Image of happy family with two daughters playing a board or table top game illustrating the idea of board games for creative kids

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Spoiler Alert: There’s nothing kids love more than family games to play! Science shows that play is how children learn – games teach kids so much!! What if your kids could stretch the limits of their creativity and imagination while playing the game? The good news is that they can 🙂 This is the perfect list of simple and super fun games that curious and creative kids will adore! These fun board games are perfect for any age group from little ones to older children to grandparents! These are the games that have been proven winners for both of my boys and all their friends!

Some of our very favorite games are terrific for nurturing and engaging my boys’ creativity. I love that whole “two birds with one stone” thing. (Maybe it’s three? Fun, game, creativity??) Since so many of these games have become big hits at our house, I’m sharing our favorites here. There are also a couple that we haven’t tried – but that I’ve added to our official wish list!

Oh! And I’ve only included games that the adults find fun and engaging as well!

image from above of happy young family with two daughters playing a board game promoting curiousity and creativity

Creativity For The Win As An Important Life Skill

I read this super juicy tidbit recently and wanted to share it with you here:

In 2019, LinkedIn cited creativity as one of the most important skills for career success. And it’s no wonder. Creativity is the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly disparate things, and to generate innovative solutions. When you’re creative, you’re able to turn new and imaginative ideas into reality. From Branson and Ferris to Spielberg and Jobs, business leaders say creativity in the workplace is essential.

The Number One Soft Skill Employers Seek

Let’s review: Whatever the workplaces of the future will look like, creativity in the workplace will be essential. Think about it. As AI becomes more and more prevalent… What is one of the most significant things that AI can’t do?

Artificial Intelligence is neither impulsive nor spontaneous. But human creativity is both. AI cannot deviate from its coding, making its actions predictable. Sort of the “anti- human creativity.”

So why not focus on intentionally teaching children creativity with fun family games? So many board games reward imagination and creativity! As an added bonus, when we play games with our kids at home, we connect with them. They feel safer failing and gives them space to try new things.

Our Two Favorite Family Games {…of all time!}

If your house is like mine, “favorites” of everything seem to come and go. Today it’s pasta. Tomorrow pasta is “slimey” and “inedible.” Today it’s, “I only wear Nike.” Tomorrow, who knows?

But these are two really special games that have withstood multiple years of play here with family and friends or on vacation with bigger groups of people.

The Chameleon

This is a super sneaky family board game where players race to catch the chameleon before It's too late. Everyone knows the secret word—except for the player with the chameleon card. Players use their creativity to come up with hidden codes, carefully chosen words, and a bit of finger-pointing to come up with a clue that relates to the secret word. But hold up! Your clue shouldn't make it easy for the chameleon (who doesn't know the secret word) to come up with his word! Don't let that sneaky sneakster blend in and escape!


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SNAKE OIL - The Silly Selling Party Game

If laughter is the best medicine, then Snake Oil “cures what ails ya!” 

With virtually no rules - bring out your inner snake oil salesman as you pitch your crazy product inventions to wacky customers in this comparison card game.

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a picture of a happy little girl with games to play with family members

On with the complete list. Many of these games defy the age groupings that I have arranged them under – with a bit of help, younger kids could totally join in on the older games.

Games To Play With Kids Under 8

Ravensburger Labyrinth Family Board Game for Kids and Adults Age 7 and Up - Millions Sold, Easy to Learn and Play with Great Replay Value (26448)

Search for treasure deep within the twisting maze! The playing board constantly changes so no two games are ever the same! The cards will determine your quest. Looking for the Dragon? How many routes can you take and also foil your opponents? Try to gain the advantage by inserting the extra tile to move walls and open passages of the labyrinth. The first player to reach all of their treasure wins!

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SCS Direct, Tall Tales Story Telling Board Game - The Educational Family Game of Infinite Storytelling - 5 Ways to Play - Promotes Creativity and Language Skills

brings back the classic magic of imagination in a new and exciting family game. This creative, non-competitive storytelling game is for people of all ages. Players draw random story elements from a bag and twist their best tale using each piece, just like the world used to do before the technology revolution. The only limit is your imagination! Real 3-D game includes 50 detailed game pieces, 24 full color story cards and a story bag to store game pieces.

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Games To Play With Older Kids {Age 8 and Up}

Ubongo

This is by far one of our most often played games that everyone loves!

Players race against the timer and against each other to solve a puzzle of interlocking shapes. The faster you solve the puzzle, the more gems you get. The player with the most valuable gem treasure after nine rounds of solving puzzles wins!

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Difficult Riddles For Smart Kids: 300 Difficult Riddles And Brain Teasers Families Will Love (Books for Smart Kids)

Y'all! Kids still have the ability to stretch their brains and solve these riddles, but it's so much harder for the adults! The whole family will enjoy this - I promise!

This book contains 300 brain teasing riddles and puzzles. Each one encourages children to think and stretch their minds. They are designed to test logic, lateral thinking as well as memory and to engage the brain in seeing patterns and connections between different things and circumstances.

Oh! And there's an answer key included if you get stumped!

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Dixit

Dixit is the lovingly illustrated game of creative guesswork, where your imagination unlocks the tale. In this award-winning board game, players will use the beautiful imagery on their cards to bluff their opponents and guess which image matches the story. Guessing right is only half the battle! To really succeed, you'll have to get your friends to decide that your card tells the story! Every turn, the storyteller will call out a short phrase or word to match the image on his card. Then each player will choose the card that most closely matches that phrase, and then everyone must guess which card the storyteller saw when he invented his brief tale. Correctly guess the storyteller's card, and you'll move ahead. Convince everyone else that your card is best, and you do even better.

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Pictures - Rio Grande Games

Pictures is a quick-playing family game with super simple rules. Form the image on your secret picture with one set of components: either shoelaces, colored cubes, icon cards, sticks and stones, or building blocks. Try to get other players to guess what image you have recreated and guess which image they have recreated. You get points for other players guessing your creation as well as correctly guessing from the other creations!

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Pantone: The Game - Simple-to-Play Competitive Party Game - Ages 8 and Up - Create Pop Culture Characters Using Only Color Swatches and Your Own Creativity!

When you are the Artist, you choose one of your Character Cards and design a representation of that Character using only color swatches. When one of the other players guesses your creation, you both score points!

Just in case you don't immediately guess - if nobody guesses, a Hint is given at the start of the next round. Each Character Card lists four Hints, with each one reducing the number of points awarded to both the Artist and the player who guesses the Character. The winner is the player who has the most points after each player acts as the Artist three times.


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Glyphics

Glyphics is charades without acting. It's doodling without drawing. This game is different each time you play! Grab a card. Choose a word or phrase on the card. Use as many game pieces as you need in order to form a picture of the word (or glyphic). The first player to guess your glyphic scores points!

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Fabulous Games With The Tween & Teen Set

BRAIN GAMES KIDS - Warning! This Game Will Blow Your Mind!

Brain Games the board game will take you through a series of challenges that will put both your mind and body to the test! Compete with other players to test your logic, vision, language skills and physical coordination. For example, can you decipher the familiar phrase from these nonsensical words: Hay Bum Pin Than Height (Answer: A bump in the night) The object is to be the first player to successfully complete challenges in 4 categories - Logic, Vision, Language, and Mind & Body.

At our house, this game always promises a LOT of bell laughs!

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Disruptus

Disruptus will have you laughing and innovating from the moment the first card is flipped. Featuring a simple and ingenious play mechanism, DISRUPTUS revolves around new ways to create, transform, or improve ideas or objects. Play DISRUPTUS alone, with other players, or in teams both competitively or in a collaborative manner.

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Board Game Ideas

Games that encourage us to come out of the shells created by screens and busy-ness are at the top of my list – family game night can be the perfect remedy for that! Here are some of my my most popular posts about board games!

You Know It’s Good Idea When…

We recently were on the drive home from a week long vacation. Since we had a couple of rainy days, we were thankful we’d brought a couple of our favorite family games to play with everyone. My guys are pretty creative and super curious, so they both love the fun games on this list in particular.

“What was your favorite thing about our vacation?”

Soul-crushing traffic covered I-75N like a parade of ants going to a picnic gala thrown by Martha Stewart. We were on the way home from vacation, and I tried to divert all the eyes from all the screens before they crossed and wouldn’t uncross ever again.

I’m a fan of games that encourage kids to be creative, innovative, and to see things in different ways. As many of you know, I’m also a fan of making the most of family time.

This is why we love to play these games so much. We have a cabinet full and we enjoy game nights at home and we always bring 3-5 with us when we go on vacation. We never bring toys and we limit electronics – but these games always come with us. These simple games that encourage us to use our minds; to race for the win; or to work together collectively…they help strengthen our bond together as a family. They create joyful memories for all of us. They bring us together in a way that gets harder and harder to find as kids hit the tween and teen years.

I hope your family enjoys these games for boys (I’m sure they’re equally fabulous for girls as well; I just have only boys) as much as we do!

I’d love to hear from you about your favorites on the list or the ones that you’ll be adding to a wish list! Oh! Don’t forget to Pin this post so you can come back to it whenever you need a little inspiration!

P.S. grab these simple ways to connect with one another

Playing games together is one activity that helps us connect as a family. It’s also a great choice for one on one time with one of your children. If you want a list of some super quick and easy ways to connect with each other every day, you are in the right place! I made this cheat sheet just for you – click below to get your own copy delivered directly to your inbox!

Ways to Be Present Every Day With Your Kids

Grab the Cheat Sheet!

Does spending one on one time with each of your kids feel overwhelming?

Let me help make it feel easy and simple with tons of easily actionable – do it now – ideas for quality time.

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Don’t Forget to Pin This For Later:

image from above of happy young family with two daughters playing a board game promoting curiousity and creativity