Board games for Christmas ????

[ANGELMOTHER]

I am loathe to allow too much tv over the Christmas holiday but we are likely to have a quiet one.
Anyhow there was always a good tradition of card games and board games in my family at Christmas and I wanted to start the tradition for ourselves.
Dd1 will be 4 at Christmas and other than Buckaroo which I don't want to spend playing too long, I can't think of any others suitable by age...any suggestions ?

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We've got a game called Which Pet from Marks and Spencers which is a bit like Guess Who - everyone who comes, from 4 yr olds to grannies, seems to enjoy playing it cos u get to wear a silly hat.

I've bought Hungry Hippos for my ds (4).

There is a great game by Orchard Toys called Tummy Ache that my boys 5 and 2.5 both love playing. Age range on box says 3-10.

Can i second guess who and pop up pirate,my two loved them and played them so much they were worn out , guess who is being replaced this year.

We've got a nice game of Snap! from the Early Learning Centre, which is also good for playing the pairs memory game.

Also Leapfrogs(?) where you have to catch frogs that pop up off a slow turning pond, was quite popular with dd when she was around this age.

Also Puppy Racers, which like Hungry Hippos is quite noisy and frantic!

Hope hewlettsdaughter has bought earplugs.

eek! is it that bad?

My two started playing Junior Monopoly at this age - it is easier than you think (and short!) Also Frustration is good.

Orchard Toys do some great simpler games - Bus Stop Game was a favourite here. Our other two fave Orchard Toys games are Spotty Dog and Quack Quack, (these are card games, and loosely based on the game 'memory'.

Personally I hate Hungry Hippos - it's very noisy, and the boys don't actually enjoy it that much; They don't play for long. Also Kerplunk takes ages to set up, and isn't that much fun when you get there. DS1 (6) likes Guess Who, but DS2 (4) can't play it on his own - he makes a mistake and then ends up with the wrong answer. But he can do it with help.

Sorry - not meaning to rubbish other people's suggestions, just to put another point of view. We play games a lot in this house, and some are more popular than others.

Hewlettsdaughter - yes it is.

Spirit Games in Burton do games for all ages. The website is here

Memory games are always good and adults enjoy them too and little ones tend to be really good at it. I did notice a Disney Princess pairs game in Toys R Us yesterday. At the very end of the row that has the board games (that's if all stores are laid out the same).

My DD also likes Frustration.

We have a lovely, very PC game called Snail's Pace Race - there are 6 coloured snails and 2 dice with coloured sides, first snail home wins and unless you have your "own" snail nobody loses. (You could make it more exciting for the adults by betting on the side!) It's a Ravensburger game, they're usually good.

We love Uno too but 4 may be a bit young for it - you sometimes end up with a big wodge of cards to hold.

ds (5.5) loved Spotty Dogs too ! Also variations on Dominoes, Elc Shopping game, Elc Jitterbugs (noisy), Pop Up Pooh, Ravensburger Pack of Cards (we have Monsters inc, Thomas the Tank engine and Thunderbirds)with which you can play Snap , Memory etc, Snakes and Ladders (we have a puzzle version by Ravensburger that you have to put together first), Guess Who.

We've just got him Battleships. I'm currently on the look out for the junior version of Labyrinth, of which he loved the full sized version when we visited Ravensburger theme park in Germany and he would like Operation for Christmas.

Another vote for Orchard Toys - ds has Insey Winsey Spider and the shopping game. Snakes and ladders is a hit too.
Starting to worry about Hungry Hippos....

Ooh, and ds likes Jenga (you know, the one with blocks where you have to pull one out without making them all fall down).

My Ds like Snakes and ladders, he is 5

Definitely worry about HH

The good news is if you play with it enthusiastically enough, it does break

Another vote for Orchard Toys stuff, dd's favourites are Knickerbocker Glory, Shopping game and Tell the Time (lotto style). Others include the DK domino game and bog-standard Snakes & Ladders.

We've got an Usbourne A-Z lotto game and I was horrified to discover a spelling mistake, if these games are designed to help our little darlings surely proof-reading is essential !
Particularly for me (Tech please can we have a spell check as part of 'preview message' ?)

My daughter has Jenga and she loves it, well it's actually mine but she's claimed it as her own. She got Hungry Hippos a few years ago for christmas and I hate that game because of the noise it makes.

She also has pop up pooh, buckaroo, guess who and this year she's asked for Mouse Trap. Connect 4 could be good to help with counting skills.

Not for kids but Cranium is the best game I have ever played at Christmas and I highly recommend it - there is a kids version I think but for older children (7+)

The junior cadoo is great and fine for 6 up or younger if you help with the reading bits.
Candy land is great- no reading involved fine for 4yrs
agree with kmg1-kerplunk is a nightmare, takes parent ages to set up and game lasts about 5mins.
My first scrabble/junior scrabble are good and dont have to be able to read.
Junior Uno versions are available-winnie the pooh/rugrats etc and mine really enjoy that and normal uno, great for travelling.
I hate mousetrap but kids love it, have bought them "rumble in the jungle" for this christmas which is a similar type game.
Old fashioned games like beetle drive are fun for all ages too, kids love drawing the beetles and even children too young to know numbers well seem to quickly get to grips with the pattern of dots on the dice.