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Get to Know 7 Family Games to Play Anywhere

The whole world is crazy about digital technologies these days, but there are still traditionalists who believe in the power of good old family games out there.

By Tiffany HarperPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
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After all, analog games have helped entire generations of parents to raise and amuse their children, so why wouldn’t you do the same thing and use them to have fun?

The best thing about family games is that they are not only entertainment. On the contrary, they also help you to teach kids important life lessons such as:

  • How to win and lose with dignity.
  • How to solve problems.
  • How to stay focused for a long time.
  • How to develop social skills.
  • How to enjoy quality time in the family.

We can name dozens of interesting games here, but we decided to discuss only seven classics that every man, every woman, and every child will enjoy. Let’s take a look!

1. 20 Questions

We open the list with 20 questions, one of the true oldies but goldies. How does it work?

One of the players imagines something —an object or a tool—and reveals only one thing about it. The only information for other players is that the object is an animal, vegetable, or mineral. After that, participants can ask up to 20 Yes/No questions to figure out what it is. For example, animal-related questions can be “Does it live in water?” or “Is it a wild animal?”

Jake Gardner, who wrote for the Ivory Research review and Essayshark review, online assignment help, says this game is perfect for boosting creative thinking and imagination, “However, you can also use it to teach the kids the art of deduction and logical thinking.”

2. Botticelli

The second family game on our list goes hand in hand with the previous one. This time, you and your kids are not supposed to guess a thing but rather a famous person. All you have are the person’s initials, to begin with, but then you can also ask Yes/No questions to learn who it might be.

The first few inquiries are usually very broad and general because you want to find out things like the person’s era or field of work. After that, you move on to the more specific questions.

Botticelli can be a little difficult for younger kids, so most parents play it with older children. However, you can make it easier by focusing on the cartoon and fairytale characters. Just like 20 Questions, Botticelli is also great for deduction-based reasoning.

3. Categories

Another highly entertaining family game is Categories. The concept is very simple—one player chooses a category and other participants take turns mentioning elements belonging to the category. For instance, a category can be as wide as “musicians,” but you can also choose to narrow it down to something more specific like “British rock bands.”

Alison Naples, the content manager at writer services notices, “As you play, everyone should clap their hands to maintain the same rhythm and remind players that they must answer quickly. The game can be played for as long as you have time or until you start running out of ideas. This is a nice way to learn things together with your kids because you can remind them of important things such as animals, flowers, and all those other concepts a kid has to learn before school.”

4. Geography

Geography is yet another super-exciting family game that adds the element of randomness to the whole process. How come? Well, a player thinks of a place (village, city, country, region, etc.) which begins with the last letter of the previous toponym.

Here’s an example:

The first player thinks of Paris.

The second player thinks of Singapore.

The third player thinks of Europe.

The game can go on this way forever. However, we don’t believe you should play it with little kids because they don’t really understand the concept of a toponym and don’t know too many places. It is, however, perfect for geography learning with somewhat older children.

5. Ghost

Ghost is a dynamic family game that requires a fair share of knowledge and concentration. One player opens the game by choosing a random letter. All the other players are supposed to add a new letter to continue the streak and keep forming a real word. However, the goal is to make it as long as possible because the player who completes the word loses.

When this happens, the player who lost gets a letter starting from G to T (as in the word GHOST). A player with all five letters, the so-called ghost, is out of the game but earns the privilege to assist or haunt the remaining participants.

The game is ideal for developing spelling skills among children, but the sheer complexity makes Ghost great even for professional authors who’d like to refresh their memories. This is exactly why agencies such as thesis writing service or research paper writing service often organize Ghost competitions for their writers.

6. I Packed My Grandmother’s Trunk

If you want to strengthen your kid’s memory, you should definitely play I Packed My Grandmother’s Trunk. The idea is simple—the first player says: “I packed my grandmother’s trunk and in it I put ___.” This has to be an A-letter work such as ‘airplane.'

The second player repeats the first sentence and adds a B-letter word such as ‘basketball.’ The game goes on with C, D, E, and so on until someone forgets earlier word choices.

7. Charades

Charades is the pantomime-based family game that works well for teams of players. The two groups write several phrases on a piece of paper and put it in a bowl. A player from the opposing team picks one phrase and tries to explain it to his/her teammates without using words.

As Monica Richards, the mother of two kids, and a subject matter expert at the write my essay and essay reviewer, who often works online, to stay more with her kids, thinks “The goal of this game is to inspire kids to get creative and find a way to express their thoughts non-verbally. Charades always lead to laughter and funny moments, but the game really helps parents to boost their kids’ ability to send a meaningful message using alternative means of communication.”

Conclusion

Each of these family games is highly entertaining and educational at the same time. You can play them wherever you want, boost your children’s imagination, and create some lovely family memories. Which game from this list do you consider to be the most entertaining?

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About the Creator

Tiffany Harper

Tiffany Harper began her career as a journalist in the educational publishing house. Now she works as an experienced expert writer, mostly in education, business, and technology area. Please, contact her on Twitter.

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