Kid'sGames

Ciaran LOVES board games, video games, card games just all sorts of games. Tonight we played chess together for a few rounds - he is starting to get it and be able to think ahead some - and he loves playing it.

It is Ciaran that will ask to play a game every day and I should play more often then I do. Some of the games we have been playing recently are Blokus, Zooreeka, Zingo, Stratego, Balloon Lagoon, Heroscape, Mr. Mouth, Magic Kingdom, Candyland DVD, Bible DVD Game, Operation, Disney Trivia Pursuit, Sleeping Queens, and Guess Who.

These are just a few that we have played recently. We have ALOT of board games and we play them together as a family, as siblings or one on one. I was raised playing board games and still enjoy them to this day. Thanks Mom and Dad! It is fun to be able to share them with my kids now. Rhiannon is not as much into them as Ciaran is though she has really taken a liking to Gin Rummy thanks to Grandma and DaVinci Challenge. Sirah loves to be on our team and there are a few games she really enjoys such as Letter Factory Game, Lucky Ducks, EleFun, Chutes and Ladders, Don't Break the Ice and one of our new favorite family games Zitternix.

Given the ages of our kids it can be hard to find games we can all play together and all enjoy. But we try and find ways to make it work. I look forward to teaching them games like Risk and Monopoly (not the kids version) as I still enjoy playing these games. We enjoy playing Sorry too but somehow we currently do not have a version of this in our home - though we do have Parchessi which is very similar.

This past weekend I realized that poor Ciaran has my personality when it comes to games - he loves them and he is competitive to a fault. Just like his mom. There have been times in our marriage when Serona and I have had to agree to not play certain games for awhile because we were getting too competitive. Okay lets be honest, I was too competitive. Also Serona and I have different approaches to games and he plays more for fun and I play to win, not a great combination sometimes.

Watching Ciaran play Blokus with us made me realize that Rhiannon and Serona share a similar approach to games and Ciaran and I have a similar approach. Poor kid to already have a love for the competition at such a young age. Hopefully Serona can be a positive influence on him and help him tone that competitive nature some. I like that the kids are getting old enough to play games together and we can begin to move from kids games that we play as a family to true family games.

What are some of your favorite games to play with your kids?