One of the most fun ways to provide value to your family unit is by engaging in regular family game nights. The term win-win means a situation in which everyone benefits. My grandmother said a couple weeks ago “A family that plays together, stays together”. She was talking about a new hobby we took up together as a family, but this applies to so many different areas including family game night!

There are many incredible benefits to turning off technology and making space in your schedule to sit down and connect. Here are a few reasons why family game night is a win-win for everyone:

Quality Time

We live in a fast paced society where our schedules fill up fast. If we aren’t careful, our calendars can become a strategy game where we have to gather around it and find the days that magically align for togetherness! You can read more about that here. When we gather around the table for game night we are sending the message to our children that we value spending time with them. My favorite thing about game night is all the laughter we share! Instead of having our faces buried in Facebook we get face time (and not the Apple kind!) with the people we love most. We always leave the table with happy hearts and new memories.

Open Communication

When we gather around the table it opens up a line of communication for other topics. We may start by playing the game of Life but usually we have conversations mixed in about ACTUAL life. The kids open up about something going on at school. My husband shares a memory from his childhood. We talk about what we learned at church that week. Some games take a lot of concentration and strategy, but usually between rounds we end up talking about something else while the cards or shuffled or the game is reset.

Teaches Kids how to Lose Graciously

If you’ve ever played games with a toddler, you understand the importance of teaching this life lesson! I believe we are all born inherently selfish. Losing graciously is a learned skill. We never ‘let our kids win’. Instead, we play different age appropriate games so that they all have an opportunity to win at their skill level. Many games for toddlers and younger kids are based on chance. There’s no strategy required for Candy Land afterall! Family game night teaches our kids good sportsmanship. I love to watch their growth in this area, from sulking when they lose to congratulating the winner and being ready to play again. There will be many instances in life where somebody else will appear to ‘win’. It’s an important life skill to learn how to be happy for others when they achieve something we want for ourselves.

Teaches Valuable Life Skills

Playing games provides a fun opportunity to learn many life skills for all ages. We have many games that teach basic math skills that are great for the younger kids who are learning addition and subtraction. Games that focus on strategy facilitate problem solving and critical thinking skills for the kids and also adults. As we think through strategy and remember what worked last time and what didn’t work we’re training our brains to evaluate other life problems as they come up. Game play also teaches us how to communicate with people who may be different from us or have a different communication style without getting frustrated. One of my favorite life skills that playing games encourages is obedience! Our kids are learning how to play fair and follow the rules. A great game to play with little ones is the classic Simon Says. As they learn how to carefully listen to what ‘Simon’ says, they are learning how to carefully listen and obey what Mom says without realizing it! Now that’s a WIN in my book!

Cost Effective

As a big family we are not able to do many activities outside of the home. It’s expensive to take everyone to the movies or out to dinner. After the initial price of the game, family game night is a free way to provide entertainment and connection with your family. If you have a big family like ours or are in a financial situation that limits the activity you can do outside the home, I encourage you to set aside a couple dollars a week so you can pick up a new game every couple months. The more options there are for each family member the more everyone will want to play! You can find great deals on Amazon or at your local chain store.

Our Family Favorites

We have a nice collection of games. We try and buy a game for each birthday and Christmas. Sometimes we take a family trip to the store and pick up a game as part of our family night. I also watch deals on Amazon or sales at our local grocery store. We try to buy games that can be played with just 2 players so that Luke and I can play after the kids are in bed. Playing games is a fun way to connect with your spouse and get an impromptu date night in after the kids are in bed. Here are some of our favorite go-to games:

1. Rat-A-Tat-Cat

We love this fast pace memory game that teaches basic mathematical and timing skills. You can play with 2-6 players and while the box says age 6+ our 4-year-old is able to play with little assistance. The goal is to trade all of your rat cards for cat cards and have the lowest number of points at the end of the game. We’ve owned this game less than a year but our deck of cards is already looking tattered because we play it so frequently. This is an inexpensive must have card game for your collection! This game is from the company Gamewright. Gamewright produces some fabulous games, several of which are on our list of favorites!

2. Sleeping Queens

This is another game produced by Gamewright that teaches kids memory and basic mathematical skills. In this game, there are 16 sleeping queens that you must use strategy, quick thinking and a bit of luck to wake them up. The first player to wake up 5 queens and avoid dragons, knights and sleeping potions wins! You can play this game with 2-5 players and while the box says ages 8+ our 4 & 6-year-old boys are able to play with limited assistance. They show their hands so we can help them with simple mathematical equations and I’m amazed at how quickly they’ve memorized simple addition problems. We opted to purchase the 10th anniversary Tin because it’s more durable with 4 kids than the cardboard box. Either are great, inexpensive options!

3. Monopoly Deal

This card game from Hasbro is a simple version of the beloved classic. If you love Monopoly but don’t have an hour to play you should pick up the card version that only takes on average 15 minutes. Since purchasing this game we haven’t played the full version. You can still fight over Park Place without having to count paper money and devote an entire evening! This card game can be played with 2-5 players and while it says age 8+, this is our 6-year-olds favorite game. Our 4-year-old can play with assistance but usually gets bored and wanders off. This is one of my favorite games to play with Luke after the kids have gone to bed. Fast paced and addicting! I dare you to try and play just one round!

4. Exploding Kittens

I have to include this game because it is one of the kids’ favorites. This is a family-friendly, cat powered version of Russian roulette. You take turns drawing cards and hope that you don’t draw an exploding kitten and die! I love the manufacture description of the diffuse card, “You can avoid exploding if you play a Defuse Card. Defuse Cards distract the Exploding Kittens with things like laser pointers, kitten yoga, and catnip sandwiches.” Be careful though, your diffuse card can be stolen and if you draw an exploding kitten without it you lose! There is even a card with an electromagnetic Pomeranian storm that rolls in from the East and shuffles the deck. That is particularly fun for us because we have a black Pom named Scooter. This is a simple game that wouldn’t be as much fun if not for the hilarious illustrations. The kids laugh their faces off. This game is for 2-5 players ages 7+ but our 4-year-old can easily play.

5. Forbidden Island

This is a cooperative game by Gamewright in which everyone works together on a do or die mission to capture four sacred treasures before the island sinks and everyone dies! At first glance, this game seems complicated and if you aren’t familiar with a cooperative game it might take you a few rounds to catch on. We love working together as a family to try and beat the game. This game takes a lot of critical thinking and strategy. While the game says 2-5 players ages 8 and up it’s perfect for the younger family members since there are no ‘hidden cards’. We’re all playing together and talking out what each person’s next move should be. This is our favorite game to play if we invite a couple over too, it’s always a hit!

6. Sequence

Rounding out our list is Sequence. I won’t lie, when we visited Luke’s parents in Florida and they pulled this game out I assumed it would be boring. I was WRONG! I’m surprised the Amazon box wasn’t waiting for us when we got home, that’s how quickly I ordered this game for our own collection. This game is like a more sophisticated version of Bingo in which you pair strategy with chance to get two sequences (5 chips in a row) to win the game. This can be played with 2-12 players. Luke and I have fun when it’s just the two of us, but it’s more fun when you can play on a team with an even number of people. You’ll really learn how competitive your friends and family members are with this game! My description doesn’t even do it justice, you’ll just have to see for yourself! This isn’t our kids first pick, but they’ll still play if we get it out!

Now that you’ve learned about the benefits of playing games together and have some ideas of new games to pick up and play, I challenge you to shut off your device and gather around the table together! Family game night truly is a win-win for everyone!

I’m ALWAYS looking for new games to purchase for our family! When I play a new game at a friends house or find one that sounds fun I usually save it to my Amazon cart and purchase it when I’m able! I would really love to hear your favorites, please comment below!

Here’s a peek at the games that are currently saved in my Amazon cart and a couple tools that I think will make it easier for my kids to play!

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