This is hands down my kids' new favorite game (ages 3 to 10). They got it for Christmas and we have played it several times in the past week. I'm not sure it would count as "educational" by any standards, but it definitely fosters family togetherness. It also allows kids to work on their attention ...
Mid Elementary Games
Clumsy Thief in the Candy Shop
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My family has been playing the original Clumsy Thief game for about a year. It is still one of my 10 year old's favorites. (See my Clumsy Thief review here.) However, that game, which involves adding to 100, is a little challenging for my 5 and 7 year olds. I was so happy to discover recently that ...
Mystery at the Lux Museum: A Review
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"This is a cool mystery. I'm sad it's almost over." The exact, unsolicited words of my 9 year old, when he and his siblings only had one out of 8 clues left to solve. If that's not an endorsement for this escape room inspired, Mystery at the Lux Museum game, I don't know what ...
Professor Noggin Games
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My kids absolutely LOVE playing these Professor Noggin games during dinner. My 8 year old in particular will pretty much beg and is super bummed if we're not able to for some reason. However, all four of my kids (ages 2, 4, 6, and 8) really enjoy playing these games and are learning a ton. Somehow ...
Escape the Room: Stargazer’s Manor
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I didn’t use this game at all as intended, but even so, I think it is fantastic! Although I'm sure it would be fun, we did not use this game at a party or with a time limit. Instead, my 7 year old son and I just did it off-and-on one Sunday afternoon. I LOVED that he was so eager to work hard for ...
No Stress Chess
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I've always loved the idea of chess...an intellectual game that requires strategy, forethought, anticipation, and practice. I'm a complete math nerd. I should be all over chess. However I never learned. Even if I had learned, I didn't have anyone to play with. Now, ever since reading and watching ...
Enchanted Forest
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For the past month, this memory-based game has replaced Busytown as our favorite go-to family game. My 7 year old is the one that likes it the best, but I enjoy it and my 4 year old can definitely play too. Even the 2 year old can sort of pretend to play, though he's messed up the board a couple ...
Scrambled States of America Game
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Somehow, growing up in California in the 80's and 90's, I was never required to take a geography class. Since I never took a personal interest in the subject, my geographical knowledge is downright embarrassing. I'm determined that my kids will not grow up with the same shortcoming. I'm always ...
Color Code
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Color code is a fun, challenging, single player game that uses a different skill set than many logic puzzles aimed at similar age kids. It requires kids to use spatial reasoning, but rather than using 3 dimensional shapes, it requires kids to layer a series of flat (2 dimensional) images to make a ...
Catan Junior
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This is an entertaining game for families with kids 5 years and up. It's one of the few games I really like to play with my kids. Catan Junior teaches many useful concepts such as abstract math through the acquiring and trading of resources to purchase pirate ships and lairs. It's also a good first ...
Michelle has a PhD in Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor's Degree from the California Institute of Technology. 