Good Board Games?

DS and I have fun doing board games. We have Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Dissy The Dinosaur (I don't like this one), Mouse Trap, Checkers and some stupid pirate one I picked up that takes 15 min to set up. Can anyone suggest a good one for age 5+? DS is in kindergarten, so I'd like to get him a game for a little older age group - but one that won't end up being a bummer like the pirate game.

Thanks

[planet]

Re: Good Board Games?

Operation? There's classic, Shrek and Spiderman to my knowledge.
Cards; go fish.
Boggle if you have a starting speller.
We gave Cooties as a gift and had feedback that it was loved.

[Sheherezade]

Re: Good Board Games?

Don't Wake Daddy is silly, easy, short and fun. For 5+, I'd also try Connect Four (two player), Cadoo (baby cranium....needs three-four players, though), Apples to Apples, Jr. and What's in Ned's Head. You could try Othello, which is a small version of Go, if you want to do something "strategy" for two. The concept is simple and I think my son and I started playing it in Starbucks when he was a kindergarten kid. I'm sure the steamed milk with whipped cream helped inspire him.

We love board games, too. I have an insane collection.

[houseelf]

Re: Good Board Games?

We have a crazy amount of board games. I like games in which the adult does not have that much of an advantage. Kid games that I can stomach:

Phase Ten (basic math and sequencing)
Finders' Keepers (spatial reasoning)
Cheesey Parchesi ( a game of chance)
Pet Hunt (logic)
Set (spatial reasoning and logic)
Chess

Kelly

[poky]

Re: Good Board Games?

ooh, Phase 10 is fun; we play the card version and the dice version both (there's an updated card version with some play variants, too, "master" phase 10, or something silly like that).

Take at look at "set"; I'm not sure, but it could be appropriate for that age, and it's a great game. Various domino games could be fun, too.

Are you into german board games, too, Angie? We should have a game night!

[alison]

Re: Good Board Games?

.

Are you into german board games, too, Angie? We should have a game night!

We are.
We have a collection of the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) for each year for the past 10 years or so. The German games are so much better than the American games we have, except maybe Othello and Connect Four.

Re: Good Board Games?

THANKS!!! Those are great suggestions! I forgot about some of those. I use to LOVE Sorry!

[DCJenn]

Re: Good Board Games?

Maybe not for a 5 yo but my brother and cousins and I played Yahtzee for DAYS on end one rainy week at the beach. I also loved Clue. (maybe Clue is what started my life-long affection for a good murder mystery)

We also got into backgammon one year. and gin rummy (the family has a trophy that is passed around from year to year)

Jenn

Re: Good Board Games?

We play board games on weekend nights and love all the ones we have from Family Pastimes... they are fun and also co-operative games - so everyone wins if you can accomplish the goal together!

Our kids love these... we probably have about 6 of them. Granny's House was the first one we got for smaller children, and our 8 year old still likes to play it with his little sister. In fact, you can play many of the games as a multi-aged group because you are helping each other... so little ones can play along with bigger kids and adults and still feel good about it.

The website is set up so that you can click on the age group suggested games.

http://www.familypastimes.com/

Goes well with a fire in the fireplace and popcorn!

m

[madeintaiwan]

Re: Good Board Games?

We love Cranium games. We have at least 5 of them. We got Zooreka last year for Xmas when DS was 5 and it didn't take him long to figure it out. He always beats us somehow. We also like Zingo, DD is able to play this with us and is quite good at it. Clue Jr (a current favorite), Monopoly Jr, Sorry. DS got a Buzz Lightyear version of Yahtze when he was 3 or so and loved it. Was good for teaching counting and order. We love games.

Re: Good Board Games?

Our kids still like the classics like Life, Trouble, and Sorry.

Yes, I was going to suggest these as well. Love them!

Re: Good Board Games?

According to my ds (10yo)...
chess, checkers, mancala (be careful - addictive), Trouble, Apple to Apples, Battleship, Scrabble

Scrabble is my favorite, but it has become such a firestarter when played with extended family. We have to keep the official dictionary on the table at all times, and someone always leaves with hurt feelings.

[HouseofWool]

Re: Good Board Games?

I have a 5 yo and and am big into games that promote life skills (counting, strategy, etc). We play a lot of Trouble, Mancala. Recent additions are Monopoly Jr and Clue Jr. We also got Scrabble Jr for Christmas.

I LOVE playing Mancala.

[MDPhDWife]

Re: Good Board Games?

I love gone fishing, clue, battleship, life, monopoly, life, gin rummy (or just about anything with cards, I learned poker very young), operation, connect four, perfection, yahtzee, and I don't think anyone has mentioned UNO yet. I like the new version which is UNO spin.

I have a passion for board games, but it's frusterating since I have a hard time getting DH on board with anything that not electronic.

Re: Good Board Games?

Zooreka is just great. The boys got it for Christmas, but we just broke into it last week. Both of them really dig it.