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Children's board games are among the most imaginative, as they frequently combine play and education. Plus, with their wacky themes and silly rules, they're entertaining for everyone. You'll need some great board games to keep the boredom at bay and stimulate those little minds.
"Nothing can substitute for person-to-person bonding, especially between children and parents."
While it’s easy to give kids phones or tablets and place the burden of entertainment on devices, there is a better, more interactive way: FAMILY BOARD GAMES! Nothing can substitute person-to-person bonding, especially between children and parents. There’s no better way to stimulate your kids’ focus and critical thinking, teach them strategy, foster a friendly competition environment, AND have fun all at the same time!
Bridge Fun and Education with Board Games for Every Age
Board games are the perfect family bonding activity. Simple games help younger players identify colors, count spaces, and develop hand-eye coordination when moving cards, pieces, and other gameplay tokens around the board. It teaches kids how to wait for their turn, too.
Children’s board games are among the most imaginative, as they frequently combine play and education. Plus, with their wacky themes and silly rules, they’re entertaining for everyone. You’ll need some great board games to keep the boredom at bay and stimulate those little minds.
According to Beatrice Tauber Prior, Psy.D., clinical psychologist, author, and owner of the private practice Harborside Wellbeing, “strategy games in particular help teens [develop] their frontal lobes which are responsible for executive function skills such as planning, organizing, and making informed decisions.” They can boost language skills, illustrate the value of teamwork, soothe anxiety, and even teach kids how to lose without being sore losers.
Moreover, they’re an amazing means for everybody (adults included) to engage in a screen-free activity and just unplug. We’ve compiled the best board games for families that are still super fun for adults, whether you’re looking for something to play with your kids, a gift for someone else’s kids, or simply something easy-going to enjoy yourself. Check them out below!
10 Fun Board Games for Kids and Adults
Dive into the excitement with this hilariously simple word-guessing game! Watch teams face off in a battle of wits, pulling Poetry Cards and cleverly describing cues with only single-syllable words. The fun really begins as you all scramble to dodge the rules, with any mistakes earning you a menacing NO! Stick penalty. Your mission: outwit the competition and snag the top score by guessing the prompts.
Gear up for an uproarious Poetry for Neanderthals challenge that tests not just your vocabulary but your wit and speed as well!
Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza serves up a deliciously rapid card game adventure. This fun game has players of all ages gleefully alternating turns to place cards on a pile, all while reciting ’taco,’ ’cat,’ ’goat,’ ’cheese,’ or ’pizza’ in a catchy rhythm. When words and cards finally match—pow!—a frenzied dash begins to slap the cards, with the last one facing the consequence of gathering the pile.
Adding a twist, special action cards like the gorilla, narwhal, and groundhog demand players perform amusing gestures in the race to slap the deck. The goal: be the first to play all your cards. Are you and your reflexes ready for the rollicking chaos of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza?
With its whisker-tingling twist on Russian Roulette, Exploding Kittens invites players to draw cards in a tense gamble where the Exploding Kitten card spells doom. Navigate through a deck brimming with tactical cards that offer glimpses into the future, shuffle the deck, or force your opponents to draw multiple cards.
Are you ready to dodge the explosive felines in this furiously fast game? Let’s find out if you can avoid a feline frenzy and claim victory in this purr-fectly perilous adventure!
4. Last Message
If you’re a fan of fun board games for kids and adults like Mafia, Last Message takes it a step further. Players take on the roles of either Criminal, Detective, or Victim. The Detectives must work with the silent Victim, whose only means of helping is to draw clues on a whiteboard. This whiteboard will be tampered with over the course of four rounds to track down the Criminal. Like the classic party game, enjoy several sessions in succession and play different roles each time to get the most out of your deductive, strategic, or creative thinking!
5. Point Salad
This fast and fun card drafting game has players mixing up to six different vegetable cards–with different scoring methods–together to build the perfect salad. Draft unique combinations of veggies and point cards strategically to amass the most points and win!
With over a hundred ways to score points, Point Salad offers a thrilling range of strategies. What sets it apart? Each game session promises a fresh and unique experience every time!
6. Just One
Just One is a party game that’s all about cooperation and wit, where players band together to guess the correct words across 13 cards. Each round, teammates strategize to offer up the cleverest clues so the word in question can be guessed. But here’s the twist: repeat a clue that’s already been given and you’re out. Originality is key!
In this exciting expansion of the much-loved Kingdomino family board game, you and your fellow players set off on quests to expand your realms. Using tiles similar to domino pieces, you cleverly connect landscapes to strengthen your kingdoms, ensuring they match with previously placed tiles.
Kingdomino Origins adds excitement with new elements, lively actions, and creative scoring methods, including the strategic use of fire. The adventure reaches its peak as you strive to carefully craft a 5x5 grid, earning points for cohesive landscapes and coveted crown symbols. Who will emerge as the esteemed ruler of the most magnificent kingdom?
In Happy Little Dinosaurs, players take on Disaster cards that bring Natural, Predatory, or Emotional threats. Next, they play Point cards–like weapons, trinkets, or good luck charms–to collect points and avoid disasters.
Work to avoid life’s adversities and laugh with your fellow players as you compete to be the first player to reach 50 points OR be the last dinosaur standing. Will you be the victor? Or will you fall into a pit of lava or–gasp–get ghosted on your dino date?!
9. Here to Slay
…might be a good introduction to tabletop roleplay for younger players. This competitive roleplaying fantasy strategy card game (say that three times) has players compete to assemble a party of Heroes while slaying monsters.
From the creators of Unstable Unicorns, Here to Slay features 1 versus 1 challenge cards and roll modifiers to help players turn the tides in their favor. Will you be the player to win by first successfully slaying three monsters? Or would you win by focusing on assembling your party?
Long Shot is a board game for families that requires you to think on your feet. Or maybe hooves? Quick thinking and flexibility in strategy are your best friends in this game where up to seven players compete in a tense race of eight horses. Buy horses, place bets, influence moves in the race, and use special abilities to turn the tides in your favor. Dice rolls determine which horses move and what options are available, so think fast!
Once three horses cross the finish line, players add their total earnings. The player that makes the most money will be declared the winner. Will you be the dark horse of this competition, and win by a Long Shot?
Let the Ultimate Fun Begin with These 10 Family Board Games
Who says board games are just child’s play? We’ve pieced together an unbeatable lineup of board games that are perfect for kiddos and approved by families. Let us prove there’s a whole universe of fun waiting to be unlocked.
Excited to explore a collection of fun picks that’ll banish boredom and ignite young minds? Let’s make family time epic, starting with these handpicked favorites!
