Educational Board Games for a Family Night In

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Many of us struggle to get our tweens and teenagers off their devices and I know from first-hand experience just how challenging it can be. Our teenagers and tweens are spending more time watching Youtube and playing on social media (tik tok currently in our house) and less time reading or playing games. This does have a detrimental effect on their learning and therefore I have been looking at the best educational board games that you should buy ready for a family night in. We all want to know how best to help our children learn and board games are one such way.

Fun Board Games For Families

picture of dice and counters on a board game

Now that autumn is here and the nights are darker there will naturally be less playing outside. The weather stops us from being out but there is plenty we can do as a family indoors including playing board games.

Our young people are far more likely to switch off their iPad or X Box if we engage them in some other way. Board games are brilliant resources for teaching our children maths or literacy skills. They are also a great way to connect with our children and spend some time bonding together. The teacher in me always looks at the educational value of games too as they can teach problem-solving and many other skills that complement the school curriculum.

When our children were little went spent lots of time reading and playing with them. We seem to stop this as they progress through school, yet we should still be encouraging and supporting their learning with educational board games.

Therefore plan a family games night, buy some snacks, switch off the TV and set a time to enjoy some quality family time. Together with my tween and teenagers, we have put together a list of our favourite educational board games.

Board games for reading, phonics & vocabulary

First up Scrabble, this game is one that Erin and I play most weekends and is brilliant for developing vocabulary and helping with spelling. Each player has eight tiles, each with a letter on. They need to make words that fit on the board and the game continues until no new words can be made. Each word or letter earns points and the person with the most points at the end wins.

Next up is another great game for extending vocabulary in teenagers as this educational board game is suitable for teenagers 13 years plus. Taboo is a fast thinking game where you need to get your team to guess as many words as you can while you race against the clock. But watch out; if you say a forbidden word, the other team will “squeak” you and you lose the word. Taboo, the exciting game of forbidden words, can provide tons of fun and keep you sitting on the edge of our seat. You want your team to say the guess word on the card, but you can’t use any of the forbidden words in your clues.

Board games for the mind and strategy

Cluedo is for teenagers and older children as it is a little more challenging. This game involves one murder…6 suspects. In this suspenseful Cluedo game, players have to find out who’s responsible for murdering Dr. Black of Tudor Mansion in his own home. Get the scoop on the mansion’s rooms, weapons, and guests and start detecting. Was it Plum with the wrench in the library? Or Green with the candlestick in the study? Eliminate information throughout the game in this classic whodunit. The player who correctly accuses Who, What, and Where wins! Ideal for problem solving and developing thinking skills this game will have your brains in a twist!

pin 'insanely fun educational board games'

Having good general knowledge helps in so many ways whether it is historical facts, geography or questions on literature The Chase requires you to pit your general knowledge skills against one of the four Chasers, the ruthless quiz geniuses determined to stop you winning at all costs. Start by answering quick-fire questions against the clock to build up your prize fund. Now take that money into The Chase and meet your Chaser. We love watching The Chase on the TV, therefore, the educational board game is bound to be a hit too!

Developing lateral thinking and reasoning is a higher level skill and Crystal Maze can help develop these skills. Crystal Maze returned to the TV screens and is the show that I always wanted to get on! Erin is currently preparing for the 11+ and these games help with lateral thinking and thinking outside the box. The game is for ages 10 and up and includes everything you will need to have an a-maze-ing adventure in your living room including game boards, puzzle pieces, riddle cards, a huge double-sided board, and of course those all-important time crystals.

These educational board games are fun for the family and dare we say make ideal presents.

Related posts:

How to Develop Growth Mindsets in the Classroom and at Home

Why Rewards Matter in Education and at Home

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154 Responses

  27. Our favourite game is Rummikub, so it would be lovely to win the travel version to play when away from home.

    Reply

  54. We love board games here. Plyt is one of our recent favourites but Trivial Pursuit has been a family favourite since I was little. We currently use the family edition as it gives us all a fair chance and my 7 year old is just as likely to win as any other family member.

    Reply

  60. We love board games as a family! It’s a great way to spend time together and get the kids away from all the technology!
    We especially love exploding kittens at the moment.

    Reply

  75. we play cribbage more than anything it’s not exactly a board game but it does use a board so I’m going to claim it counts!

    Reply

  98. My favourite family board game is currently 3D snakes and ladders as my Grandson loves playing this and it is really helping him with his maths skills.

    Reply

  111. Monopoly is aways fun….unless you are the first one out! And i mean classic monopoly and not one of the spin offs!

    For a more of a party fun vibe we all love playing boulderdash too, creative fun and sometimes belly achingly funny!!

    Reply

  126. We love playing Monopoly it used to be really funny when my son lost but now he has calmed down when he loses lol

    Reply

  127. We love playing Boggle and Dobble. I loved Rummikub as a child, would love to introduce it to my daughters!

    Reply

  128. We love playing Monopoly as a family. We love that there are so many different varieties of the game available! So no play through is ever the same!

    Reply

  131. game of life, payday and monopoly we have family board game night well day every sunday kids love playing hungry hippos too

    Reply

  151. Scrabble. Always fun when my Nanna used to play and say ‘what’s that outside the window?’ and then she’d rummage in the letters bag and swap her tiles! Haha, like she thought she could get away with that one…Well, she did, and she always got the triple squares too!

    Reply

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