HT Games
Young Children
Younger children will enjoy playing games that do not require reading or long attention spans. One simple board game is Feed the Kitty, which challenges players to keep their mice from being put in the kitty's bowl. The game does not require any reading and is recommended for those 4 and older. It does use dice, so is not ideal for kids 3 and younger. Cariboo, in which kids compete to win a treasure chest, is entertaining and educational. The game helps children recognize letters, numbers, shapes and colors, and is recommended for youths 3 to 5 years old.
Older Children
Older kids will have a great time playing games that involve strategy and trivia and come with DVDs for play, such as High School Musical, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?, Scene It and Deal or No Deal. DVD games tend to be a littler pricier than regular board games. Strategic board games can provide hours of fun for tweens and teens. Some popular games include Monopoly, which comes in a variety of formats; Risk; Clue; and Settlers of Catan. One nontraditional game to play includes Two Truths and a Fib, where each child will tell two truths and a fib and the others will vote on which is the fib. The child who guesses correctly the most wins the game.
All Ages
For games that don't take a bite out of your wallet, consider classics like hide and seek, charades, I spy and musical chairs. With hide and seek, you may want to set parameters so children are not getting into personal or breakable things. A nontraditional game is freeze dance, which is similar to freeze tag. Children can dance to Halloween tunes. With this game, kids dance until the music stops. Once the music stops, the kids must remain still until the announcer says the dancing may continue. If someone moves, he is out. Continue the game until there is one person left.