Rolling the Dice

Playing games with kids aged 6 to 10 is a lot of fun. For the most part, they can read, they understand how to take turns, and they generally have enough life experience to know that even if they lose this time, next time, they might win.

There’s an increasing range of games available for the elementary school set, too. Most of the classics have a junior version that works really well for this age - Monopoly, Scrabble, Clue, etc., but they’re not limited to these.

As you get into older elementary school kids, you’ll find that they’re looking to play the “grown-up” versions more often. This age range thrives on feeling that they’re older.

That’s why this is also a great age to introduce your own personal favourites. I suggest starting with the favourites because you’re going to end up playing these games over and over and over.

For the younger end of this age range, try games like Guess Who? that require some reading skills, but also introduce logical thinking. We’ve also had success with The Castle, a tile-laying game from the makers of Carcasonne and Settlers of Catan.

As kids approach 8 years old, introduce trivia games. One games I’m actually really excited to try out this year is the latest version of Trivial Pursuit that has three levels of questions.

Another good way into trivia games for this set is a verson of Scene It? that features a show or movie that they watch a lot. For instance, we have the Disney version. This gives the advantage to the kids, who have watched far more Disney movies than we have (or at least watched them more times!).

Also good with this age group are games like Life, Ratrace, or Cranium’s Zooreeka. Each has elements of collecting and/or trading, which kids this age really get a kick out of.

All of the games you play with kids this age are warm-ups for the full-out adult games they’ll play when they’re older, so any game that gets the whole family involved is great.

We’ve had lots of fun with Cranium’s Family Fun or Whoonu, and also discovered some classic “cabin” games, like Tock, Uno and Parcheesi.

The bonus for classic games like the last three is that there’s opportunity to play with grandparents and other older adults, since they are more familiar with them.

Once the kids hit middle school, social and strategy games become a more popular option. It’s also the time when they really start playing games with other kids. We’ll tackle those issues tomorrow.

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