What our kids want and need most from us is to spend time together. Our kids thrive when we listen, play, and enjoy their company. It’s hard to do this as often as we would like because life is just dang busy, especially now that school is back in session and when we are sitting and giving kids attention it usually involves homework. Not fun! This is why we recommend scheduling a family game night, where parents and kids can spend time together, kids can spend time with their siblings, kids can satisfy their competitive urges and master important social skills such as – communication, waiting their turn, sharing, and learning how to lose and how to win gracefully.

Here are our 5 favorite board games to play as a family

Telestrations Family Game

Telestrations is the visual version of the classic “Telephone Game” where you draw what you see, then guess what you saw to reveal hilarious outcomes.

Catan Junior Strategy Board Game

Catan Junior is a “lighter” version of the classic strategy game Settlers of Catan, with a focus on younger players.

Ticket To Ride

Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure game. Players collect train cards that enable them to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who can fulfill their Destination Tickets by connecting two distant cities, and to the player who builds the longest continuous railway. For 2 to 5 players ages 8 and older.

Pandemic

If you are looking for a cooperative game this is a great one! Pandemic is based on the premise that four diseases have broken out in the world, each threatening to wipe out a region. The game accommodates 2 to 4 players, each playing one of five possible specialists: dispatcher, medic, scientist, researcher, or operations expert. The game is unlike most board games in that the gameplay is cooperative, rather than competitive. Through the combined effort of all the players, the goal is to discover all four cures before any of several game-losing conditions are reached.

Say Anything Family Board Game