Non-electronic games are always on my radar with kids who seem to be on devices A LOT! When I got an email from the crew at Talkin’ Toys asking whether I’d like to share some toy ideas, I was in. These guys create videos about games for the whole family and share on their YouTube channel and website, and today they are sharing some I had never heard of.
Winter is dragging on, the evenings are cold and dark and the school holidays are heading this way, fast. When the weather and daylight are not on your side, and the kids have too much time on their hands, it can be a struggle to keep everybody off those pesky screens. Zombie kids are all too common these days, and although peace and quiet has its upsides, nothing gets everybody laughing and learning, and the time flying by, like an old school games night.
We’ve put together a list of 5 fast and fun games that are guaranteed to zap a bit of life back into all the family, from tiny tots to teenagers, grades 3 to 103, and no WiFi required.
1. Eye Sketch, You Guess
Googly Eyes is a wacky twist on the classic drawing game. You never know what you’ll end up with. Pick a card, pop on the Googly specs, and draw the clue. Sound easy? These crazy goggles have other ideas – they’re madder than a monkey wearing Grandma’s bifocals! What’s that supposed to be? Is it an elephant or a donut? Is it a plane or fish? At least Grandma can blame her squiggly lines on the specs!
2. She said what now?
Game Of Things is the ultimate “who-said-what” game. Pick a card of one of the hundreds of topics, from the inadvisable to the downright silly. Everyone writes down an answer and one person has to guess who said what.
“Things you’d eat for a million dollars?” Oi! Who wrote “Uncle Jim’s Lamb a la banana”!
3. Your point or mime?
Write down a bunch of things on some pieces of paper: Movies, Celebrities, Foods, Animals: anything that takes your fancy.
Split into teams, then one from each team picks a clue from a hat and has a minute to tell their team what it is, using only the ancient power of…. Mime! Looks like that Interpretive Dance class you took at the gym is about to really pay off.
If your team aren’t up to scratch then the other sides get to ‘steal’- no cheating now!
4. Pent up expression!
Pass the Pen is all about expressing yourself in a hurry! In the world’s fastest drawing game the pen tip disappears after only 10 seconds. The pen is mightier than the clock!
Other players have to make sense of your squiggles but when the time is up it’s over to another pending Picasso to pick up where you left off. The ultimate in quick-fire fun, who said you can’t make great art in a hurry?!
See this one in action thanks to Talkin’ Toys:
5. Telebuddies
It’s the classic game of Telephone! Beloved by corporate team-building days all over the world, this is also a lot of fun to play at home.
Everybody stands in a circle, then somebody whispers a word or a phrase to the person to their left. They whisper it to the next person, along with an additional phrase. Nothing too rude please, guys! The story goes around the circle, getting longer and crazier as it goes on, and the last person says it out loud. It’s a fun challenge in memory and imagination, but probably best to make sure Grandad’s hearing aid is fully charged before you start.
More Games for Kids
I love the look of this new Rubik’s cube game – maybe a flashback to my own childhood!
Thanks so much to Talkin’ Toys for sharing this guest post. Make sure you check out their website here: Talkin’ Toys.
Note: This is not a sponsored post. I was not compensated in any way for sharing this article. I just occasionally like to give a shout out to a small business that is family-friendly and doing cool stuff. There are some Amazon affiliate links in this post.
