Prewitt Family Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 SWB has mentioned board games on her blog / twitter during the past few weeks. (See http://www.susanwisebauer.com/blog/.) Since this strikes us as a wonderful way to have fun family time AND potentially sharpen skills, we wanted to start this thread for suggestions. Our sons are 6.5 and almost 4. So, games that are appropriate for those ages will be greatly appreciated. HOWEVER, we also keep a "someday/maybe" list that will serve as a good parking lot for the games that we want to consider when the kids are older. Thanks in advance, The Prewitts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Sequence for Kids Uno Yahtzee Rummikub are all working pretty well in our house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 for that age: hi ho cherri-o lego creator pizza fraction game card games [go fish/ old maid] yahtzee [grows with you --play simple versions for earlier ages] checkers. even chess --try simple game stategies at first. you can also play games for older kiddos w/ your spouse and let the kids be on your teams: they can roll die, move pieces, and choose options that you offer for discussion [should I go into the Library or the Ballroom?? should we invade Asia or North America?] have fun :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 (edited) Right now we just have the standard kid games (Candy Land, Hi Ho Cherry-O, etc...) but a good place to start looking is Funagain Games. You can search by category, including Kids, Family, Strategy, 2-Player, etc... Within the Kids category you can filter by age. Many games have reviews, and many of the reviewers are seasoned gamers who really know what they're talking about. I have a huge list of games I want. :drool: Another bonus is that we've found we can get games there for cheaper than in stores. We're Settlers fans, and when we bought ours several years ago, it was $39 retail, in specialty stores only, and $23 online at Funagain. Even after shipping we paid less than we would have in a local store. ETA: we did support this local store (mentioned above) occasionally by buying games there, but it was just too expensive to pay full retail (we once bought a game for $50). Unfortunately, that store isn't there anymore, so now we plan to just buy online. Edited August 3, 2009 by gardening momma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coralloyd Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Pass the Pigs Uno Guess Who? Memory Life Operation Connect 4 War Some of these are not "board" games, but my girls love all of these games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 My older two are currently enjoying a game of Monopoly Jr. They've simplified the game to the point that no strategy is needed so it s appropriate for even really young kids. Mine also like Guess Who?, Guess Where?, and Battleship. The first two were used by my son's speech therapist, which is where we learned about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingHope Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Chess has been the game around here lately. Janell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 For younger kids: Guess Who? Mastermind Jr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingHope Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 My 5 and 7 year olds love Skippo and Racko...fun number sequence games. Janell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lgm Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 for this age: Guess Who, mancala, connect4, checkers, chess, monopoloy jr, mastermind for kids, tiki topple, pick & pack, amazing labyrinth, apples to apples jr, break the safe , fluxx (partner nonreaders with readers), dominoes, perfection, jenga, spy-wire soon: mille borne boardgamegeek has good recommendations and you'll find games that you parents won't be bored to death to play with kids... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Check out familypasttimes.com for nice cooperative games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 My 5 and 7 year olds love Skippo and Racko...fun number sequence games. Do you mean Skipbo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Check out familypasttimes.com for nice cooperative games. We love love LOVE these games!!! Seriously love them. I cannot speak highly enough of them. Sleeping Princess may or may not go over well with your little guys (they can pretend to be knights, fighting the dragon etc., though if you're averse to spell-casting and the like, this one might not work), but we have and love the following Family Pastimes games: Caves and Claws Secret Door Granny's House A Walk in the Woods We also have Yard Sale, but that's in the box of toys yet to be brought out. Also popular around here these days: Blokus No Stress Chess My First Uno War Right-Start math card games (:D) War Monopoly Jr. (though DDalmost7 is itching to bump up to Monopoly now) Dominoes Roulette is also the game of choice when Daddy's around :001_huh: I'll be going through the other posts later tonight, since I'd like to add some new games to our collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vettechmomof2 Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 apples to apples uno rummy 500 war go fish connect four dogopoly homeschoolopoly monopoly chess checkers don't break the ice horse sense win, lose or draw and so many others that i cannot think of right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teshu'ah Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 There are United States Bingo, Addition Bingo, Subtraction Bingo, etc. There's also a game called Equate which is like Scrabble and you can easily simplify it for younger ages by picking and choosing which tiles are available for play. 5-State Rummy is another fun one around here. Skip-Bo your kids would benefit from helping to identify numbers and counting to 12. My kids LOVE Sorry Sliders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaterbabs Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 (edited) My family loves LCR. It's not a board game, but is perfect for anytime you're stuck waiting for anything. We take it with us when we go out to eat and play while we wait for our food. It's so simple that a child as young as 2 or 3 can play with help, and as long as the child can count to three with a one-to-one correspondance and tell left, right and center, they are good to go to play independantly. edited to add: even though Amazon calls it a "betting" game, it totally is NOT one. 3 dice are labeled with Ls, Cs, Rs, and dots, which determine where the rollers chips will go. The number of Ls rolled indicates the number of chips to be passed to the player on the left, the number of Rs rolled indicates the number of chips to be passed to the player on the right, and the number of Cs rolled indicates the number of chips to be placed in the center, or pot. (The dots are neutral and players do not pass any chips). The last player with chips, wins the game. Edited August 3, 2009 by skaterbabs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi @ Mt Hope Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Yes, Goblet Jr., Boggle, Apples to Apples Jr., and Bananagrams. I have to say that Rush Hour Jr. is a favorite around here. I love that my boys can set up the challenges by themselves (following the pictures on the cards) and that there are multiple levels of challenges. Even my husband and I find it challenging to do the advanced cards in the Jr. set. We just take turns playing, and enjoy watching each person figure out how to get their ice cream truck out of the traffic jam. :) Works really well for independent play, as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in CA Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Lots of great games listed already, but I did not see Scrabble Jr. on the list. Forgive me if I missed it. Of course, regular Scrabble is great too. Oh, and UpWords; a personal favorite of ours as well. We, too, are huge fans of the Settler of Catan games. We go through spells where we MUST play every night...for weeks!...and then we finally come up for air. :D You'll want to put it on your "save for later" list though as it probably wouldn't interest your kiddos quite yet. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jami Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 We really like Zooreka by Cranium as a EuroGame for kids in the style of Settlers. DH is the game player here and it's enjoyable enough for him. We like other Cranium games as well. Chess is a favorite, as is Mancala. Carcassone: Hunters and Gatherers is simple enough for my 7 and 8 year olds. Sequence for Kids is one of my 5 year olds favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadiegirl Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 We love Ticket to Ride-have the U.S. version but want others! Scrabble-my kids started out at 5-6 years of age and partnered with grandparents...now they beat all of us on their own at 12 and 13! Rivers, Roads and Rails...had it for years but kids and grandma still love playing it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSinPeru Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 My kids are 12, 10 and 9, so a bit older than yours. A favourite game, besides Settlers, is Ticket to Ride Europe. I highly recommend it for a fun, strategy game for the entire family. Adults can play a more competitive version, so it's not just a kids' game. Our family has also gained a sense of European geography from playing this game. Our kids have that game out more than any other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 I'm surprised no one has mentioned Nectar Collector! All of our children have LOVED this game! We bought this from the HearthSong Catalog years ago, but we don't know if they still carry it. Pictureka is a pattern-matching board game that the smaller kids are able to play. Finally, our recent favorite game is Wise and Otherwise. This game is similar to Balderdash, but you need to complete a saying from some country rather than providing a definition. It is expensive and requires writing, but it is a blast! Still our DS5 played even when he was 4 by skipping the writing part and just participating in the guessing part. The link I provided is to Games by James, which is a great game site with good prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisp Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 My newly 7yo likes Blokus, Racko, Settlers of Catan (though she's not particularly strategic about it) The 4yo likes Blokus and Racko too (though he doesn't know his numbers well enough to be good at Racko and needs help and has NO strategy for Blokus, just understands the rules). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in CA Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Ticket to Ride-have the U.S. version but want others! Oh my! How did I forget to include Ticket to Ride on my list!? We love this game! We have the US version too. I actually didn't know they had other versions...How neat is that! I'll have to check it out. Christmas is right around the corner ya know. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 We enjoy Parcheesi, Scrabble, Boggle, Settlers of Catan, Life (cracks us up!) Trivial Pursuit. We often play/ed teams in games of Scrabble, especially when the children were smaller. Currently, my 20 and 10 yr olds are often a Scrabble team, and often win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 We like Uno and Zooreka. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 My kids are a year older than yours. Starting when they were the age of your kids, they liked playing the following games. As a 3yr old, dd didn't have strategy, but loved to play. 12 dot dominoes Uno Rat-a-Tat-Cat Sequence for Kids Connect Four Dutch Blitz Candy Land Chutes and Ladders Cariboo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 (edited) ...Finally, our recent favorite game is Wise and Otherwise. This game is similar to Balderdash, but you need to complete a saying from some country rather than providing a definition. It is expensive and requires writing, but it is a blast! Still our DS5 played even when he was 4 by skipping the writing part and just participating in the guessing part. The link I provided is to Games by James, which is a great game site with good prices. Wise and Otherwise is a great favorite of ours, too. I highly recommend it. I like Reg's suggestion above of how to include younger players. To participate fully, I'd say at least age 10 otherwise. Regards, Kareni Edited August 4, 2009 by Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSheep Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 We recently acquired Sorry! Sliders and have all been quite enjoying it. Another good one for multi-age players is called Hey! That's My Fish! And for the older crowd we have quite enjoyed a game called Tangiaki. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 We love a lot of the games that other people have posted. The only one I haven't seen for youngers that we like is called In a Pickle. It's a word game. One that the oldest children and I like to play, other than Settlers which everyone seems to like, is Sophie's World, based on the book by the same name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 My kids all time favorite is Zooreka, even my mom loves this one and it's one of the first things she does when she comes to visit. The new favorite is Blokus. Even my just turned 4 year old loves it and doesn't have any trouble playing although for him it's just fun, not strategy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afeminame Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 My children get a really kick out of perfection. It a great adrenaline game, matching shapes in a certain amount of time or it pops up. I'd adjust the amount of pieces a child would have to put in, so they wouldn't feel too anxious. We also try to see if we can be the time we did prior or if we can add another piece to complete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3boyssmom Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 We love the Ticket to Ride European game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Boggle Monopoly Risk Chess and our family favorite Carcassone--not unlike Settlers but the kids seem to enjoy it more and it costs less Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japhmi Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 (edited) Sequence for kids and Gulo Gulo would be the two that come to mind. Check out http://www.boardgamegeek.com Edited August 5, 2009 by japhmi figuring out the link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Sorry uno or uno attack clue jr, monopoloy jr twister cranium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tutor Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Games our 5yo likes: checkers Rush Hour Monopoly Jr. Chutes and Ladders Swipe Swap Pit (he's rather random at it, though) Twister Whoonu Scrambled States Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakblossoms Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 For the younger ages, we love the Haba games. They come in little tins, are portable, and are easy to learn. They are based on games like crazy eights or yahtzee but are simpler to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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