Last year, I shared some of my favorite games for preschoolers, and now that Lil’ CB is an almost-first-grader (how the heck did that happen?!!), I thought I’d share some of our current favorite games! While I regularly mourn the fact that Lil’ CB is getting older (and super quickly, it seems!), it has been lots of fun being able to play more complex games together. And, though Lil’ CB would much rather be outside playing football/basketball/baseball/soccer, having an arsenal of indoor games has been perfect for too hot or rainy days and for winding down our evenings after dinner. Here are our tried and true favorites:

Games-for-Early-Elementary-Schoolers

1) Hedbandz: A fun and silly game where you are essentially playing 20 questions, except the object you are asking about is on your forehead! I would suggest having you and your child go through the cards first so you can set up the parameters and they’re not literally guessing about anything in the world (trust me, it’ll take foreeeeever otherwise). 2) Or, you can try the Disney edition, which is limited to different Disney characters.

3) Checkers: Mr. Cowboy and Lil’ CB love playing Checkers together and it’s getting to the point where Lil’ CB can sometimes legitimately beat Mr. Cowboy! He’s still working on learning Chess, but Checkers has been a great place to start!

ADVERTISEMENT

4) Jenga: When I was growing up, my family used to love playing Jenga together and now I’m playing with my own little family! Always a classic, always fun!

5) War: Sometimes, an old classic is the way to go! Lil’ CB learned how to play War at school and the kids regularly played different versions of it at Math Stations. It’s fun and easy and there are lots of ways to mix it up. Some of our favorites versions are playing Double War (flip over 2 cards and add them) and playing More or Less War. In the former version, you can flip a coin (one side means more, one side means less) or make a spinner with a brass fastener and a paper clip on a paper plate (write MORE on one half and less on the other). For each round, flip the coin or spin the spinner and whichever side it lands on determines which card wins.

6) Zingo Word Builder: We’ve been having lots of fun with the Zingo Numbers version and classic version and this one is one step up, where players make words with the different letters on their board and Zingo tiles. Great for early readers!

7) Rush Hour Jr.: This one is a single-player game, but we still work on it together, especially the more challenging puzzles. A great first logic game!

8) Uno: I used to live for Uno when I was in elementary school. It’s so fun and fast paced and anyone can win…it’s still a little confusing for Lil’ CB, but he’s getting there!

9) Connect 4: One can only play Tic Tac Toe so many times. Connect 4 (another classic!) is a great next step!

10) Swish Jr.: This is another game Lil’ CB learned at school and it’s so great for developing visual and spatial thinking skills. You have to stack the cards by rotating them and “seeing” how they go together to make a “swish.” It’s fun and challenging and keeps you on your toes as you have to think a few steps ahead!

11) Slamwich: We randomly found this at our grocery store (yay, Wegmans!), and after a quick Amazon search and reading of reviews, I promptly added it to our cart. We’ve been having lots of fun with this fast-paced game and it’s incredible how often Lil’ CB beats me (and I really don’t let him!)! It’s a great game for reinforcing quick visual recognition and patterns and it’s seriously fun! It reminds me of one of my childhood favorites, Spit!

What games do you and your LO enjoy?