A Fun Game to Play With Kids

Ticket to Ride is a super fun game that can actually be fun for both kids and adults. I play it with my 6 year old nephew and we have a great time, I play it with my friends and we have a great time too haha. Also, Anomia is a great game if you like Heads Up (it’s examples, not descriptions) and not tech based. I just looked and there is a kid version too- highly recommend this one as well! The “kids” play every year at Christmas, and we’re laughing and yelling late into the night.

‘Silly Street’ is awesome! Perfect for all ages… and very silly.

We just discovered ‘left center right’ wild dice game and it’s SO MUCH FUN. you can play it with kids (we played it with my 4 and 6 year old nieces) and adults, it’s evenly fun. Plus it’s small to bring/store, only chips (or switch it for $ :-)) and 3 dice.

We are obsessed with “Outfoxed” at our house. It’s a great who-dunnit cooperative play game where you have to figure out which fox stole the pie. It comes with clues and a decoder. My almost 5-year old loves it!

Spot it! We’ve been playing this for years with our kids who are now 11 and 14. And we still play it. Great for when your waiting for food to come at a restaurant. :) it’s small and easy to carry. And Kids can beat their parents honestly!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Spot+it&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

I bust out the Guess Up – the Heads Up knock-off – at adults-only get-togethers all the time and it’s always a hit! So fun!

Silly Street is our family favorite! It’s simple, fun, and we’re all laughing the whole time. It’s a good one.

This is for younger kids — but we’ve gotten our nieces and nephews the game Monkey Around and it’s a GREAT game for kiddos (2-3 years old) that prompts them to move around. Highly recommended!

Happy Salmon & Avocado Smash are favorites with my nieces!

The whole family plays Sushi Go and Sleeping Queens (invented by a 6-year-old!). My 7-year-old loves Ticket to Ride and Dominion (which is an adult board game that he plays with his dad; all about strategy).

Silly Street! I think someone got this for us and it’s almost like Cranium for kids. I really enjoy it and it’s hilarious.

Spot It, Dicecapades and Left Right Center are also favorites.

One of my favorite memories: we were in Tokyo with about 12 friends, and we wanted to go to a Sumo match. They only have 100 tickets that they sell the day of, so we’re standing in line at 5am waiting for tickets, and we started playing Heads Up to pass the time. Pretty soon other people waiting in line with us were playing too, calling out hints or charading. It was such a crazy day, and as always Ellen has the super power to bring people together.

Did you see this article recently about Candy Land? The game was invented by a schoolteacher during the polio epidemic, which explains its design for imagination and adventure (and also that the players were definitely a captive audience). https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/07/how-polio-inspired-the-creation-of-candy-land/594424/

I’m a huge fan of Monopoly Deal. It’s the card version of monopoly, and games only last about 15-20 minutes! I love bringing it on camping trips, and my husband and friends (and mom!) love playing. I don’t know if it would be as great with young kids. After all, playing with the houses, pawns, and fake money is the best part of the game when you’re little!

We love Qwixx, Qwingo, and Fluxx with our 9 and 13 year old. My spouse and I play Qwixx on our own and with other adults too. It’s so fun! We’re about to do a backyard camp out with friends this weekend and I love the ideas of Nerts and Spoons with a big group.

I’m not really into games, but I don’t mind playing Dobble (it’s over so fast!) With older children I enjoy Ubongo, Yahtzee and Crokinole (not sure if I spelled any of those right).

My son said starcastic instead of sarcastic. It was so cute we never corrected him. He was not happy when he realized he was saying it wrong and grilled us on any other words he said incorrectly. We had to come clean that it wasn’t Mote-zart. Oh my sweet classical music loving boy. He also hated abbreviations and called places “Baskin Robin Hood” “hamburger king” and “inside and outside” (we still, including our son, use these names exclusively)

Headbandz was what we played when my daughter was going, which is essentially the DeGeneres game but came along before and is analogue. You wear a headband and out the card up for others to describe to you.

I’m surprised no one has mentioned puzzles. My daughter go so into puzzle that it seemed like the dining table would be out of commission forever. It’s not terribly portable but it did pass time well.

Our family thoroughly enjoys playing games…Slapzi is a ton of fun (as is Tenzi), Dixit has really beautiful illustrations, Skiwampus, Blockus, there are just so many great ones out there (FYI my kids are 10 and 12 and really enjoy all of these).

We just got into Rat A Tat Cat this summer and it’s not horrible at all. I actually love Operation (as an adult) and Let’s Go Fishing and Old Maid and Connect Four! I have also started playing four-handed clapping games with my nearly eight-year-old daughter and it is AMAZING. She’s learned a few great ones at camp and I remember some from elementary school and it feels so good to do something that she thinks is endlessly fascinating and cool. We’re practicing after we read Anne of Green Gables every evening and I feel like I’m having the best summer ever. I think I’m probably a secret eight-year-old, so we’re a pretty good match. :)

My 6/7 year old loves Mancala!

Uno and Sorry are staples, and recently we’ve added Dragonwood and Sleeping Queens. My nine-yr-old has been obsessed with Dragonwood – card and dice game. My six-yr-old can just manage it; Sleeping Queens easier. I also added an old school Battleship, which is pretty good. My 6-yr-old would like me to get this pie game where you get a whipped=cream pie in your face, but I’m not there. I’ve heard Uno attack spices things up.

My brother and I were crazy for a plain deck of cards growing up. I think we played about 150,000 games of Speed over the years. And Slap Jack kept us occupied during MANY long camping trips. Yahtzee is a forever crowd pleaser in my house, and I also love Pick-Up Stix.

Now I’m wondering how old is a reasonable age to learn Euchre, which is hands down my favorite card game ever…