Family games? Long dark evenings on the way!

[curlew]

What indoor games do you all play as a family? We have Dd10 and Ds5 and we are always looking for things we can all play together without Ds getting frustrated or Dp and me being forced to gnaw our own legs off by boredom. We play Go Fish on more or less equal terms - Ds is good with games like that so he can beat his less switched on sister and parents often enough to satisfy him. We play with the marble run and Geomag all together, and also games of chance like Pop Up Pirate, snakes and latters and so on, but as the winter comes more ideas would be welcome.

I remember loving Connect4. I used to play that with my Dad for hours at a time!
My DB used to prefer games like Jenga...I think he now plays the giant version you get in the pubs.

dunno but have you checked the haba and ravensburgh sites?

my kids are much littler but lds (3) loves stuff like orchard.

have you done obvious? chess (5 is not too young), draughts, scrabble, equate (mathsy scrabble), pictionary etc?

am typing one handed so cant link but green board game co does great stuff.

twister

Uno is a good card game which your ds would be old enough to play

Theres a new game by the cranium people called Baloon Lagoon ages 5+ Which I love. Most of the cranium games are fantastic, and really do make the whole family laugh and enjoy themselves.

Rummikub is great for all ages.
Also the tray game with a twist. We fill a tray with lots of small items ( a shell, crayon, tiny doll, marble, feather, pine cone, etc etc etc etc.) Then take it in turns to shake a dice, the number you get is the number of objects you can remove from the tray (without the other ones looking). The others then have to guess which items were removed. DD has loved this since she was three.

You'll have to get a second hand one on ebay, but Sorry is a fab game. Age from 4+, you can be as nice or as evil as you like, depending on age of the kids... we had one when we were kids and I bought a second hand one off ebay a couple of years ago, and now the whole family is addicted, including Hubby who had never played it before and my 3 year old daughter, who needs help but likes to take part too!

Mastermind can be surprisingly good. Younger one will need a little help, but not as much as you may think - you could play it with them in turn and give the younger one a bit more guidance. If its me trying to 'break the code' I can guage my playing to their level.

Hide and Seek

Mastermind can be surprisingly good. Younger one will need a little help, but not as much as you may think - you could play it with them in turn and give the younger one a bit more guidance. If its me trying to 'break the code' I can guage my playing to their level.

Uno, Jenga, Mancala, Cadoo.

Suit all ages and abilities.

except don't make the mistake of thinking you can actually get your whole body under your kids bed!!

And there was me imagining the four of us sitting round the fire on a cold wet evening - the children rosy and pyjamaed drinking hot chocolate, dp and me benevolently smiling while sipping a glass of claret, playing a turn or two of some charmingly traditional board game, their little heads bent together over the die, dd gently helping her little brother over the difficult bits. A real 1950s Marmite family. Twister? Hide and Seek??? Apart from anything else, I though it was illegal to play Twister when sober..........

Uno definitely, just introduced DS1 aged 6 to it and like me and DH he loves it. great fun!

Pass The Pigs. My sister (23, with Down syndrome) loves this, as do dp and I (both 28). We've played it with our game pals - neighbours with a young son - for years. It's an all-ages winner. And it's tiny and v portable too. We need to get our own set!

Uno extreme is fantastic.... that deffo gets my vote!

They do A uno tower which is Uno crossed with Jenga, want one!!!!

Just bought UNo stacko will let you know what it is like!