Friday, June 6, 2014

Our Favorite Games

At swim class a few weeks ago, my girls' friends with brought Uno with them.  Every week since, my girls have tried to take a game with them.  My kids love games and they've had a few favorites along the way.  I thought I'd share a short list of them.  

Ages 5 and under
* Zingo (4 and 5)
Tumbling Towers
* Hullabaloo by Cranium
Cranium Cariboo (only found at garage sales now)
Any Bingo game
Hi-ho Cherry-O
Candyland

Ages 5-7
* Life (the old version, not the new one is my preference)
* Zooreka by Cranium
Sherluck
What Time is It? by Eeboo (called Eeboo time telling game on Amazon)
* Wig Out
* Battle Ship
* Blokus (square edition)
* Uno
* Connect 4
Sum Swamp (good for practicing kindergarten level addition and subtraction) by Learning Resources
* Sequence for Kids (may be better under 8 and up though)

Ages 8 and up
* Catan (basic edition)
* Risk (classic edition)
* Make it and Break It (this was such a hit because both adults and kids could enjoy it--just caution the adults to not be too competitive--I watched as some guys played it and totally missed how the kids felt left out)
Life
* Sherluck
Quelf Jr
War, Steal the Old Man's Bundle, and Old Maid (the old card games)
Blokus Trigon and * Blokus (original square edition)
Rush Hour by ThinkFun--there's a junior edition, but my son who's 5 loves the easier cards from the harder version
* Hoppers by ThinkFun (good logic building game)
Qwirkle (just found this one at a garage sale and like it)
Rory's story cubes
* Phase 10
* Apples to Apples Jr (Autumn declares that this one is her favorite)
Mancala
Checkers and Chess
Learning Resources Money Bags Game (it used to be called Money! Money!), I bought an older version at a garage sale.  This one helps kids learn their coins.
Mexican Train Dominoes


Ages 10 and Up
* Rummykub
* Bananagrams
* Boggle (there's also a 5x5 square that's made)

On my wish list...
Tenzi (but I'm thinking about just getting generic dice to play the Tenzi variations with).  This is a great one for ages 5 and up.
Catan Jr.  (the kids need us to play the grown up version with them, but a friend has this version and said her sons love it)

Some we weren't so crazy about...
Boggle Jr.
Chutes and Ladders
Clue Jr.
Don't Rock the Boat (the boat didn't balance very well even without any pirates on it)
Tetris Jenga
Hedbandz (the kids version)
Charades for Kids (they play this without the cards because they felt like the cards just made a mess--a good intention, but Autumn says that brains are better.)  I like the cards, but they're the ones playing ;)
Word Pirates

Somes of these games we bought new.  Some at garage sales.  At garage sales, I will usually pay $1-$2 for a game.  Games have gone up a lot in price in the stores.  Catan new runs $35-$40.  Ugh.  I did buy it on sale last Christmas for $30 which saved a few dollars.  I placed a star by the ones I would be willing to buy new if I didn't have them.  Some of them we did buy new and I'm very glad we did.  Some of them were treasures I found at yard sales that I'm even more thankful for.  When I found Blokus and Blokus trigon at a yard sale three weeks ago for $1 each, I was so excited!  My kids have already played Blokus several times. 

One thing tripped me up with games, though.  I put them out of the way and made room for their cars and Barbies on the lower shelves.  This has meant that my kids always have had to ask me to get them down.  This is good if one doesn't want a mess of pieces.  But, it's not good if you want your kids to play--which I do!  So, I'm working on finding space for their favorite games on the lower shelves along their walls...
 



3 comments:

becky.onelittle said...

We love many of those games- but our kids also like Ticket to Ride- I'm not sure the age on it, but our 7 year old plays well enough on his own- our 6 year old has to be guided through it- mostly because she is not an independent reader. And we love Catan Cities and Knights. And my children felt like the Catan Jr. game wasn't worth it.

Anne said...

I have seen Ticket to Ride at Target and wondered about it. Thanks for the recommendation! And I'm glad to know that your kids didn't think Catan Jr was worth it. I wondered if it would or wouldn't be since they are able to play the original edition. :)

Jo said...

Thanks for the list. We love board games, so we will have to check out some of these. One game we found at a yard sale recently was Clue - Master Detective. Once you get past the whole murder thing, it's a fun game of strategy and deduction.