We LOVE board games. I have loved them since I was a little kid. I would much rather sit around the table with my family and friends then do pretty much anything else.
Board games are great for family bonding, but their value goes beyond that. Games help to develop the youngest players fine motor and hand-eye coordination. Games help the young elementary school students with counting, reading, and problem-solving skills. And they help everyone understand competition and taking turns.
We at Macaroni Kid Plymouth MA compiled a list of our top five board games in three different age categories. Did we include your favorite board game? If not send me a message via email, Facebook, or twitter and let us know what games your family loves to play!
For the youngest players (preschoolers)
Playing games with preschoolers gets them practicing basic skills like counting, color matching and critically thinking. Depending on the time of day and the mood of my kids I will choose a game where there is a winner or one that the goal is to work together to achieve the goal. During game play, they are learning important social skills like taking turns and following rules (which sometimes are really difficult lessons to learn)
* Count your Chickens - This is a fun little game where you have to get all the chickens safely home. You work as a team as you watch out for the sly fox and you move the chickens from all over the board back into their coop.
* Snug as a Bug In a Rug - This is a great game as it has different ways to play based on the ability and age of the players. It is a color and shape matching game that helps children build visual discernment skills and encourages players to work together to get all the bugs safely into the rug before all three stink bugs appear.
* Eye Found It - There are a few different editions of this game. The goal is to get everyone to the tower before the clock strikes midnight. It combines the path game of Candy Land with the Eye Spy of highlights and gets everyone involved and excited.
* Matching Memory Games - You can find this type of game in all sorts of different themes. It is a great way to build recognition and memory skills. This one can have a clear winner and loser, which is a difficult but necessary lesson.
* Connect 4 - I love this game because it begins to introduce the importance of strategy and thinking before you play your token. I think at the preschool age this is far beyond them but it is a way for them to start the process of developing this important life skill.
For the kids in Early Elementry School
This is when the games get more fun for adults...or at least I think so. Kids are building strategy and critical thinking skills and everyone can see their improvement in play over just a few short weeks. It gives kids experience with being a gracious winner and a good loser.
* Uno- This is one of my all-time favorite games. We play this a lot at our house. It has color recognition for the youngest ones and strategy for older kids. It is fun and easy to bring with you anywhere.
* Sequence - We were recently introduced to this classic game. It is a game of strategy and luck that has you playing on teams and trying to figure out what other players are thinking.
* Guess Who - Is a great game for children to learn to look critically at a characteristic and to place things in categories to eliminate possibilities.
* Pictionary- This is a classic game for all ages. Young elementary school kids are building on their visual interpretation skills.
* Trouble - Another classic board game. Trouble has you counting and planning as you work to get all your pegs around the board. Heads up though, this game can run long.
Older Kids and Adults.
Board games are great for all ages and they are something that everyone can bond over. These games are for older kids who can read well independently, though with help younger kids might be able to play some of these games too.
* Scatagories - This is a great game night game. It requires all players to really think about words in different categories and what other players might be thinking.
* Apples to Apples - This is a fun game to play with a big group of people. Lots of laughs happen as you try and figure out which one will be chosen (note - there are other fun versions to play with adults but this is a family article).
* Dominos - When I think of Dominos I think of old men playing in the park. But I really love this game. I love trying to strategize about what others are going to do.
* Bunco - This is a great game for a large group. It is really easy and so much fun to play.
* Cranium - This game has it all: trivia, drawing, acting, humming and more. Everyone is good at some part of this game but not many people are good at all parts. It is a fun team game that gets everyone involved.
Games are important for family bonding and skill building but more than that they are a way where everyone can have fun together. It is a way to interact with your kids on a level playing field. If you have never had a family game night, try it out. You might be surprised at how much a three-year-old loves to play a game with their parents even if they don't quite get all the rules.
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