Great Barbie Games for Kids

The girl's got staying power!

Yes, Barbie is anatomically incorrect, and even the parts of her that are correct are unrealistically disproportionate. Yes, Barbie's image is based on looks and popularity instead of brains (but she's a doll - she doesn't have a brain!). Yes, she's made of plastic and comes in packaging that relies heavily on timber from endangered Indonesian rainforests, so she's not exactly eco-friendly.

Still, since she was introduced in 1959, she's become an icon, and not many toys can say that. My aunt played with Barbie when she was little (my mother, for some reason, has always been anti-Barbie), I played with Barbie when I was little (my grandmother insisted that "every little girl needs a Barbie," much to my mother's extremee annoyance), and I'm sure that my little girls will have at least one Barbie doll of their own. 

Now Barbie has a whole universe to her credit. There are Barbie dream homes, Barbie cars, Barbie DVDs and video games. And there are even Barbie board games and card games. Here are just a few of the best ones the whole family can enjoy together.

This game was first introduced in 1961, and it (along with the other, similar, Barbie girl games) shows how Barbie was made to represent the typical teenage girl at the time (and, honestly, teenage girls haven't changed that much over the years).

Each player gets to be Barbie and go around the board, collecting boyfriends, part-time jobs, club memberships, and dresses. The first one who gets to the finish (the prom) with a steady boyfriend, a club presidency, and a gorgeous dress wins the game.

Some people will comment that this game is terribly sexist and old-fashioned, but I have to disagree. Every girl (whether or not she wants to admit it) wants to be popular in some fashion. Now, with this game, she can be!

The UNO concept is a simple one: match the cards in your hand to the card in the discard pile. The first one to get rid of all the cards in their hand is the winner. Just be sure you shout "Uno!" when you only have one card left, or else one of the other players can call you on it and you have to add two more cards to your hand.

This is a great classic game, and the Barbie version adds a lot of color and style to it. It will be especially popular with little girls. The manufacturer recommends this game for ages 7 and up, but I don't see any problem with playing this with even younger children. They might need some help at first, but they'll soon get the hang of it!

I've always loved a good matching game. Like UNO, this concept is a pretty simple one - match the Barbie pictures on the cards and collect each match you make. At the end of the game, whoever has the most matches wins!

Matching games aren't just fun, they're educational too! They teach kids to look for patterns and make sense of what they see. They also help build memory skills, which are useful for all sorts of other life tasks.

If your child loves Barbie, you absolutely can't go wrong buying this game for them!

This game combines Barbie with one of my favorite things - jewelry!

Each player starts out with 5 bracelets. Then you take turns drawing cards that help you collect more bracelets, but some cards make you give some away. The first player to collect 10 bracelets wins the game.

This is great fun. The bracelets are lots of different colors. They're made out of that same cheap plastic that was popular in the '80s when I was a kid, but still, it's good enough quality for a kid's game. A definite winner!

Yes, I'm advocating buying Barbie toys, and I'm sure not all of these products (if any) are up to Greenpeace's standards, but I've never been one for green living, anyway.

What do I enjoy? Fun, especially when it comes to having fun with my children, and these games definitely provide that.

No matter what any organization does, Barbie is sure to come through looking bigger and better than ever. And these games represent just a small piece of her enduring legacy.