In the third part to my Educational Gamer series, however many parts it ends up, I’ll show you a handful of our favorite games for kids that are what is known as the Tweenager. Some kids may find previous games too babyish, too easy or just want something more “grown up” but aren’t quite a teenager….except for maybe the attitude. If your kid falls in this group I hope you find some games to add to your homeschool or family game night library.
We homeschool and we use games as part of our learning. Games themselves are teaching your kids something whether they (or you) realize it or not. Sometimes it’s obvious like working on math, reading or critical thinking but sometimes it isn’t as obvious.
Most games teach about taking turns, that losing is ok too, sportsmanship (saying good game afterwards whether you win or lose) and following rules. Some, however teach strategy, problem solving, deductive and even inductive reasoning. You might not notice these until a year or more later…but kids who game learn these things. Keep this in mind whenever you play any game with your children/child.
There are TONS of games to look into but here are a few that work great for our homeschool lessons with my son who is going to be 10…going on 15…
I’m posting a link to a review (if I have done one) and a link to purchase the game on Amazon. (This will be an affiliate link, which doesn’t cost anything more for you but helps me a little, so thanks in advance if you purchase.) I know when I find a game I like to know more about it or where to buy it so I include these things.
Crab Stack – From Blue Orange Games
Purchase $24.99 My Review
Skills: Visual Perception | Attention | Focus | Problem Solving
Crab Stack is a cute game of last crab standing. Your goal is to crawl on top of other crabs to prevent them from moving and end up being the only crab that can move…or the last crab standing. Beware of crawling too far away from your fellow crabs or some of you can get washed away!
Secret Code 13+4 – From HABA
Purchase $21.99 My Review
Skills: Addition | Subtraction | Multiplication | Division | Any Level of Math
You are a secret agent and you have to be the first to reach the mask of Amun Ra, but in order to get it you have to crack all the codes along the way using math skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division or any combo of the 4) to get past the lasers! Secret Code 13+4 by HABA both educational and really fun!
ION – From Genius Games
Purchase $19.99 My Review
Skills: Chemistry | Science | Periodic Table | Positive & Negative Charge
ION is a drafting card game where the goal is to get points by forming neutrally charged compounds or sets of stable noble gases! Seriously! A chemistry card game! The best part is…it is accurate AND fun!
Hive Mind – From Calliope Games
Purchase $30.00
Skills: Reading | Writing | Basic Math
The Queen Bee needs to kick a few of her subjects out of the hive due to congestion. As a subject you must prove you can think like the Hive Mind and deserve to stay in the hive. Answer questions but try to think like other players to earn points. The Bee with the lowest points gets the boot!
Gobblestones – From R & R Games
Purchase $19.99
Skills: Tile Placement | Pattern Identification | Strategy | Planning ahead
Gobble as many stones as you can to get the most points. Do this by placing tiles strategically in order to get as many points as possible during your turn. Certain restrictions are in place of course and you draw more tiles the less you play so planning ahead and having a strategy are key to winning!
Ice Cool – From Brain Games
Purchase $35.99 My Review
Skills: Dexterity | Problem Solving
Everyone is a Penguin in a fun game of tag for points…the catch is you have to flick the Penguin! Flick your Penguin in a straight line or so it rounds a corner. You can even flick it over a wall!
Wordspiel – From Set Enterprises
Purchase $12.99 My Review
Skills: Reading | Spelling | Basic Math
You make words using the cards in your hand and have to be the first to go out to win, however, there is a catch. I usually don’t love catches, but in this case it is brilliant. The last letter of the word (or series of letters) needs to be the beginning of your word! Words Spiel = WordSpiel!
Dwarven Miner – From Rather Dashing Games
Purchase $49.99 My Review
Skills: Resource Management | Strategy | Planning ahead
Dwarven Miner is a resource management type game that involves Dwarves, mining, thieving, Orcs and fun! Roll dice to “mine” for Resources but avoid getting Orcs if you can, then make all the items needed to finish your customer’s order to score points! Be the first to 30 points to win and have bragging rights!
Patchwork – From Asmodee (MayFair Games)
Purchase $21.99 My Review
Skills: Basic Math | Strategy | Planning ahead | Puzzle solving
Patchwork is a 2 player game that has you putting together a quilt…well using tiles. You can only select from 3 pieces at a time and only if you can afford the buttons to pay for the piece you want. Making them fit on your quilt board is the hard part but it also makes this game super fun and challenging!
Macroscope – From MayDay Games
Purchase $30.00 My Review
Skills: Inferring | Identifying the whole from a part | Pattern Recognition
Macroscope is ingeniously constructed and resembles everything I love about old inventions! You get to build your own Macroscope before you even play! A nice element to an already fun game. Your goal is to simply get the most points by guessing what the hidden item is with as few tokens removed as possible. Quick and easy to learn and play but challenging enough to keep you coming back!
Braintopia – From Asmodee
Purchase $14.99
Skills: Addition | Subtraction | Multiplication | Division | Any Level of Math
Eight different challenges test your mental focus, flexibility, and speed in Braintopia! Be the first to gain four Brain Tokens through challenges that involve Memory, Maze, Color, Coordination, Duplicates, Frequency, and Reasoning.
Hanabi – From R & R Games
Purchase $10.99
Skills: Cooperation | Deductive Reasoning | Memory | Sequencing
Players have to work together to put together the correct launch sequence. However, you can’t see the cards you are dealt! Each player can see everyone else’s cards but their own and you can’t just
There are so many games you can choose from to add to your homeschool or just for reinforcing skills or simply for Family Game Nights. We play some of these still for homeschool and game nights and some just the Gentleman can play but the Diva is catching up. A few I haven’t reviewed yet but have played and have been added to the Gentlemans lessons.
If you are looking for games for your Tweenager I would recommend starting with one…or all…of these. I added reviews where I could so you can get an idea of how the game plays, what materials it is made out of and any other information I put in there…which might be a bit. I am pretty thorough. Also links to check out the company’s other games and an amazon link in case you want to purchase it. (Yes it is an affiliate link which doesn’t cost anything more for you but helps me a little, so thanks in advance if you purchase.)
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