Good news for fans of family game night! Playing games are a fabulous and fun way for kids to improve their executive function skills. Executive function is the way the brain helps us to manage, strategize and pursue goals, through control of our emotions and behavior. Kids with good executive function skills have an easier time in school, have greater focus and memory skills, better impulse control and can more easily deal with complex and new experiences. Sounds like something we all want for our kids, yes?
The best part is that playing games as a family also strengthens our relationships with our kids. Plus, it is fun (as long as competitiveness is managed appropriately!) It’s a win-win-win situation.
MORE: see these tips for a successful family game night.
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While I would argue all games improve executive function, here are some of the our featured games that you must add to your repertoire to help kids exercise concentration, long term strategy, spatial thinking and mental speed. I have featured many of them as a Game of the Month. (Note: this post contains affiliate links.)
1. Ticket To Ride is one of my older son’s top choices. It builds spatial planning, long term strategy, and patience. See Ticket to Ride’s game of the month feature here.
2. Blokus reminds me of a lot of puzzle video games, but manipulating actual 3D pieces works kids’ brains in a different way than staring at a screen. The classic Blokus was a game of the month for it’s awesomeness at giving my son’s concentration, spatial thinking, and patience skills a workout. Plus it’s fantastic for math learning, too.
3 & 4. Gobblet encourages kids to employ strategic thinking and builds memory. Gobblet Gobblers is great for preschoolers and Pengaloo is another memory and concentration game for younger kids.
5. ThinkFun Swish is a unique card game that really challenges kids’ spatial reasoning skills, concentration and also impulse control! Swish and Swish Jr. made our game of the month feature.
6. Dots and Boxes. This is a simple, classic pen and paper game, that teaches strategy. Find the rules (and a video!) here.
7. Tapatan is a three in row game from the Philippines. Make a game board quickly at home to play this fun strategy game. Full Tapatan instructions here.
8. Forbidden Island is a cooperative game! Cooperative games are perfect for families which have members who tend to have hurt feelings when they lose. Team building, cooperative planning and strategy, learning give and take are all at play here. See Forbidden Island’s game of the month feature here.
Honestly, I could put all of our favorite games on this list! Got a favorite game that challenges your kids’ mental powers? Share it in the comments.
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Skye says
I’ve been a reader of your blog for a long time but have never commented before. Thank you for all your book lists and game suggestions! I love taking my kids to the library and it’s so nice to know a few in our stack are going to be great instead of relying solely on what my kids pick from the shelf! Also your game suggestions have helped me with Christmas & birthdays. I just got put on bedrest for possibly the remainder of my pregnancy and used this post to decide what to order as a new game to play with my kids while I lay here. Thanks!! Ticket to Ride is one of my 8 yr olds favorites!
Erica MomandKiddo says
Comments like yours make my day! Thank you so much for your kind words and good luck with your bedrest. I hope the new game keeps you all busy!
Nancy @ NY Foodie Family says
We’ve played Dots and Boxes but haven’t heard of any of the other games mentioned. Will have to check some of these out, especially as my kids get older. We love family game nights!
Even in Australia says
Blokus is my favorite, even though I am not great at it. We like Quarto. I found Ticket to Ride confusing – hard to remember the rules. We also like Dizios, Set, and Clue.
Erica MomandKiddo says
I’ve had my eye on Quarto for a while! Set is great, too. I totally could have put that on the list!
jess says
Love the suggestions. Another fun one is corridor.
Erica says
I don’t know that one, thanks for the suggestion.
SPalmer says
My husband and I play Qwirkle every night. We are addicted to it. My grandkids love to play Dominos, Telestration and Rummy Cube. Once a month we get together with friends and play Five Crown card game. Thats for your list of favorite games we are always looking for new games to learn.
Erica says
Happy playing!
Diane Reed says
Thank you so much for sharing your information with your readers. I am a licensed counselor and work with parents of ADD/ADHD children. Your blog contains a great deal of practical ideas to help parents.
Erica says
I’m so glad you’ve found the site useful!
Amy says
Some great games here! We have also found labyrinth (by ravensburger) to be an amazing game. It’s a a strategy maze game where you keep changing the maze to find treasures! There are different levels of play to accommodate various skill levels. It’s fun for kids and adults alike!
Erica says
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve never played Labyrinth. I look forward to it!