So here’s a fun idea to try. Play a game at dinner tonight. We don’t always do this. Sometimes there is just not the time it takes to play games at dinner. But pulling out a board game, or better yet, a card game is a great way to have a little fun and conversation with your family at dinner tonight.
The truth is, most people love to play board games and card games. It is interactive and competitive and you have to use strategies and tap into the part of your brain that makes predictions and thinks ahead. It’s just so good, I can’t even begin.
Play Games at Dinner
We often play games at dinner. This is something that Jim and I did even before we had kids. When we were first married, we played a lot of Cribbage and sometimes we even played Cribbage while we ate dinner.
In fact, it’s a little sad to me when Sunshine says, “Let’s play ….” and I have to say no because of time constraints or because my brain already hurts.
But really, playing games as part of your meal routine can do a lot. It teaches your kids about turn taking and about strategy and about losing, and about winning. It adds a structure for conversation. And, it is fun. There a lots of great games out there, but here are a few that lend themselves to the meal table.
Oh, and most of these are sized perfectly to fit in a Christmas stocking or an Easter basket. Many of these games have arrived at our house in just this way.
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Play Games at Dinner: Suggestions
Uno
This one is a classic. It’s easy enough for even young players and cards really lend themselves to the dinner table. I even have an Uno pack that was given to me years ago that is waterproof and on a clip that I keep in my purse for long waits in restaurants or other places with a flat surface. (Apparently, it is called Uno Splash.) If you can match your colors, Uno is the perfect dinner time game. This a great game to start to play games at dinner with because it is accessible to even the youngest family members and it doesn’t take a lot of space!
Skip-bo
Skip-bo is from the makers of Uno. It is a variation on a game that I used to play with regular playing cards when I was a kid. There are piles in the center that you build from one to twelve while trying to make your own pile of 30 (or 20 or 10 for shorter games) cards go down. It is a little complicated for littler kids but most kids 7 and up can get a hang of this one. That being said, it is definitely a strategy game.
The Pigeon Wants a Match
This is a classic matching game except the images are all from Mo Willems Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Series. You may know from my post about Chapter Books Series for Young Readers that we are big Mo Willems fans. This game came in The Boy’s Easter basket a few years ago and it was perfect for working on those memory skills and it looked darn cute sitting in his basket!
Set
Set is an ingenious game of making matches, well, sets really (not just two, but three cards). But unlike a regular matching game, there are lots of variables involved in making sets. You can make sets with colors, patterns or shapes. The catch is that they must be all the same or all different. In other words, they can all be the same shape and same number, but three different patterns. Or they can all be the same number while being three different patterns and three different shapes. Initially, this game is a little tricky, but one you get the hang of how to make sets it is lots of fun. The directions give a suggestion of practicing with only the solid cards, so we sometimes do this when we don’t have as much time to play games at dinner or when The Boy wants to play. This is another one that I keep in my purse for times that we have to wait.
Quiddler
Quiddler is a fun word game that I was introduced to a long time ago, before I was married and before I had kids. Each card has a letter and you exchange letters in your hand until you can make a word or words. The game involves score keeping and each round the players get progressively more cards. This is not currently one of the games I carry in my purse but this little round version would be the perfect purse addition once The Boy gets better at spelling.
Slamwich
This game is great for turn taking and being quick. It’s kind of like the card game War, but with more twists and turns. Each player has a pile of face down cards and the goal is to get all of the cards which you do by laying cards on the game pile and trying to spot a Slamwich. A Slamwich is
Clue
We most often play card games at dinner due to space; however, Clue or more specifically, Harry Potter Clue is an exception when we have more time. Sunshine got Harry Potter Clue for Christmas last year and there was many a dinner during that holiday break where we were trying to manage our meal around the Clue board. Of course, Clue is the Whodunit game that takes you around the mansion or around Hogwarts in search of clues to figure out just who is responsible for murder or the curse.
A Basket of Games
Just like we keep piles of books next to our beds and a basket of books filled with Christmas books, we keep a basket of dinner time games in the kitchen near the table. So when we have a more relaxing night, we can pull out a game. In fact, we play Uno so often that our cards are a little bit dinner sticky and sit on the lazy-Susan right on the table!
We hope that you will join us in playing games at dinner. Let us know how it goes when you play games at dinner. Oh, and let us know which games you like best for dinnertime fun!
And, if you are looking for other fun activities to do with your family this holiday season, check out my series from 2017: 25 Days of Christmas Activities.
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This is a great idea!!! I love it! Does this work with husbands, too? Steve has an awfully hard time separating from his phone at dinnertime……. and the mail and the newspaper are huge distractions, too, Games might be a very appealing alternative!!!
Everyone in our house plays. It was actually my husband who got this one off the ground. We used to play Cribbage before kids. But Set is definitely fun for all ages.