Family games: Fun, challenging games for the whole family

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Tired of playing boring games with your children? Interested in discovering games to entertain the whole family from age 2-99? You’ve come to the right spot!

We share below, a growing list of family games we have enjoyed playing together as a family (even one-player ones that are meant to be, and can be, played solo!). 

Forewarning, we are not into Monopoly so that isn’t listed below (no offense to those who do enjoy it. I used to like playing it as a kid but have outgrown it). 

Our games list is for families who like games that can be played quickly, and repeated if there is desire to play more (hey, with little ones, it’s hard to keep their attention. Heck – it’s hard to maintain my attention if the game is slow and long!).

We also make sure that the games we play are also fun and challenging for us as adults, so feel good knowing that these won’t bore you to death! In fact, some of them may leave you rolling on the floor laughing.

For each game, we listed the game’s recommended age range and any personal notes of our own, if they differ from the suggested range. That being said, most of the games we have listed below are enjoyable no matter the age (trust us, we have the kids’ 96 year old great-grandmother to test games with!). 

If you have any recommendations for games we should try, add a comment below or shoot us a note – We love hearing from you!

Tried and True classic board games we love

Sequence age 7+**

The ultimate family game. I learned about this game from my cousins ages ago at Thanksgiving. We played with 12 people, from kids as young as 5 all the way to adults in their 50’s. Since then, I’ve purchased this game for everyone (most recently for several family friends who turned 80!). My husband’s 96-year-old grandmother has been playing it for years and still does on a daily basis! 

In fact, this game is so wildly loved that there are many versions like the jumbo cushioned mat version, kids animal version, letters version, cats version, bible version! 

Note: This game is updated every few years and the images and colors of the board change 

Sequence – kid’s version (ages 3-6)**

Although the age range is listed as 3-6, none of our kids nor our relative or friend’s kids could play this strategically until age 5. At age 3 and 4, you can play with kids, and they can pick the card and place a chip on the appropriate spot on the board but…gotta tell ya, it wasn’t fun for us to play with them. Unless you have a child prodigy, we recommend waiting to play this until they are around kindergarten age.

FYI – at age 5, going on 6, our daughter started taking more interest in the adult version of Sequence, which lists the starting age range at 7. She plays the regular version with the adults but with her cousins, she plays the more fun kids animal version.

Rummikub Age 8+**

Ok I remembered playing Gin Rummy as a kid and it was good, but I don’t remember it being as much fun as Rummikub! Though recommended age range starts from age 8, our son at age 5 understood the game enough to start playing on his own and make sets and sequences. The biggest challenge for him was trying to add the numbers up to get 30 for his initial / opening play to get on the board (we just help him with that). We love helping each other find ways to release the joker and play as many hands as we can in one go. There are 4 and 6 player versions, we enjoy both (and even have the travel version!)

Smart Game Series

I rarely list a whole series of something without playing all of them, but we have purchased MANY (including the travel series) and they are all amazing with fun, creative themes, unique logic and mind challenges. Sometimes the kids finish playing and my husband and I are still sitting there trying to solve a challenge! It’s great because they have a range of levels from beginner all the way to master for each game.

They have games starting for kids as young as 2 like the Bunny Peek-a-Boo game**, a plethora of options in the 3-6 age range with challenges to grow with your child like Three little Piggies**, Little Red Riding Hood**, Snow White**, Jack and the Beanstalk**, Camelot Jr**, Smart Car**, Smart Farmer**,then on to more advanced challenges made for the 6-8+ to adult games like Jump in** (rabbits and foxes), Asteroid Escape**, and Ghost Hunters**.

MahJong

If you like gin rummy, rummikub or anything similar, mahjong may be right up your alley. The Chinese characters on mahjong tiles can be intimidating, but after getting accustomed to playing with them, you only need to understand the different “suits”: number tiles, wind tiles, dragon tiles, flower and season tiles. To make a winning hand, you need to put together several poker style sets. Match your tiles into a pair, 3 of a kind (Pong) or 4 of a kind (Kong), or a complete suit (e.g. one each of the winds: N, E, S, W, one each of the dragons: white, red, green) or in the case of the number tiles, put three into a sequence to form a Chow.

Once you get the hang of making hands and winning mahjong by “going out”, we recommend you level up and learn how to make the game more interesting with points.

Note: If you purchase a set, make sure to find a set that has the Western (Arabic) numerals 1-9 marked in the corners of the number tiles like this**, or you’ll need to know or learn how to read Chinese numbers!

If you will be playing with your little ones, we recommend purchasing a non-standard, smaller set (some travel sets are super tiny, so confirm the size of the tiles before purchasing). The standard or large tiles are big and spread the walls too far for little hands to easily reach and handle (and usually cost more!). For example, this is a travel set of the Chinese version** (144 tiles goes for $29.99) but does not have the Western numerals marked. The above mentioned mahjong set ** set does have the western numerals, is slightly larger, but still manageable for little hands. And here’s a travel set of the American version** (166 tiles) that is currently going for $50.

Azul Age 8+**

This one our daughter learned to play at 6, but like Mahjong, it’s more challenging than Sequence as the game progresses. The game starts off simple enough but as you progress, you need to utilize different strategies and tactics to not only claim the tiles you want, but also to influence your opponents hands in order to compete for the highest score. As adults, we love this one and look forward to being able to play with both our kids once our youngest can play. This game has garnered many awards and has been so loved that sequels have been added, Stained Glass of Sinatra** and Summer Pavilion**.

Qwirkle Age 7+**

Qwirkle is a high quality wooden blocks puzzle game. We’ve played this game for years and not a single tile has worn down. The game rules are simple and make it easy to learn to create lines of the same color and/or shapes. Our daughter showed interest in learning to play at age 4 and is able to make lines, but again, like Mahjong or Azul, when you add the concept of scoring, it’s more challenging for a little one to win until they better understand strategy.

Educational games for little ones (Ages 3-6)

Although the games in this section are fun to play as a family, there is little strategy behind them (it’s more to spend time together doing something fun and educational). It is more about learning (letters, counting, colors, etc). We’d say that this is more for the 2-4 age range. If your child has already advanced to addition, subtraction and beyond, these games may not cut it. From age 4-5, our daughter moved on to the Smart Games series and was more interested in playing other games we’ve shared above on this list.

Educational Insights games (Ages 3-6)**

We love this series as it involves not just recognizing and learning letters, colors and numbers, but there is a fun squeezer/tongs you use to grab hold of the acorns, bones, snacks (depending on which game you buy). We recommend the squirrel one hands down as everyone gets a fun tree stump where you need to obtain 4 acorns, one of every color – but be careful, based on what you spin, the wind could blow them all away or you could steal one from someone else if they have what you need. The Shelby dog bone one is good for counting, the Frida fruit one is good for learning and recognizing letters and the Frankie cat food truck and the Pete the Cat one is focused on shapes.

Orchard Toys Dinosaur race game (Ages 3-5)**

Both our kids (now 4 and 6) love dinosaurs and still enjoy playing this game. It combines matching and counting to be able to move your dinosaur forward on the race track. It also includes medals that you can collect for each race so you can play multiple times in a row and keep track of the score.

Crack me up games

Ok, I had to add this section in here to differentiate these games from the others since not everyone has the same sense of humor. We like throwing squishy toys at each other in the name of fun and games, and find silly, borderline gross, kid poop and fart humor amusing (hence why one of our kids’ all-time favorite book series is The Bad Guys**). If this doesn’t sound like you, please skip over this section.

Throw Throw Burrito**

No words can explain this game. If you like dodgeball and think throwing a squishy burrito at each other could be fun, don’t hesitate to add this to your family’s collection of games. Though our daughter can play this game well at age 6, we think the 7+ age range rec is pretty accurate. You could start even earlier as it only involves matching 3 of a kinds for points and understanding the 3 different kinds of burrito battles, brawls, wars and duels, though we recommend doing that only if your kids reflexes are fast enough, and they have a little thick skin. Our 4-year-old son whined because he wasn’t fast enough and kept getting hit by the burrito and being awarded the “burrito bruises” which equate to -1 point.

That being said, this game is less strategic than the following game, Exploding Kittens (made by the same people!). Although it doesn’t involve hitting each other with burritos, there are plenty of bombs you can set for your opponents!

Exploding Kittens**

First off, if you don’t approve of silly, gross humor (e.g. you don’t find a rainbow puking cat, or a farting bat remotely amusing – I mean, come on, the game is called Exploding Kittens….), please save yourself the trouble and skip over this recommendation. 

If however, you have purchased a pooping unicorn pencil top or the like for your kids (I proudly raise my hand) and you find secret satisfaction from kicking your opponents out of the game by planting Exploding Kittens for them to pick up, then join thousands of other families who find this game hilarious.

Portable games you can play at home AND take with you while traveling

Uno (age 7+)** 

If you’ve never heard of Uno, you’ve been living under a rock! Fun, fast paced game of cards with colors, numbers and wildcards that can even switch the direction a game goes. Although it’s rated for 7+, our daughter started playing when she was 4. For any younger than that, I think they can learn the concept, but may struggle to keep up with the fast pace of the game.

There are also tons of variations on this very popular card game like Harry Potter Uno**, Pixar Uno**, Dare Uno**, Minecraft Uno** Super Mario Brothers Uno**!

Story cubes**

It’s amazing how creative your children can get when storytelling with random items. When we first started playing, we had voted our 3 year old’s story as the winner! These Story cubes come in lots of themed variations like voyages**. You can mix and match sets or play them separately. We have a couple sets and like to mix and match, including the batman set**. If your child is a fan of Star Wars, check out this set.**

Math Dice Jr (Age 6+)**

Our daughter received this as a gift for her 6th birthday and it was perfect for her age. She loves finding different combinations of numbers using addition and subtraction but is already pushing herself with multiplication combinations as well. The great thing about this is you can alter the rules for older kids and adults to use multiplication and division or you can also grab the variation Math Dice for 8 and up**, or Math Dice Chase** which is like math hot potato (ages 7-15)

Travel – Games you can play even in moving cars

These have been a life-send. They have magnets or use some other ingenious way to ensure the pieces don’t fall while on the move. These are great for car trips and even for entertainment in a restaurant! We always have a few in our car.

Smart Game Travel Series (ages 5+)

As you can tell from above, we love Smart Games. Here are some travel friendly options we own and recommend. These three are like a book with a snap button close and use magnetic puzzle pieces: Brain Cheeser** (age 6+), Penguins parade** (age 5-10), Noah’s ark** (age 5+)

The below travel series (ages 6+ and 8+) are encased within a plastic cover that you open and becomes the playing board. We have played with 3 different sets and we love that they all have easier to difficult levels to challenge anyone.

Building/Construction Stem toys (5+)

Brainflakes**

We highly recommend this set of Brainflakes** to build anything you can imagine. Our kids have built cars, trees, swords, dragons, trains, super vision goggles, anything you can dream up, you can create with these (the instruction booklet also comes with suggested things to build). Pieces easily clip together by lining up any of the divets along the outer edge of each flake. Our youngest struggled with fitting the pieces together at 2-3 years old, but at 4, he’s now creating masterpieces along with his big sister (age 6) 🙂 It comes in a convenient plastic tub with a handle. We’ve taken it with us to restaurants and the kids are quietly entertained the whole time! Everyone aged 4+ can enjoy building with this set.

Magnetic Building tiles**

These magnetic building tiles are a good size, sturdy and easy for even a 2-year old to play with it. We’ve purchased several sets over the years and if you plan on expanding your set, make sure you find out the dimensions of your first set so that the new set is compatible for play with your original set.

Construction set with bolts, wheels, and ratchets, **

Our kids love making anything with wheels and this fits the bill. The pieces are sturdy enough to withstand all kinds of toddler abuse. Our 4 year old still struggles a bit with

Magnetic sticks and balls**

These sets are really fun to play with (we’ve made the typical pyramid, circus tents, houses, etc) but please note that there are tiny little silver balls used to join two magnetic sticks. This is important to call out because if you have a little one that still likes to stick things in their mouth, skip over this option and go for the magnetic building tiles mentioned above.

What has your family enjoyed playing? Share your recommendations below in the comments. We love hearing from you!