Post by cricketwife on Sept 4, 2021 16:57:17 GMT -5
For the first ever, we’re having a “big” family Christmas at my brother’s house. However, in our family “big” is still less than 10 people: 2 kids (ages 5 and 7), 3 grands in their 70s, and 4 adults in their 30s-40s. I’d love to find a few games that would be enjoyed by all. We have Pictionary and Charades. I’m going to bring a large jigsaw puzzle that people can do as they wish. I just heard of Tenzi which looks great. Other ideas? The simpler the better, two of the seniors have dementia so they may or may not play depending on how simple it is, it I’d prefer games that we could include them in some way.
Post by ellipses84 on Sept 4, 2021 18:11:49 GMT -5
Headbanz is fun for everyone and my 5 year old can play it. DS1 loves card games, especially Trash which is really easy. Rummycube was a favorite of mine to play with family at my grandparent’s cabin. LeftRightCenter is a dice game that’s fun if you want to gamble coins or dollar bills (we used to play this at a group event but the leader would donate all the money so it was more like winning a prize than risking your own $$). Cranium or that manufacturers games are really fun for groups and you can play in teams. Heads Up is super fun and you play on your phone with an app (kind of like the Pyramid game show).
ETA: Uno is another favorite for my grandparent’s cabin and my family is very into card games for camping too.
Uno has worked great for us with the age range of kids to grandparents. Fairly simple to learn, and has big text on the cards (for vision issues with the older grandparents), etc.
My 4YO’s favorite game is a version of Apples to Apples that uses emojis and pictures. Our friends have a 7YO who plays it with her when they visit, and I enjoy playing it as well. Also good for my mom in her 60s because she doesn’t need to put on her reading glasses.
Probably not quite what you’re looking for, but we’ve been drooling over the Infinity Game Table. You can access basically every game known to man. Great for families that do game night.
Post by plutosmoon on Sept 4, 2021 21:16:56 GMT -5
My dad is in his 80s and finds most games hard to understand, so we stick to simpler things when he plays with us. Favorites are Uno, Sorry, Trouble, go fish, blokus, and skip bo. All those are games my dad was able to play as an 80+ year old and DD as an under 8. We don't usually have as many players as you do, so a lot of these are 4 players or less.
Post by sporklemotion on Sept 5, 2021 5:52:28 GMT -5
Ticket to Ride jr and Catan Jr are hard to get if no one has played before, but not too bad of someone can explain them and show as they go. My 6 year old taught her 18 year old cousin how to play pretty quickly.
My dad is in his 80s and finds most games hard to understand, so we stick to simpler things when he plays with us. Favorites are Uno, Sorry, Trouble, go fish, blokus, and skip bo. All those are games my dad was able to play as an 80+ year old and DD as an under 8. We don't usually have as many players as you do, so a lot of these are 4 players or less.
Thanks, yes simpler is better for us. I wasn’t very clear- I don’t think everyone will necessarily be playing at the same time, so games for fewer people are fine too.
Ticket to Ride jr and Catan Jr are hard to get if no one has played before, but not too bad of someone can explain them and show as they go. My 6 year old taught her 18 year old cousin how to play pretty quickly.
We love catan jr as well and it’s fine for my 5 yo but I’m not sure someone with dementia would be able to follow it.
My kids love “the floor is lava” and while I don’t necessarily love it I can definitely play along too. I imagine some games the grandparents might just be willing to play to be a part of things with the kids.
Another thing my kids love to do their grandparents is draw on them with these special “body art” pens - the kids think it’s so fun to draw on grandparents arms and hands and the grandparents can just sit still not have to do anything. It washes right off when done.
We also play with storytelling cards from eeboo. Not sure if that would work well for the people with dementia though.
For an exciting twist to Uno we play “uno attack”. Maybe a gift idea?
We have these polka dot cards that are able to be played with in a variety of ways depending on the age/ability level of the players.
Boggle? My youngest is usually on a team with an adult.
Ibble dibble is fun and usually a drinking game but doesn’t have to be!
We play dictionary at thanksgiving - might be fun?
We do a big group vacation each year. Favorites that work for kids and adults are the regular old card game spoons (easy and really fun) , Uno, and my kids weirdly just love “One Night Ultimate Werewolf”—you use an app with the game and people have to play different roles for the game. Might be tough for the dementia people?
Telestrations (if can read), headbanz is great for a group.
Kid games that you could all play might be “Outfoxed” or the card game Sleeping Queens.
We play a lot of games just with adults, too, and kids can be “helpers”.
This card game is a favorite here. It’s quick and easy enough for the very young and old. Amazon shows it’s unavailable, but my local Target recently had it for $5ish.
My 5 year old LOVES candyland but I'd rather stick forks in my eyes than play that again - but might be nice for your younger to play with the older generation?
One concern I have are the 2 grands with dementia. YMMV, as all people with dementia are different, but even before he was officially diagnosed dad struggled with games he'd always enjoyed. In many people w/dementia the executive function need to plan moves plus the memory glitches around rules make this an un-fun activity. My folks played a lot of Gin Rummy, Bunko and Dominos and over time dad couldn't follow along. He even went through a phase where he was "cheating" which I know would have upset my kid at that age.
I'd look for maybe collaborative games if you want something new. If there are games they used to play, it might be safest to stick with those.
For card games, our whole family loves to play Five Crowns and Racko.
For a large group board game/interactive game, my husband purchased Outsmarted from a Kickstarter campaign. It’s trivia based, and has questions for 3 different age groups. You do need a device (iPad, phone, etc), but it’s easy to learn.
My grandmother (92) and my dd (9) love playing board games together. They like Checkers and games like chutes & ladders and some other classics that have been around a long time. Dd can obviously play harder ones but the games are easy for both to play and your relatives with dementia might remember them from playing when they were young.
Just played “Pass the Pigs: Pig Party” last night. It is only for four players, but we played with six and just had teams. Kind of fun (we played it up with cheering and yelling “pig party” at the right times), and easy for all.