Dear WitterPitted,
What are some family friendly games for different stages/age levels?
-Heather M.
Dear Heather,
I like to play Twister because I just do, cause there's some things you get to step on a color when it calls out, "left foot", "right foot", "left hand", or "right hand." It's just really fun. I like Sleeping Queens too. You have cards and if you have a King on your turn, you can play it and you get a Queen. My other games that I like are Sequence for Kids, the Bean Game( Bohnanza), CandyLand, and Moose in the House. When we go to Grandma Dellory's house, ya know, to clean her house, I like to ask Grandpa Kevin, if he's home, to play Checkers with me. Uh, and, wait, let me see the writing. Did you start a different page? (No) Good. Maybe I'll go get the game I like to play. (Brings Clue Jr.). I kinda like, um, let me go get the other game I like to play. I can't find it, so I'll just go potty, since I can't find it.
-Emmeline (4)
Dear Heather,
I like Sequence for Kids, Candyland, Shoots and Ladders, and Mousie( an old game), Mouse Trap, Stone Soup, Moose in the House, Clue, and Clue Jr. and Sequence. That's all.
-Audrey (7)
Dear Heather,
I like Bohnanza and Sequence for Kids and Can't Stop( out of print), and Sleeping Queens, Stone Soup, Moose in the House, Clue, WaterWorks, and Monopoly.
-Clara(9)
Dear Heather,
Most games will work for all ages except for little little kid games like matching games and really advanced games.
-Amy (11)
Dear Heather,
I think that Yahtzee, Monopoly and
puzzles are good.
-Tim(13)
Dear Heather,
We have found that many children are capable of playing games much younger than the recommended age. My husband can often be found playing a variety of games with our girls, and he starts them when they are very little, as young as 2 years old. And I'm not talking about Memory, although that is a great classic. All of the games my girls mentioned are ones that they play together or with Daddy. Some other great games for young children include Pengaloo, Hullabaloo, Jr. Yahtzee, and Connect 4. Most of the old time kiddy games are good, cause, if they weren't, they'd stop selling them. But, they can also get really boring for the grownups. We like to train our kiddos to play much harder games. At first they need help, but over time, they are as good as the grownups. Our older kids, ages 11,13, and 15, can play just about any "adult" game and beat us too. It's hard to pick a favorite. There are so many good ones. When we bought our house 7 years ago, we had a closet built to hold our games. Yes, we have that many. So, some of my favorites for bigger kids and adults are Carcassone, Tongiaki, Settlers of Catan, Beyond Balderdash, Aquarius, and Ticket to Ride. Some of the best games don't come from the store though. My kids love to play two versions of Hide and Go Seek called "Penguins and Polar Bears", and "Sardines in a Can". And you can never go wrong with the pig oinking game- one person is blindfolded and crawls around with a rolled up magazine tapping other players. When tapped, the player must oink. The person who is it tried to guess their identity based on their pig noises. Gee, there are so many great games out there, but I don't want to go crazy. I think the most important thing to remember is just to play any kinds of games at all with your family. They will love it if you love it, usually.
-Becky (36)
Dear Heather,
Board games and card games are fun to play, but I like other games, like plain old "tag," and Hide n seek. We play "nice kitty" at our house, where the whole family gathers and someone is the Kitty, and has to approach somebody else one at a time, to try to get them to laugh or smile, and if they do, they are the new Kitty. But if they pet the Kitty three times, saying "nice kitty, nice kitty, nice kitty" without smiling or laughing, then the Kitty must choose someone new. This is an EXCELLENT game for all ages, and is very fun to play with a group of 30 year olds. Tag with grown-ups is also fun, as is hide and seek. I also like to pitch pennies into various containers. I like to hide the thimble. I like to play the "finish the other person's sentence" game, where you write a partial sentence, and then fold the paper over, and someone else finishes it, and then starts a new one, and it gets folded, etc... until the whole paper is written on.
I also think that you should challenge your children to make-up their own game from time to time. It can be really fun to form rules, and a game from your imagination, and is good for the kids, since any of the ideas they come up with that are practical, are age appropriate for them!
Judd (39)
