Originally I had titled this "A Few Good Board Games" but, as you will soon see, I decided to broaden the scope a little in order to include some of our favorites.
Games are a big part of our lifestyle of learning way of Tidal Homeschooling. My children LOVE having a morning or afternoon where they are completely free to just play the games from our bathroom cupboard.
Yes, you heard me correctly. We have an insanely large bathroom cupboard in the boys bathroom. Since we only have "a few good bath towels" (as in, ONE for each child) that hang on hooks, we have nothing more than a few rolls of toilet paper to store in this pantry size cupboard. A great place for games!
Hey, we go with what works!
I recently realized that this bathroom game closet was bulging and unorganized which meant that no one was really enjoying actually playing the games and so we purged and ended up with just what we love and use:
A Few Good Games
This gives you a relative treasure trove of play possibilities such as Nertz/Dutch Blitz, Hearts, Go Fish, Spoons, Rummy, Solitaire, and, our current favorite: Golf.
A GREAT way to work on those math skills without even knowing it! Also, you can use the dice for other games like Shut the Box or Two's and Fives.
This just might be my children's favorite. In fact, we have 2 sets so all 8 "big kids" can play at once!
Another great way to work on math skills. Monopoly Jr. is very fun for the younger crowd!
This is one that our oldest 4 have just learned to play. They LOVE it! It is sort of like Monopoly; only, you barter stuff like "sheep for wheat" and it only takes about an hour to play. Dads love this game too.
Card games we love to play as a family. I think we have gone through about 3 sets of Uno cards and 2 sets of Phase 10 cards. My children even invented their own version of "team Uno."
If you have the board, you might as well have the pieces for both games.
The "littles" love this, but my older kids will often join in on the fun.
For some reason, this game often results in disagreements over if it "really moved" or not, but they seem to work it out and keep coming back to it.
In the realm of "little kid" games, we prefer Candyland to Chutes and Ladders. It teaches the "littles" the idea of flipping a card and moving spaces. You can move right from this game into Sorry!
A VERY fun party game. It requires reading, so it isn't great for little ones but it is a wonderful resource for vocabulary development and one that my husband and I enjoy playing with friends.
I think this game is still around. It is a little like "Clue" only slightly more complex and much more fun.
Come on, you know you LOVED this game as a child! I was always hoping to land on ALL of the baby spaces so I could fill up my car with little pink and blue plastic people. hmm. . .
- Tri-ominos/Dominos/Quad-ominos
Oh my goodness. This is a really funny little game that comes in its own small plastic case and is sold on the end rack where Uno and the other card games are sold. This one makes everyone laugh and laugh. It is also a good "math" game.
This is a strategy game for just 2 players. It is great to pull this out when I'm sensing a child may need a little fun one on one time with mom.
um. . . it still counts as a "few" if I keep it under 20,
right?
My game closet is still rather full, but please let me know if I missed any great ones.
I may just have to make room.
What are your family's favorites?
that we decided to keep going and read one of our favorite books, "One Wintry Night," during these next 12 days. 
