Good Games to Play With Kids

Just For Fun

• Whether you are a teacher who feels like giving your students a break or a parent looking to provide a group of kids with a fun activity, there are a variety of good games that can serve the purpose. One popular classroom game is Seven-up, also known as Heads-up. Seven-up starts with seven students standing at the front of the room and all other students sitting at their desks with their heads down.The seven standing students then walk around and each tap a sitting student. If a sitting student can guess which standing student tapped him, the two switch places. For a smaller group of kids, Duck, Duck Goose is a perennial favorite. The game starts with one player standing and all others sitting in a circle. The standing player walks around the circle, labeling the other players as ducks, until he finally designates one player as the goose. The goose then chases and ideally taps the player to take over as "it," or the standing player, before that player sits in the vacated spot.

Educational

• Good games for kids can be educational, too. One of the most basic and popular educational games is trivia, where parents or teachers ask kids questions pertaining to academic subjects, such as history, English or math. The variations you can use when playing trivia games are endless. For example, you can provide questions on a diverse array of subjects, or stick to one subject, such as math. You can even get more specific and play addition trivia or multiplication trivia. Kids can play on teams or individually. Another popular educational game for kids is the classic spelling bee, where kids line up and must correctly spell words on each turn to stay in the running. Each round, the words increase in difficulty.

Exercise

• Any game that requires kids to run, jump or skip can help them burn calories and develop healthy bodies. One such game is Red Rover, which requires access to a large field or gym space. The larger the space, the more exercise kids can get. The game starts with kids dividing into two groups and then lining up at either end of the space, hand-in-hand. Each team then takes a turn calling an opposing player across the field, who must run and try to break through the "enemy" ranks. If he is successful, he rejoins his team. If not, he becomes part of the opposing team.

Caution

• Some good games to play with kids can potentially get rough or rowdy, especially those that require some form of physical contact, like Duck, Duck, Goose and Red Rover. To prevent games from getting too out of control, always supervise playing kids and let them know when their behavior is too aggressive or otherwise inappropriate.