A friend of my son’s once told me that our game closet was like the door into Narnia. I laughed at the time but it was a pretty accurate description.
When we play a game together as a family we step away from the cares of the moment and focus on something fun and enjoyable. It is the best stress relief out there! Fun & laughter plus family memory building works wonders.
Playing games teaches life lessons to all ages
From a young age we played games with our children. It has taught them many things.
to take turns
hand eye coordination to move their pieces on the board
that loosing happens & it is ok to be sad but not ok to be mad
also that winning is fun but you need to be kind in your celebrating
Family Event
Usually when we get together as a family there is at least one game played. We recently celebrated Steve’s birthday and we played 5 Crowns with the kids and Steve’s parents. The kids were being crazy and it was a lot of fun. On Thanksgiving, we played Password while waiting for the turkey to be ready.
I was sad over Thanksgiving that I couldn’t play more board games with the kids but sitting in a hard upright chair is pretty much impossible. It is something to am looking forward to doing after surgery.
HUGE list of Card, Board & Random Games
I seriously can’t believe how many we had but well . . . we love games. Birthday & Christmas gifts are often games both for kids & adults around here.
So if you are looking for some good games to give to your kids this Christmas, I hope this list is helpful!
- 5 Crowns (card game)
- UNO (card game)
- Authors (card game) or get a set with scientists, composers and inventors too!
- SkipBo (card game)
- Dutch Blitz (card game)
- Blink (card game)
- Set (card game)
- Hit the Deck (card game)
- Rook (card game)
- There's a Moose in the House (card game)
- Bohnanza (card game)
- Pass the Pigs
- Quirkle
- Password
- Rack-o
- Apples to Apples
- Mouse Trap
- Outfoxed
- Connect 4
- Blokus
- Stratego
- Ticket to Ride. This is the original but there are many versions. We love the original, London and the USA.
- Carcassonne
- Yahtzee
- Sequence
- Eclipse
- Aquire
- Scotland Yard
- Masterpiece
- Settlers of Catan\
- Clue
- Kerplunk
- Rushhour
These are games that we've played pretty consistently with our children from age 10 & up.
Several were played at much younger than 10.
One way we would do this was to pair a parent or older child with the younger child so they can learn the rules and have advice on how to play.
These teams can be hysterical. The series of pictures below show my boys teamed up in a game of Settlers of Catan. At 9 and 19 they were NOT agreeing on how to play!
Can you tell who won the argument?
These are not ALL the game that we own but these are the ones that we have played the most often.
Games build memories & for us that has been a very good thing. I'd love to hear what games your family plays & enjoys. I'm always on the look out for a new game that we haven't tried . . . . yet.
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