Our Family's Favorite Games
We like games. A lot. Looking for something new to add to your collection? Our favorites are listed below by category.
Board Games
A cooperative game, based on the Harry Potter books ( you don’t need to have read the books to play the game, but it will be more fun if you recognize all the pieces.) A word of warning, this game is long and complex - I play my character and help my 5 year old with his. We routinely set aside 3-4 hours to play. Did you pass all seven levels? Add the Monsters Expansion Pack. (note: this could have gone under either board games or card games - there are lots of cards in play, so plan to have space to spread out.)
Work cooperatively to stop the monsters from storming the castle. Relatively quick to play (under an hour) and we like the cooperative play nature of the game.
Another coop game here - we find that we can play more technical/strategic (aka interesting to adults) games with the kids if they are cooperative, and it’s a great opportunity for the kids to practice their strategic skills too. You have landed on an island and your team needs to assemble all the pieces you need to escape before the water rises and makes escape impossible.
The followup to Forbidden Island, in Forbidden Desert you need to escape the desert before the sand covers everything. We love all the games in this series.
We play this one in teams. Draw a card and pick a topic to illustrate through categories and let the other team guess what your chosen word is through the colored cubes you’ve placed on the board.
It’s a classic for a reason. We have a slight family obsession with Scrabble. Play with the kids and let them work on their vocabularies and spelling. Or play with your partner and a bottle of wine - one of our favorite date-night-in dates.
Using deduction, try to figure out which fox is the culprit. Really fun to play, and simple enough that littler kids can play too.
Card Games
Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza
A silly, fast paced family game, that will have you making narwhal horns on your heads and racing to slap cards. Super fun, easy to learn and a great way to blow off steam.
This was a family Christmas present this year, and my kids LOVE it. You score points by collecting cards and passing them, and you lose points when a burrito war is declared, causing players to throw foam burritos at each other. There are also burrito duels. This is a great game for getting some pent up energy out.
You collect queens, while attempting to steal other players’ cards. Game play is pretty fast, so there are lots of opportunities for different players to win. We think it’s worth the extra five dollars to get the anniversary version that includes the coveted Strawberry Queen card.
What to say… Gubs is great! The cards are quirky, you can be winning and then losing and then winning in pretty short order, which I find tends to be good for my more competitive kid, since he can see that sometimes, it’s just fate, and that bad luck or good changes the outcome quickly. This is one of the top picks anytime we ask our kids what they want to play.
Mmmmm sushi. Collect maki rolls, and a host of other sushi related cards. It’s played in rounds and is fun for the whole family. Sushi Go Party lets you pick the card types you want to use in the game, so it’s a fun way to up the strategy options.
My kids like this game because they get to try to lie, and they love this game because they can try to guess if Mom or Dad is lying. Different cards have different rules - some characters always tell the truth, some can choose to lie, and some lie all the time.
This is one of our favorite math games, and it’s darn fun even if you forget about the educational benefits. Lots of stealing Zeus and thwarting the other players.
You are all raccoons sifting through garbage to find the best cards (food and shiny objects. Roll the dice to figure out how many moves you can make in your turn, but don’t get over confident and roll too much and lose it all. Fast- paced and a good spring board for talking about probability too.
My nine year old loves this one. Build an economic empire based on the cards (businesses and resources) you acquire while you race other players to complete the necessary cards to win the game.
Collect cards and roll dice to get spells and capture monsters. This is in my five year old’s top five list.
Outdoor Games
This Scandinavian game is simple enough that kids can play too, but strategic enough that adults really enjoy it too. We find it best to play in teams with kids paired with adults.
Stand back Alice! By all means play croquet the traditional way… when that gets boring, my kids like to set up complex croquet courses with obstacles, that go down hills, through bushes… you get the idea.
Get your bean bags through the hole before the opposing team does.
Games for Littler Kids
Work collaboratively with other players to fly the owls back to the nest before the sun comes up.
Stack the animal shaped blocks, but don’t let the structure fall!
Beat the raven to the fruit in the orchard by harvesting the fruit off the trees before he gets it.
Spin the wheel to collect colored acorns for your squirrel. Great for the pre-school set.
This is less a game, and more of a free-form activity, but both of my kids loved playing with this from 3-5 - just keep an eye on kids that might still want to stick everything in their mouths.