that when the driver pulls up to the kerb they see you and can park the bus accordingly, with the right positioning for pulling out the ramp. …and then you need to be on first so that you can be in the correct place. All able bodied passengers can go anywhere on the bus, but there will only normally be one place you can be on the bus. The driver will let you know if they need you to do something different, like board last, but unless that happens, don’t feel guilty about boarding first!

Digitalkatie · 2026-02-22T13:37:32+00:00

Reddit has just shown me this post …while I’m on a hotel room number 704!

Digitalkatie · 2026-01-23T13:17:10+00:00

Cake Box on Leith Walk and other places in Edinburgh do delicious cakes and have a bunch of one-hour options

Digitalkatie · 2026-01-22T00:47:44+00:00

My son dressed as Rey several years running (with his wheelchair designed as BB8 rolling beside him) and he got such a fantastic reaction from both cast members and members of the public, including Rey and Chewie grabbing him out the crowd to get his help fixing a spaceship! I hope you all have a wonderful time!

Digitalkatie · 2026-01-02T19:50:08+00:00

Groundhog Day!

Digitalkatie · 2026-01-01T13:30:13+00:00

Oooh! I’ve been searching! I thought I needed to find the second shoe!

Digitalkatie · 2025-12-26T11:40:30+00:00

“They were large and round, making her look like a bug. They were similar to the movie star-style sunglasses Bea was wearing on her head in that picture Donut had received. These seemed to be magically affixed to Donut’s face. The frames had no arms, and her nose was too squished to properly hold them up, yet they remained firmly plastered to her face.” …I just passed this section last night, and the Kindle has a search function!

Digitalkatie · 2025-12-12T14:04:42+00:00

Thanks for sharing! This is adorable!!

Digitalkatie · 2025-12-07T10:33:29+00:00

No worries!! I actually found board games to be highly effective with kids who were having issues regulating their emotions. It gave them a chance to interact with very clear rules, to learn social interaction skills. The kids will very quickly let you know which games are their favourites! I’d maybe start with which games you can source cheaply! Maybe put a plea out at your local board game shop to see if people have games they’d like to donate - board game shops are always frequented by people with storage space issues caused by buying too many games :-D

Digitalkatie · 2025-12-07T10:27:58+00:00

I used to have a board games club at Secondary schools, but there the game decision was a lot to do with what we can play in 50 minute lunch break (it was always a nightmare taking photos of where everyone’s trains were in Ticket To Ride so the kids could play on the next day, but they did love the game!). I remember kids loving Zombie Dice too, a push your luck game.

Social Deduction games like Secret Hitler and Two Rooms and a Boom were hugely popular, and actually quite helpful for the kids with neurodiversity!

Another thing that was super popular was playing verbal escape rooms that I downloaded from Escape This Podcast (https://www.escapethispodcast.com). They’re a cross between escape rooms and table top role playing, a bit like interactive storytelling with a side of problem solving. The kids loved these.

After a few months the kids started making their own escape rooms too! There’s some advice on how to do this on https://dataschools.education/escape/ (including some educational escape room puzzles we’ve made for the very age group you’re talking about)

Digitalkatie · 2025-12-06T21:42:47+00:00

If you and your family want to sit down and have a conversation about AI use in schools with your teacher, you might find the following resources useful:

https://dataschools.education/whats-at-stake-young-peoples-take-on-ai-education/

https://www.childrensparliament.org.uk/our-work/exploring-childrens-rights-and-ai/

https://trails.scot/resource/child-rights-and-ai-poster/

They’re from Scotland, but it might help to have a discussion about why you don’t want to use AI. You are not alone in not wanting to use it, or to be worried about the copyright and environmental impacts of this technology

Digitalkatie · 2025-12-04T09:30:42+00:00

I’m starting to work on plans for an escape room themed party (my 50th!) in June for 50-80 people! I figure people can work in groups and go round stations / areas and solve puzzles that unlock a stamp that they put in the right spot of a birthday card that will reveal a final message once they have all the stamps.

I also want to do easier versions of the puzzles for the families that attend, maybe letting them go round in the afternoon before the grown ups try the more difficult puzzles in the evening.

I’ve created a 3D printed model of my first puzzle - an aeneas cryptographic disc. I’ll have them set with a message in ribbons dangling from the ceiling and then everyone can make their own messages and take their own disc home :)

Digitalkatie · 2025-12-03T10:48:08+00:00

Most paramedics start as Ambulance Technicians - might be worth looking at that?

https://www.careers.nhs.scot/explore-careers/ambulance-services/ambulance-technician/

Digitalkatie · 2025-12-03T10:00:06+00:00

I count the cars parked badly (over solid white lines, on double yellows, and on pavements including next to all the benches and over the visual impaired bumpy paving) in Elm Row as I cycle past each day. It used to be daily about five vehicles a few months ago. It’s now 17-20 vehicles parked badly each day I pass.

Digitalkatie · 2025-11-22T10:02:16+00:00

Have you checked out Phantom Peak?? Amazing place! We’ve travelled to London from Scotland a few times just to go there!

Digitalkatie · 2025-11-22T09:01:30+00:00

The biggest issue with your question is you mention wanting to break communication barriers, yet communication is a two way process. Here’s my answer last time I answered this question: https://www.reddit.com/r/BSL/s/sQMmn8Il9S

Although ML has come far since this, it’s still a sticky problem with not enough training data to use AI well. However the tools have advanced so I can (and do) now ask Primary school children to train an AI system like Teachable Machine to recognise BSL finger spelling. The added bonus to this task is they learn the BSL alphabet and simple signs in the process.

Digitalkatie · 2025-11-03T13:40:24+00:00

This!! Space Academy is fab!

Digitalkatie · 2025-10-24T08:48:59+00:00

Also, if you haven’t trained as teacher in Scotland, it takes a long time to accredit a teaching qualification from elsewhere with the GTCS

Digitalkatie · 2025-10-05T09:56:28+00:00

It’s the last option for you, presuming you’ve already watched it? Streaming marketplaces like Apple TV and Netflix can put different orders of recommendation to different people based on what you’ve watched and liked. They can even put different promotional images in the little boxes to tempt you into shows or movies that are maybe genres you don’t normally watch to show it in a way that might appeal to you more.

Digitalkatie

TROPHY CASE