Top Ten Tuesday: Family Game Night

Next week is TV Turn Off week and I know that some people (maybe even us when the kids are awake) are going to participate. We’re also trying to institute Family Game Night and we have a lot of fun with it. Any way, these are the top ten games we liked to play.

1. ThinkFun Zingo This is like Bingo for the preschool set. The pieces are reasonably easy to keep track of and Ben really enjoys being the one to slide the tile holder back and forth. There are two levels of play. We tend to play the easier side right now because of frustration levels. He did try the harder side yesterday, but he was more stressed than he normally is.

2. ThinkFun Rush Hour Jr. Oh, what a brilliant find this was. We set the game up and then we take turns trying to solve the puzzle. This one is also great if Ben wants to play something by himself.

3. How Tall Am I Game This is a great game that encourages creativity, strategic thinking, and basic skills with a ruler. You try to build the tallest character you can by putting together the different parts of a person. You get to decide which parts based on a roll of the die. Ben has really enjoyed this one many, many times over.

4. Yahtzee Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse This gets a little loud. Particularly with a young man who loves to rattle the dice. But, it’s a bit easier than traditional Yahtzee and helps him work on his counting skills.

5. Disney / Pixar Toy Story UNO Card Game We picked this up to help Ben with his colors and his numbers. It helps even more because it has the characters on it that he loves, so he can keep track of what’s going on even if he gets a little confused by the colors some times.

6. Family FLUXX Ever Changing Family Card Game This is a wild game. Ben has some trouble following some of the rule switches, but he enjoys trying the different cards and the way that the rules change to suit what’s best for each player. It can be a really fast game or a really slow one — depending on how the rules work out. (There’s also a more adult version of this game that, when the kids are older, we plan to shuffle into the family game: Fluxx 4.0).

7. Veggietales Jonah Fishin Card Game This is one of the first card games Ben received that he actually enjoyed and appreciated. He’ll dig out the cards all the time and ask to play a game. It’s lots of fun for all of us. And since he’s always had an ocean obsession, the cards are things he recognizes right away.

8. The Suitcase Detectives This is a neat game. You try to catch a thief by observing the objects that are in the suitcase and figuring out what’s missing. We haven’t had a lot of time to play with it, but we see it as a precursor to Clue, so we’re pleased about that.

9. Hi Ho Cherry-O It’s a classic and Ben is enjoying the counting aspects of it. There’s a cooperative level where the goal is to put together a bird puzzle and the classic competition version where you see who can pick their cherries the fastest. Great fun for all.

10. Memory Game – The Backyardigans Edition We also have the classic version, but this is one that Ben truly enjoys playing. We started out with smaller grids and have moved him slowly up to using more and more of the cards. He’ll be using all of the cards in the game very soon. It’s fun for everybody and builds on the matching stuff that he’s learned watching Nick Jr.

Just for fun here are a couple of bonus items I’m throwing in this week. Books are big source of creativity for me, so these are some things that help with planning our family nights or resources that we draw from for the kinds of play that we do.

11. Family Fun Night We’re just getting this one as we’re into theme nights and thought it might be fun to have some guidelines to help us develop some themes as we try to branch out on our own.

12. Unplugged Play: No Batteries. No Plugs. Pure Fun. This book is so creative and comes up with some fascinating ideas for kids and playtime. There are great games for kids to play (with and without adults) along with all kinds of pretend play and other fun stuff. Ben loves to have his imagination stretched, so this is super popular with him.

Now that you’ve found some new/interesting games, go on over to Amanda’s blog and check out the other top ten lists.