Is 7 too young for board/card games?

[Anonymous]

We started playing very simple board games like memory cards, four in a row, bingo, etc with DD when she’s about 4. Then, we gradually moved into slightly more complicated ones like Eye Found It, UNO, etc. Her favorite is Cat-tastic by Mudpuppy. It’s an easy version of Monopoly with cats. DD loves the cute kitty theme and funny cat-related tasks.

[Anonymous]

Just let the kids play. You don’t need to micromanage this. And I’ve not seen seven years old play board games on a play date even if they like board games. The whole point of a play date at age 7 is to do all the pretend play your parents don’t do with you anymore. And also scream and yell and laugh and play hide and seek, kick a soccer ball, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We started playing very simple board games like memory cards, four in a row, bingo, etc with DD when she’s about 4. Then, we gradually moved into slightly more complicated ones like Eye Found It, UNO, etc. Her favorite is Cat-tastic by Mudpuppy. It’s an easy version of Monopoly with cats. DD loves the cute kitty theme and funny cat-related tasks.

I am lucky I have a mother who can spend hours with the kids playing the games you mention. The older kids have great memories of those games.

[Anonymous]

The kids at my son's school are all into Pokémon at that age.

[Anonymous]

They involve parental involvement so less kids are playing them now.
My kid played candyland at 3 and enjoyed single card games and board games through the years.
Parents use screens to much now and don’t play games with their kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They involve parental involvement so less kids are playing them now.
My kid played candyland at 3 and enjoyed single card games and board games through the years.
Parents use screens to much now and don’t play games with their kids

You have it backwards. My boomer parents rarely played board games with us, but I play games with my kids every night after dinner.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a big game-playing family and we are now a big game-playing family with the second generation. I don't think kids really play board games with each other, though, especially during elementary school. My kids like playing games with their cousins when we are all together (elem and middle school age) but the games they play with each other (D&D and party games like Kids against Humanity) are usually different from the games we play as a family.

[Anonymous]

My 6 year old loves games- we play all sorts. They also have a bunch at school for indoor recess.

For playdates, they usually want to do something more active so we facilitate that.

[Anonymous]

We just do it with family, not on playdates. My 7-year-old has been playing cards (Rummy, Crazy 8s, Spoons, Go Fish, Uno, Exploding Kittens) since he was about 4. He can hold his own, more or less, but he's a very sore loser. I usually bring a deck on vacation and sometimes to a restaurant if it's going to be a long meal.

[Anonymous]

We play at least 1 board game a week with our kids, plus a lot of card games. My kids even can play poker, lol. (They liked yahtzee so much and that taught them about full house/straights). Pretty sure my kids learned their numbers from playing cards My 3.5 year old really likes uno but needs a tiny bit of help. She actually always wins too.

On play dates, I've played with the kids or I'm nearby while they play and the other kids always cheat! Or say things like "oh well that's my family's rule!". My kids aren't eager to play with others because of it.

I love the strategy, skill and most importantly teaching kids how to lose! School basically just reinforces this mentality that everyone is a winner, same with sports. Then when kids are faced with losing things in real life, they can't handle it. One of my kids is a little perfectionist and we've seen a lot of improvement after constant game playing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They involve parental involvement so less kids are playing them now.
My kid played candyland at 3 and enjoyed single card games and board games through the years.
Parents use screens to much now and don’t play games with their kids

You have it backwards. My boomer parents rarely played board games with us, but I play games with my kids every night after dinner.

NP what?!?! My boomer parents played cards almost every night when I was growing up with friends (wish I had neighborhood friends like that now that I'm an adult!), so did my aunts and uncles. My grandma's favorite thing was to have all her grandchildren at the card table with her. She was always telling us to get out our nickels.

There are studies that show that millennials are the most hands on generation with their kid, particularly millennial men vs older male generations. And no, we aren't all using screens nonstop, but maybe that's just what you see in public. My kids do get screens on airplanes or waiting all day for a sibling (my weekend was spent thus in the ER).

[Anonymous]

I think my kids started sometimes playing board or card games with friends around 10. And they've been playing board or card games at home since age 4.

[Anonymous]

No, 7 is a great age for board games. Here are some easy, quick play winners for early elementary kids

Hoot Owl Hoot
Monopoly Jr
Race to the treasure
Wild Kratts
Chutes and Ladders

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We play at least 1 board game a week with our kids, plus a lot of card games. My kids even can play poker, lol. (They liked yahtzee so much and that taught them about full house/straights). Pretty sure my kids learned their numbers from playing cards My 3.5 year old really likes uno but needs a tiny bit of help. She actually always wins too.

On play dates, I've played with the kids or I'm nearby while they play and the other kids always cheat! Or say things like "oh well that's my family's rule!". My kids aren't eager to play with others because of it.

I love the strategy, skill and most importantly teaching kids how to lose! School basically just reinforces this mentality that everyone is a winner, same with sports. Then when kids are faced with losing things in real life, they can't handle it. One of my kids is a little perfectionist and we've seen a lot of improvement after constant game playing.

Poker here too and spades, hearts and blackjack by 7 but only with family. Friends don’t know the games so it’s something different to do with family v friends.

[Anonymous]

That's hard for them to do together on playdates when they want to run around, but our daughters have been playing games with us since they were toddlers (we started with Orchard, Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, and Hoot Owl Hoot) then moved on to card games like Rat A Tat Cat then Uno, now at ages 8 and 10, they love Sequence and Rummikub.