holiday gift guide: games

zoe is at an age where she wants toys like the other kids are getting, but she feels too old to be focusing her attention solely on toys.  i think games make a great gift for kids in this category.

i have absolutely fallen in love with out of the box games.  we received "pirate vs. pirate" last year and this has become a favorite game of the entire family (well, maybe not lilianna yet, but definitely for the rest of us!).  while strategy is definitely involved, i feel like this game offers a good way to learn strategy in a fun and engaging way (can you tell i'm not a big fan of checker and chess myself?).  if you want to develop strategy skills in your kids, i think this game is a great learning tool for that.

tate really wants to get the similar "ninja vs. ninja," which also is great for developing strategy skills.  this is definitely a game where he is going to need some help for awhile as he plays but i think it will be a great addition to our family game night collection.

tessa got the game "7 ate 9" last year for christmas.  this has been a great way to practice her addition and subtraction skills.  she is a little slow at doing this in her head so i think this game is good for getting those basic math skills cemented in her brain.  it is a very quick game that can be played anywhere. 

we played "shake 'n take" at the chicago toy and game fair.  this is another great game for the whole family.  the playing cards offer two different levels so tate and zoe can play together without too much of an age disadvantage (tate still needs a little help to be competitive, but not much).  one person has to circle as many of one shape as she/he can before the other player get the alien in the bubble to be face up (make sense!?).  it is a great way to practice learning shapes, as well as developing observation skills and eye/hand coordination.  we all really enjoyed playing this together at the fair.  this is definitely a game i hope to add to their collection.

this is all the experience i have had with games from out of the box.  i do feel confident about buying any of the games from this company because of their commitment to making quality, entertaining and prize-winning games (many of their games have won parent's choice and other prestigious awards).  here is a what they want from their games (from their website):

can be learned in minutes.

are colorfully illustrated and fun to play.

can easily be played in less than an hour.

are efficiently designed in smart packaging.

feature dynamic player interaction from start to finish.

i would say that this has definitely been the case with all of the games that we have tried from out of the box.

i received free copies of "pirate vs. pirate" and "7 ate 9" last year from out of the box games when we received free passes to the chicago toy and game fair.  these are the games we enjoyed this year when we again received free passes to the chicago toy and game fair.  regardless, all the thoughts and opinions expressed here are purely my own.  i received no compensation for writing this post.