Top 10 Games for Kids

Games are a healthy way to develop the many skills a child will need when he gets older.

Games for kids teaches the right amount of competitiveness, analytical skills, and is just plain old fun. It's a great way to spend time with family and friends.

With the arrival of video games, classic board, thinking, word, and maze games are slowly losing their momentum.

Encouraging your child to play games at a young age will help guide them to enjoy in different ways that challenge their mental and physical strengths.

This game has been around for the longest time. It's simple really. The game is made up of tiled letters and a board.

Once you start playing though you start to rack your brain for all the hardest words you can possibly think of and just using the letters you have!

Scrabble was invented during the Depression when an idea struck it's inventor Alfred Mosher Butts. It took some thorough analysis to get the right combination and quantity of letters in each game set. You may wonder why there are more letter pieces on a particular alphabet letter. This is to create a more challenging game setting.

An important tool to have on hand is a comprehensive dictionary because believe me in times of despair you cling to any semblance of a word and pray for the best. With a dictionary you can easily agree on the validity of a word.

Scrabble has come up with variations to their game creating Flash Games, Card Games, and Upwords.

Ideal for 8 years and up.

Storytelling is an excellent way to pass the time. On long drives or during a rainy afternoon this activity gives us an opportunity to get imaginative.

To help us along with the creativity the folks from Rory's Story Cubes created cubes with pictures on them which you use by telling a story that connects the pictures on the dice you've rolled.

With 9 cubes and 54 images you have endless story possibilities that can lead to adventure, comedy, and even scary tales.

You'll get your imagination going as you try and tell a story that makes sense with just 9 cube images.

There's even talk of creating a larger version to these cubes. What are your thoughts?

Ideal for ages 8 and up.

Monopoly has many elements at play which make it interesting and challenging. When you set to play a game of Monopoly most likely you're setting a good few hours aside for it.

The game has reached such popularity that it's sold in almost every country in the world. There have been a lot of specialized editions released from Disney to Spongebob Square Pants.

There are even game sets that curtail to the country it's sold in. Boardwalk the most expensive place in Monopoly town is called Paseo del Prado in Spain and Rue de la Paix in France.

When we play Monopoly we always scramble to get our favorite playing piece. Mine was always the Hat. It's such an enjoyable game and it's a perfect way to teach children about the importance of money, spending, saving, and buying.

Ideal for ages 8 and up.

This is a new game but has lots of fun and potential for learning. Have you got your United States geography down? Do you know all the states and where they are? Then this is a perfect game for you.

You'll have to name a state that begins with a letter L or name a state that's next to Kentucky. Sounds easy right? You'll be surprised and challenged when you start trying to answer these questions.

Scrambled States will develop a child's Language & Vocabulary Development, Visual Discrimination, and Geography while having a great time!

Ideal for ages 8 and up.

If you love mysteries and suspense then this the game for you. You'll get to be a detective when you play as you try to solve who the murderer is and what weapon was used.

Once you solve a murder you can go and solve another. You don't run out of clues to find. You'll try to solve the murder of the host in every game but the characters change and so do the weapons.

The Clue game set has been updated with new rooms, characters and weapons. Aside from the standard Clue game there's a Classic Mystery Game, a Harry Potter Edition and a CLUE iPhone/iPod Touch Game.

Ideal for ages 8 and up.

I'm a die hard Harry Potter fan so this was a natural choice. The Scene It Series is a DVD trivia game of your favorite movies and series.

The interactive board game has images, questions, and movie clips that you will use to play the game.

Optreve technology lets you play it again and again without seeing the same questions.

The series also has Disney Magical Moments, the Twilight Saga, Nickelodeon, and more.

Ideal for ages 11 and up.

Whether you're an artist or an amateur Pictionary is a game anyone can play. The fun part of it is the hilarious drawings you come up with when you try your best to draw the card you've chosen.

You're only given a minute to draw though so the pressure is on to get something on the drawing board.

With over 2800 words to guess you won't be running out of chances to play this game.

Ideal for ages 12 and up.

This was a game I could play for hours. It's another simple game but it never seems to tire.

The object of the game is to get rid of all your cards by matching colors and numbers and when you're down to the last card you yell Uno!

It's easy to learn and can be played anywhere anytime.

Ideal for ages 7 and up.

Word games can be both beneficial and just plain fun. With Boggle you have to try and make a word with the letter dice you've rolled in just under 3 minutes.

The fun part is shaking the box and getting the letters to settle into place. With only 16 letters to make words from the challenge is on!

Ideal for ages 8 and up.

A modern maze game which tests your hand eye coordination. In children it helps develop their motor skills.

The maze is not your ordinary flat maze but a 3 dimensional maze with 100 barriers. You'll be twisting and flipping to get your marble to stay on track.

Ideal for ages 6 and up.

It's important to take time to spend with your family and games will give you that opportunity to enjoy and learn.

Playing games will instill in children the value of family, play, and being a good sport. Being competitive is a good thing but too much of it can affect the way they enjoy games. With some guidance children can learn to play for fun and learn at the same time.