Last week, Matt had a work dinner one evening. As the kids and I were just finishing up our own fancy dinner of Mama Fu’s take out, Jake asked me “Mommy, can we play UNO tonight after Ryanne goes to bed?”
“I don’t think you can play with just two people, sweetie”
“Sure you can! I play with my friend at afterschool all the time. When you play a skip, you just get to go again … and same with a reverse because it comes back to you. And when you play a ‘plus 2’, the other person picks two and you go again!”
“Alright, we’ll give it a try” I say skeptically. After all, he only just learned to play UNO 2 short months ago and can barely even hold all the cards in his little hands. This should be a quick game, I thought to myself.
It was quick all right – two hands into it: Jake – 0, Mom – 180!!! Apparently the kid not only learned how to play UNO, but some strategy as well!
We played for about an hour and he ended up beating my smarty little pants right off me! I appeared to be upset for his benefit, but deep down inside, I was thrilled! We are finally turning the corner of FUN family game nights! No more Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders (or just Ladders in my husband’s case). We have finally arrived at some REAL games. I remember so often growing up, clearing the dinner table and immediately launching into a heated game of Aggravation … or the marathon Monopoly games on a rainy Saturday afternoon. What a fun family bonding experience. And a great alternative to TV watching!!!
We’ve slowing been expanding our game library – here are a few of our favorites thus far:
Blokus
UNO
Go Fish
Sorry
Sorry Sliders (kind of like curling for any of you fellow olympic junkies)
Connect Four (I actually can hear the sweet sounds of Matt and Jake playing as I type)
Rush Hour (this is actually a one-person game, but is GREAT for developing thinking skills and its fun to pass back and forth, challenging one another with various set ups)
Othello
Bulls-eye Ball (similar to a miniature Skee Ball game)
Zingo (this is a game for smaller kids, but wanted to include it because its such a great one)
Help us build out our game cabinet. What are some of your family faves? Share some of your fun family game night stories too. Happy game night!
Smarty Giveaway!
Who doesn’t love that curious little monkey? Our kids have always loved everything Curious George and have watched every episode on PBS a million times over. And now he is coming live to the Bojangles’ Coliseum for the World Premier of Curious George Live! This show runs March 12-14. Two Charlotte Smarty Pants winners will receive a family four-pack of tickets to the show. This giveaway ends March 7th at 11:00pm.
Click here to enter the giveaway!
Good Luck!
10 comments
we love Qwirkle
Hiss is a favorite, you have different color cards that are a part of a snake and if you complete the snake you get the cards, the one with the most at the end wins, easy game for everyone, we found it when our youngest was 2.5 yrs and he did great and the oldest liked it too. Plus the game went fast!!!
I have 10 and 8 year old boys. We love to play Rummikub and Yahtzee!
We love Zingo and somehow the boys got hooked on Chutes and Ladders – this could possibly be the longest game on the planet! However, they love the slides – they don't get it just yet that going down the chute is a bad thing! Puzzles are also great on game night. Helps with analytical math skills as they grow older.
Tracy, sometimes I think we were twins separated at birth when I read your blogs! I had been working on a list of family friendly games, too, and Blokus & Uno are two of our favorites! I have not heard of Rush Hour, so I need to check it out! I also like the Hiss game mentioned above. Have you guys ever played Mastermind? It is a classic game and my Jake has just started getting the hang of it. It is nice because it is a challenge for both of us!Great ideas, thanks!Oh, and I am so happy that the word verification I am having to enter to post this comment is "flabbi"!!!!!! Nothing like making a bloated lady feel even better about herself this morning. Sheesh!
Operation is a favorite at our house. We got Twister for Christmas but our daughter's arms and leg's are not long enough to play yet!
Blokus, Rummikub, Yathzee, and Banagrams (my twins in kindgertan love to spell their sight words!) are our family's favorite. My 11 year old would play Chess and Monopoly all day if we let him!
Kids on Stage is great for a family with lots of different ages (it's like charades). Love Cadoo (Cranium for 7+) — great game…. Another shout out for Mastermind… There's a Mastermind for Kids which is really great too.
Apple to Apples junior edition. 7 and up.
I am still laughing at the Flabby comment above! My family loves Boggle and Memory … somehow my sons always win Memory … even when I am really trying to win!