Top 20 Family Games for Kids (That Parents Will Love to Play)
Start a family game night tradition with these tried and tested family games for kids — that parents and teens will love, too! Bring the whole family together with these fun gamily games.
Be sure to read our 5 Tips for a Fun Family Game Night (Without Tears). During summer, take game night to the backyard with these 30 Outdoor Games for Families.
Best Games to Play as a Family in 2022
Family game night is the perfect way to brighten up a dreary week and get kids of all ages excited about spending time together as a whole family. These family games for young kids, teens, and adults will be new favorites!
If you’ve established a regular game night already and find yourself breaking out the same games over and over, chances are good that you’re all getting a little bored. Break up your plain old game routine by introducing some new fun and clever games into your rotation! (Leave Monopoly in the closet!)
It can be hard to figure out which games will engage a variety of ages, but it’s not impossible to find some new favorites. These are great options for family games for Christmas, too — one of our favorite family traditions.
Here are our top 15 20 family-friendly games you’ll love to play and add to your classic board game options. (Updated in 2022 to add new favorites.)
Fun Family Game Night Games
From verbal word games to drawing, matching, and stacking, these family games for kids are good for all age groups.
fun family game for kids 6 & up (4-6 players)
Hedbanz
In this fun take on a classic 20 questions guessing game, players must take turns asking yes or no questions as they race to be the first to figure out what they are, as represented by the card on their heads. They’re using their heads in more ways than one and are bound to get a little goofy as they call out questions and answers.
This popular game also has several variations, such as a Disney version, a junior version for younger kids/non-readers, and a timed Hedbanz Blast Off version.
simple family game for kids 5 & up (2-4 players)
Quirkle
It’s not fast-paced or loud, but it IS perfect for teaching patterns, color and shape recognition. Kids will also learn reasoning skills, strategy and tactical play. All you have to do is lay down tiles matching in color or shape and build off of the pieces already placed. It’s a winner with all ages as it is simple enough in rules for preschoolers and young players, but can be more advanced based on strategical thinking.
For family trips, get the travel-sized game or rummy card game variation, or change it up at home with the roll and match Quirkle Cubes version.
fine motor skills family game for kids 8 & up (1-4 players)
Suspend
Here’s a game that’s great for a group or a solitary player! This balancing act is an exciting and intriguing way to work on hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and cognitive thinking – excellent for those who like cooperative games. Roll the colored die to determine what game rod you’ll add to the fray. Decide where to place it on the frame rods attached to the wooden base to ensure you make it to the next round. Suspend as many as you can before the whole thing become unbalanced!
For younger kids (ages 4 and up), try Junior Suspend.
fast family game for kids 10 & up (3+ players)
5 Second Rule
Flip a card to reveal a category, then start the timer because you have only 5 seconds to name 3 things that fit the category! Seems easy, until you’re under the gun. Pretty soon everyone will be calling out hilarious ideas and getting tongue-tied as they make up their own words! It’s fast-paced, easy to learn, fun to play and keeps people laughing.
For younger players (ages 6+), the junior version has kid-themed categories.
drawing family game for kids 8 & up (4-12 players)
Telestrations
You’ve played the telephone game, where a phrase is passed in whisper from person to person until it barely resembles the original remark? This game is telephone, but with drawings! It’s a fun, light-hearted game where you draw what you see, then guess what was seen to hilarious miscommunication and funny outcomes. Kids will love drawing with the individual dry erase boards, and there’s no artistic ability required – just some stick figures, laughter and a great sense of humor!
simple strategy family game for kids 6 & up (2-8 players)
Sushi Go Party
This pick-and-pass card game is part luck and part strategy, and also easy enough for young kids (early readers can decipher the cards) but with enough strategy for the older kids, tweens, teens, and adults to enjoy it as well. The party extension pack adds extra cards and a board game component, plus up to 8 players can play — a must, since everyone will want to join!
family word game for kids 6 & up (2+ players)
Don’t Say It
This game is like a family and kid-friendly Taboo game. Help your team guess the hidden word, without using any of the clue words listed on the card. Be quick so you aren’t buzzed out by the timer! Rack up the points for your team by giving them handy clues and you could win! Easy to learn and play, kids will love this fun guessing game and learn strategy, quick thinking, and literacy skills.
Best Family Board Games
After the childhood favorites like Candy Land, your kids are ready to play these best board games!
fast family strategy game for kids 6 & up (2+ players)
Tsuro
This path-making strategy game is reminiscent of Ticket to Ride, but faster and easier. Choose tile pieces three at a time from the stack and place them on the board in turns to create a path for your game piece to follow in this maze like game. Be careful, if your path leads off the game board you lose! Be wary of other players – each tile has multiple path options and your opponents tiles could make an easy path for them and a cleverly treacherous path for you if they connect to your own tile. This game is easy to learn and a fairly quick play. There’s strategy and problem-solving involved, which makes it a great fit for a wide age-range, from preschoolers to teens to adults.
2-team family game for kids 8 & up (2-12 players)
Sequence
It’s becoming a classic board game – challenging and exciting but basic enough to grasp the rules of play quickly. Match cards from your hand to the pictures on the game board and place a chip. Place 5 in a row to get a sequence and create 2 sequences to win! You can block opponents with the right cards, use Jacks for wilds and play certain cards to remove opponents chips from the board entirely. Seems hard to win, but you don’t have to do it alone since with more than 2 players you can choose to play in teams.
Also check out Sequence Travel, Jumbo Sequence, Sequence for Kids (no reading required), and Sequence Letters.
family problem solving game for kids 5 & up (2-4 players)
Outfoxed
This cooperative problem solving game is great for younger players who like solving puzzles but aren’t quite ready yet for more complex games like Clue. Gather information and use the decoder to decipher clues and find the suspect! With almost 5000 5-star reviews, parents, preschoolers, and older siblings alike LOVE this logic and discovery game.
musical family game for kids 6 & up (2+ players)
Spontuneous
It’s the only “Name That Tune” style game that crosses age gaps and genres, so literally anyone can play it! Use prompts and be the first to shout out a song with the given word in the lyrics. Sing it out, in tune or not, to get the points! Take turns delivering word “triggers” and singing out songs. Try to stump your opponents! Be the first to move your game piece to the finish in order to win. It’s fun, it’s spontaneous, it’s easy and will have everyone engaged! Plus, build your memory and word association skills.
family Trivia game for kids 8 & up (2-6 players)
Beat the Parents
What kid doesn’t want to trounce their parents in a good old fashioned trivia game?! In this fun version, parents answer questions about kid stuff and kids answer questions their parents should know! See who’s the boss by sending the two mover pieces across the board first.
Fellow Disnerds: check out the Disney version!
Fun Family Card Games
Card games are gun to play as a family while camping or to use as a party game. These are the best card games for ages 4 and up.
easy family game for kids 4 & up (2-8 players)
Spot It or Spot It Junior
Between any two cards in the deck, there is a matching picture (seems impossible but it’s true!). Just spot it quick to win the pair! The deck of cards comes with a rule book for different games you can play with the same cards, so it’s 5 games in 1 (including a memory game)! It enhances visual perception skills, powers of observation and attention to detail, but it’s not a complicated game which makes it perfect for players from young toddler age and up.
family card game for kids 7 & up (2-6 players)
Cover Your Assets
This fast-paced card matching game is quick to learn and easy to play. Create matches of asset cards, but cover them quickly so they can’t be stolen! The combination of strategy and luck make this anyone’s game right up until the last card is played.
reasoning family card game for kids 6 & up (1+ players)
Set
Set is a visual perception game that’s easy to learn and challenging to win! The rules and concept are simple enough for kids, but the practical application is challenging enough even for adults. Each card shows various shapes in various numbers, colors, and shades. Turn the cards over in a grid and match three cards within the specific characteristics based on “sameness” or “differentness” – but do it quick because it’s a race to make sets of three! It’s a classic game that will keep players thinking, reasoning and observing while they excitedly grab for cards!
Fast family card game for kids 8 & up (3-8 players)
Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
The name is a bit of a tongue twister, but the game is a riot of fun! Players say the name pattern aloud while taking turns laying down a card. When the card and the spoken word match, slap the pile and don’t be last! Special action cards keep everyone watching and playing in this fast-paced family card game for a group.
family strategy game for kids 8 & up (2-8 players)
Skull King
This fun game features pirates, mermaids, the Kraken, and more! Each round, players are dealt cards and bid on how many “tricks” they will win based on the hierarchy of cards. Earn points for correct bids, but lose points for winning more or less tricks than your bid. Watch out for the notorious Skull King!
Easy Family Dice Games
Dice games and dominoes are great for number recognition, and these easy family dice games get creative and artistic, too.
quick family dice game for kids 7 & up (2+ players)
Tenzi
This family dice game is fun, fast, and easy to learn so it’s perfect for a game night with a large group or a 2-player date night. Math teachers love it, too! Each player rolls 10 dice as quickly as possible — and there’s over 80 game variations to choose from! To add more players, just add more dice sets.
family dice game for kids 6 & up (2-6 players)
Doodle Dice
The deck is full of cards that show simple line drawings in varying degrees of difficulty (or number of dice needed to complete the picture). Roll the dice and try to match the lines on the dice with the lines on the cards to form the whole picture. You’ve got three tries to complete the picture and win the card shown. To make it more challenging, you can block opponents turns and steal their cards!
creative family game for kids of all ages (1+ players)
Story Cubes
This truly is a game for any age and any number of players – especially since there are no wrong answers and no right way to play! There are infinite ways to play – from each person telling a portion of one story by using a picture rolled on the dice, to one person telling an entire story using all of the dice. Literally anyone can play as they increase their creative inspiration, imagination, problem solving skills and literacy development.
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Kimberly Mueller is the “me” over at bugaboo, mini, mr & me, a blog that highlights her creative endeavors. She especially likes to share kid crafts, sewing attempts, recipes, upcycled projects, photography and free printable gift tags/cards. When she’s not enjoying being married to her best friend, chasing after the natives (AKA her three kids) and attempting to keep the house in one piece, you can find her with a glue gun in one hand and spray paint in the other. Aside from DIY pursuits, she also enjoys writing, reading, music, singing (mostly in the shower) and the color yellow. Kimberly recently published a craft book entitled Modern Mod Podge. You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin’ and Instagram.
