Family Fun With Games

Playing games together is not only fun but it is a good means for families to create a tight bond and establish long lasting memories. Having a family game night encourages communication while having fun.

When having a family game night, plan a special dinner beforehand and possibly pick a different family member's favorite recipe each time. And while games are being played, provide finger-food treats such as suitable appetizers, chips, dip and nibblers.

Also, when planning a game night with family, it will be important to pick games appropriate to the age of any children that may be attending. If there is a big range in ages, it is a good idea to play games that young children will be interested in and then play games that are suitable for those who are older after the younger ones are in bed.

Some of the games that young children enjoy are memory card games, matching card games, board games that encourage early math learning in a fun way, as well as early reading cards that are in a game format. Another game children like is Statues. Play some music suitable for children and periodically stop it, having children freeze and become statues when the music stops.

For older children, and the adults in the family, there are such games as Sorry, Operation, Pictionary, Concentration, Go Fish and Balderdash. The game of Balderdash is a particular favorite for my family and we always enjoy a lot of laughs when we play it.

For those who want to get up and be active, there is Twister, Charades and Wii interaction games. And for those who want to test their brain skills, include such games as Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, Clue, Jenga, Scattegories, Yahtzee, Uno and Rummoli. There are a lot of card games also that are a lot of fun such as Hearts. Hearts is another one of our favorite games to play as a family.

When the weather is nice, there are outdoor games that can be played together as a family which can include even the young children. These can be ones such as Bocci Ball, croquet and badminton. Another idea is to get a game of scrub baseball together if your family is large enough or organize your own sports day and have challenging racing competitions. Some of these races could include carrying an egg on a spoon, the three-legged race, hopping with a ball between your knees or relays, if you have a large family group.

Having family game nights encourages family communication and closeness that will increase as the children grow older. Most of our game nights follow dinners for birthdays or in the evening on New Years Day. Another popular time for us to play family games is when we have our annual family vacations which usually includes several family groups within the family. The children in the family look forward to our game nights.