Games for Brains

As you know, I'm always looking for fun ways to bring education into daily life (I've been pretty open about my preference for educational and open ended toys).  One way we've started bringing more fun education in is through games.  Many of them teach strategy, logic, memory, deductive reasoning and even visual/spacial skills.

I have always loved board games and card games.  Of course, I was excited to play with Xander.  However, I found that not all kids games were all the much fun, or all that educational.  For example, I bought him Monopoly Junior, thinking it would be great for strategy and math skills.  Then I found out they changed the rules from when I was a kid (or at least what I remember the rules were) and now it is all luck and almost no math.  We had other games like Trouble and Hungry Hungry Hippos, that he really liked, but got really boring for me after a while.  So I went on a hunt to find games he could play and learn from, but that he wouldn't outgrow in a year; in other words, fun for my husband and me too.  As an added bonus, playing games together is much better quality after dinner time than watching tv together.  (To be honest, I was also looking for games that didn't feel "solely educational."  While we have a lot of those and they are ok, they are usually as much fun as regular games).

A Post Series is Born

Since I'm probably not the only geek board game lover who wants to play with their kids, I thought it would make a good post series.  I'll post about what games we play together and if/how we adapt them.  I figured I'd throw in both games aimed at kids and adults.

Game Posts:
*Approximate Age is the age Xander did or could have probably started playing with help.  However, every kid is different, so it might be a little different for your kiddos.

Games	Blog Post	Approx. Age*
	Carcassonne Post	5-6
	Evolution: The Beginning Post	7
	Flash Point Post	5-6 (cooperative, so adults can make all the big decisions)
	Forbidden Island Post	5-6 (cooperative, so adults can make all the big decisions)
	Hey, That's My Fish Post	~5
	Hive Post	6
	Kingdomino Post	7
	King of Tokyo Post	6
	Lost Cities: The Board Game Post	7
	Machi Koro Post	5-6
	Santorini Post	6
	Sleeping Queens Post	5
	Sushi Go Post	5
	Otrio Post	5
	Zeus on the Loose Post	Once the child can add

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