I love games.
When my children were younger (can you say that when your oldest is only 9?) we played some games that were’t super exciting for me, like memory, go fish, and the like. But I still enjoyed playing them.
Now that my children are a little older we’ve moved on to games that are a little more challenging to them and are fun for the whole family. There’s a big world of board games out there and I think many of them have the age groupings wrong.
We’ve played Apples to Apples, Dominion, Carcassonne, and even Puerto Rico with out many problems. Of course, our 6 year old has problems formulating a good strategy for the more complex games – but he’s won rounds of Dominion, Ticket to Ride and other games that are labeled in the teen range.
No matter what your feeling on the age labels or the types of games you enjoy, there are huge benefits in having a family game night (and I’m not speaking in the weekly sense).
It’s not screen time
Board games take you and your children away from the computer, TV, and other devices for a time. They exercise your brain in a different way and help you bond with your child through sharing strategies and ideas on how to overcome obstacles.
Fun & Laughter
Each type of game will bring it’s own type of fun. Apples to Apples is a great word game that makes us smile…but with boys, the game of Poo always gets a laugh.
Problem Solving
Most games involve some sort of strategy. Dominion is a game that is fairly simple to learn and has so many variations that it’s difficult for anyone to become the family expert. This is one where both of my kids have figured out a strategy with certain cards that their dad can’t always defeat.
Memories
Some of my kids (and my) favorite memories are the times when we’ve packed up a game or three and headed to Caribou for a game night at the coffee shop. In fact, it’s become part of our Advent season each year.
Need a game idea? Ask in the comments…
