One of our favorite things to do as a family is play games. Playing games is not only fun, but games can be educational, too. Kids can work on math skills, strategic thinking, taking turns, sportsmanship, and more! Here are some of our family’s favorite dice and card games that I think your kids will love! Who knows, you might even find a new favorite for the classroom, too.
We have purchased most of these games in stores like Target or Walmart. However, you can find many of these games on Amazon, as well. You can click on any of the games below to learn more or find all of these games on my Amazon page.
we are a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Dice and Card Games Your Kids Will Love
Left Center Right
This is a fun, fast-paced dice game. There are three dice marked with L (left), C (center), R (right), and a dot (keep). Each player starts with three chips. Players roll the dice to determine where they pass their chips. The last player with chips is the winner.
Qwixx
We just got this game for Christmas and my kids love it. This game is all about crucial decisions. The more numbers you cross off, the more points you score. However, once you cross a number off, anything to its left cannot be counted as points. The player with the highest score wins the game.
Monopoly Deal
My kids enjoy playing Monopoly (the board game), but I don’t always enjoy how long it takes to get through an entire game. A friend suggested we try Monopoly Deal. This is a much faster-paced card game where you can quickly build your property sets, but be careful – players can use special cards to swap or steal properties!
Clue
We love the board game version, so we were excited to try the card game. I must say, this is a much faster-paced game. So quick, in fact, that I think this would be a great way to introduce young players to the game.
Uno
Uno has been around for awhile, but it’s still just as fun as ever. Players lay down a card that matches the color or number of top card on the discard pile. The goal is to be the first to empty your hand. However, the game changes quickly as the colors change and wild cards are played. Not to mention that the other players can force you to draw additional cards or skip your turn altogether!
Phase 10
I first learned to play this game in college with friends. It’s played a lot like Rummy, where you are working to collect sets and runs. Because this game has 10 different phases, or levels, to complete, this game can take a little longer to play. However, since the deck gets shuffled between rounds, you can also pause the game and return to it later or on another day.
Skip-Bo
This is another family favorite. In fact, we often play this with our extended family over the holidays when we are all together. Young children can easily join in this game because you’re trying to make piles of cards from 1-12 while clearing out your personal stockpile of cards. There are a handful of wild cards that help you skip numbers to continue playing.
Just Add Dice Games
For a more educational approach, I created a handful of dice games to help students work on basic math skills. These include addition, subtraction, place value, multiplication, division, and more. The pages can be placed inside sheet protectors and reused over and over again with different results each time. You can find all of my dice games here.
Card Games
You don’t always need a fancy set of cards to get started. Here are some of our favorite games to play with an ordinary deck of cards: Go Fish, War, Slap Jack, Old Maid, Crazy 8s, Memory Match, and Solitaire.
You might also like this post on 5 Reasons to Play Math Games in the Classroom.
Do you have a favorite dice or card game that your kids love to play?
Happy Teaching!
