4 Awesome Family Games You Should Buy Now

My family is currently obsessed with games we can play together and we want to share our current favorites with you! These games are all ones we received for the recent holiday (plus some bonus favorites we’ve had for awhile!) and we LOVE them! If you are still looking for some great gifts that your family members, or friends, will love, check out these four games and make them a part of your family tradition!

Our New Tradition: Family Game Night

Last year during Hanukkah was the first time my family tried a Family Game Night. It was so much fun! The kids were finally old enough to come together to play games there were both fun challenging. 

This Hanukkah we repeated the tradition. Even better, we received multiple new family games that we got to try out during Family Game Night. These games are so much fun! They are low-pressure, often cooperative games that let family members work together to succeed. The whole family can practice strategy, learn the value of teamwork, and often practice necessary skills like counting, all in a fun way. Everyone has a great time during the play and no one is disappointed by the outcome. Definitely a winning combination!

Check out these games and add them to your home collection. Better yet, set up your own Family Game Night! We can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Our Favorite Family Games

Count Your Chickens

Count Your Chickens is a cooperative game from Peaceable Kingdom. All the players work together to advance on the path and collect the chickens to put them safely in their coop. You get to practice counting, teamwork, and strategy. It’s not a huge time commitment and can be played with kids of different ages. It’s also super cute and fun! This is my 5-year old daughter’s current favorite.

Race to the Treasure

Race to the Treasure is another Peaceable Kingdom game we received for Hanukkah. It’s a similar concept to Count Your Chickens, where everyone works as a team against “the Game,” or in this case, the Ogres. This game involves coming together as a team to decide which path to take. You will practice strategy and teamwork as the game progresses. My 8-year old son loves this one!

Fish Stix

Fish Stix is, yep you guessed it!, another Peaceable Kingdom game! Can you tell I am obsessed with them and love their products? This game is not a cooperative one so you will need to be prepared for someone to be a winner (and, often the case in our house, a sad loser).

During our Family Game Night, we played the cooperative games first then worked our way through this one. By playing the cooperative games first we all had the chance to feel successful and practice teamwork. With that solid foundation beneath us, we were ready to face the challenge of a more traditional game.

In Fish Stix you match different types of fish and try to be the first to get 10 matches for each type of fish. Each stick has 4 fish so you need to practice strategy in how you move the sticks around to make a match. When we play we actually bend the rules a bit and consider any of the same fish a match, even if they aren’t swimming in the same direction. This makes the game slightly easier and is therefore less frustrating, but still challenging enough to feel successful as you play.

HedBanz

My dad got the kids HedBanz for Hanukkah and they love it! It’s not a cooperative game, but we work together as a group to ask questions and no one is a “winner.” It’s a simple game like 20 questions. I was a little worried that my eight year old would think it was too juvenile, but so far he’s loved it as much as the five year old.

In the game, kids get to practice their critical thinking skills as well as teamwork if you choose to play in a team format. We didn’t use the timer and instead played until we guessed the correct cartoon. There were lots of intelligent, as well as silly, questions asked and a ton of laughs the entire game!

I can totally see adapting this game for use in reviewing Jewish concepts or holidays, in the classroom and at home. It’s percolating in my mind right now but stayed tuned for a blog post on this idea in the future!

*Bonus Games*

We received the four games above for Hanukkah and fell instantly in love with them. They allow us all to work and play together so that everyone feels successful and has fun. These are essential elements to any of our Family Game Nights or just fun family play time. We also have other favorite games that we wanted to share with you, even if they are for just one or a couple family members. Check out the bonus games below!

Kanoodle

Kanoodle is not a team game but my eight year old got it for his birthday and LOVES it! It’s a 3D puzzle-type of game that requires the player to use logical thinking. It’s also small and compact enough in its little carrier that it makes a great travel game. If you need a solitary activity for your eight and older crowd, this one is a great pick! It’s currently in our Amazon cart for our nine-year old niece.

Acorn Soup

Acorn Soup is another game by Peaceable Kingdom. Full disclosure: we do not have this game in our house … yet! I saw Peaceable Kingdom post this game on their Instagram and it looks amazing! We are buying it for our youngest’s second birthday at the end of January and I can’t wait to play it with him, and the older two because I know they’ll want to join! It’s for ages 2 and up (so rare to find good, interactive and fun games for this young age group!) and involves counting, pretend play, sorting, fine-motor skills, and of course can be played together as a team. This game looks sweet and fun and I look forward to adding it to our Family Game Nights and in between!

Mancala

Mancala is an old-time favorite of ours. My oldest has been playing it with me for a couple years and the five-year old just started this year. They both love the smooth, pretty stones and enjoy trying new strategies. It’s not a cooperative game, but as you can tell, I am big on working together as teams even if that’s not the traditional rules of the game. I believe in creating cooperation wherever we can!

The Mancala set we use is the one I’ve had since I was a child. So many memories and now I get to enjoy creating new memories of this game with my children. That’s all-around awesome for me!

Hoot Owl Hoot

Hoot Owl Hoot is another Peaceable Kingdom game. My daughter received it for her birthday and it was the first in our collection. Once we started playing it and saw how wonderful games could be when they are meant to be played cooperatively as a family, we were hooked! We’ve been obsessed with Peaceable Kingdom games ever since! 

Hoot Owl Hoot, like all of Peaceable Kingdom games, allows players to practice social development skills, teamwork, critical thinking, and strategy.  It isn’t a big time commitment and is a guaranteed good time!

Can you tell my family is game obsessed? We love spending the time together, actively using our brains to think up new strategies, working as a team, and having fun together. We hope you enjoy these games as much as we do!

Have you played any of the games on this list? Which is your favorite? Are there other cooperative games we should add to our Family Game Night?

*This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link!*