Need Suggestions For Games

[POPTOP]

I have the two smaller grands, ages 7 and 9, for about an hour or hour and a half three days a week in the morning and then take them to school. They love playing games but I'm running out of ideas. They play mancala and dominos (the kind with pictures). Going to get dominos with dots to up the challenge. But I need more ideas.

Today, the 9 year old made up a card game. That did not work very well but we did give it a chance. I find a faster paced game, rather than something like Monopoly, is the best.

Anyone have other ideas?

[smartrock]

My niece and nephew are a few years older now but they've always enjoyed Jenga and still like to play it at ages 11 and 13. The girl I mentored for several years at a residential home enjoyed UNO and they played that a lot. The board game Sorry was popular with those kids, too, when they could find all the pieces. Any of those should work fine for those ages.

[Jeff]

One of the things I recently got me nephew was all the cent Whitman books. Amazon.com: whitman cent

These are for coin collecting. They have a list and a hole for every single penny the US made by year and by each mint. The books explain mint marks and things

Then went to the bank got 20$ worth of pennies, asking then for non new rolls. Then we sat down and started to fill in the holes. This teaches years and dates and mints plus you can look at certain years, tell them a story about that year. Maybe the year you were born. The year you got married, the year their parents were born.

While you probably won't find Indian heads, you will find wheat pennies, the most common is going to be newer years. Duplicate years choose the best one to save. Coins have a story. Imagine all the places they have traveled over the years. When all done roll the uncollected ones back up and take them back to the bank. Then go to another branch and get some more rolls. Important to go to another bank or you will just get your old rolls back. Keeps my nephew busy for hours and now wants to look at everyone's pocket change.

[Shelley]

We used to play a lot of Aggravation when I was a kid on holidays at my grandparents houses. It is a fast paced marble board game, and is fun, and yes sometimes aggravating! I bought a game for Christmas last year and my adult daughter pulls it out when she comes to visit, and we all play!

Amazon.com: Aggravation: Toys Games

[Macy]

With just a deck of cards there is the oldie but goodie - Spoons. My son loved that one. We also played War with a deck of cards. Parcheessi is a family favorite of ours. Also like Jenga, UNO and Bananagrams.

[POPTOP]

Great ideas! Thanks everyone.

[smartrock]

Oh yeah, I forgot about card games with regular cards. I know my kids played Spoons, Slap Jack, and Egyptian Corkscrew with my husband's mom.

The Rules to All Your Favorite Card Games - Grandparents.com