The Best Family Games
Enjoy Family Game Night with games for all ages
Without swim team and soccer practice and choir to fill our evenings, our family has instituted Family Game Night almost every evening. And we are having so much fun! Some nights we play several rounds. Other evenings it is just one hand of a card game. No matter what it is, though, once the dinner dishes are done, we are gathered around the coffee table for some laughter and friendly competition.
If you are looking for a few fun games for your family or some new ones to try, here’s a list of our favorites! I have organized these roughly by age group, but every child is different. Some master complicated games early; others need simple games. It’s all good! In our house some of those simple games are still favorites and are in our regular game rotation.
Card Games
Great Card Games for Younger kids
While these games are aimed at younger children, they are in our regular rotation because they are super fun! They are also great for families with a range of ages. We particularly love Happy Families which is a great introductory card game for smaller children. Camp Scramble is also a good first card game, and Chomp! is an ocean-themed version of the classic game of War. I love the Create a Story Cards, too. They can inspire some seriously fun storytelling as a family!
Card Games for Older Kids
We started with Uno when Bambino was about five years old. He mastered it quickly and plays as well as any adult in our house. Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is hilarious and fast-paced. Sushi Go! is a game we are just starting to learn, but it is really fun, and the cards are really cute! And the Jr. Rangerland series of games are all really fun as well as educational.
Dice Games
Dice games are great for math skills, and over the summer we will be playing a lot with dice — keeping those math skills sharp. I love the Math Dice sets. They are amazing for developing math literacy while having fun. And Yahtzee is a classic game for the whole family! And The Genius Square is great because kids can play it alone, with a partner, or even on Zoom!
Family Board Games
First Board Games
Learning to play board games takes some time. Kids have to learn about fairness, losing, winning, and following rules. Simple, colorful, and engaging games help master these skills. I love the Busytown game because it is collaborative rather than competitive. It helps children learn to follow rules without putting them in competition with each other. The Eboo memory games are beautiful, well-designed versions of the classic Memory game. And Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders are still fun with another generation of kids because they are simple and yet interesting for almost anyone. They also rely on chance rather than skill which is good for first games — but can make losing harder at times.
Board Games for Older Children
Once a child has mastered the skills of waiting their turn, following the rules, and winning and losing gracefully, they are ready for more challenging games! There are so many good ones out there. Our local toy store actually has several games experts on staff, and many of these games have come at their recommendations. We absolutely love Outfoxed which is a collaborative game pitting the players together against the dastardly fox who is out to steal pie. Battle Sheep is similar to Chinese Checkers in many ways — but simpler. Cahoots is a more advanced version of Uno. Kids need some math skills and need to be able to track several ideas at the same time to be able to play. Trekking is a favorite! It is a little complicated, but once you get the hang of it is is a wonderful game filled with geography and facts about our national parks system.
Both Upwords and Scrabble are fun for kids who have mastered the basics of reading and spelling. Dixit is another more complicated game, but it encourages great storytelling and is really fun to play as a family. Chinese Checkers is a classic — best with lots of people, but fun even with two, and not too hard to master.
Games for Tweens and Teens
Bambino isn’t quite old enough for these games, but they are on the list and ready to pull out of the closet when the time comes! But if you have teens and tweens in your house, these are fabulous games to add to your selections.
I hope your family game night is filled with laughter and joy for all ages!
