10 Family Game Night Favorites That Also Strengthen Brain Skills
Family game night is a great way to connect, unplug, and spend time together. But an added bonus is that many fun family games also strengthen brain skills! Building things like attention, memory, processing speed, visual processing, and logic in a game-like environment can benefit you and your kids in other areas of life as well.
While targeted skill strengthening through brain training is still our recommendation—especially if you or your kids are struggling, here are some other fun games you can play to supplement your brain at home.
10 Family Game Night Favorites:
Jigsaw Puzzles
Though not necessarily a “game,” jigsaw puzzles are a great family activity that all ages can enjoy.
Skills it builds:
- Visual processing
- Logic & Reasoning
- Attention
- Executive functioning
- Spatial awareness
- Working memory
Bananagrams
If you’re looking for a word game alternative to Scrabble, Bananagrams is a great fast-paced choice! Race against opponents to build words quickly with whatever tiles you draw, or work as a team to help younger kids improve their strategy, spelling, segmenting, and auditory processing skills.
Skills it builds:
- Processing speed
- Auditory processing
- Logic & Reasoning
- Spelling
- Phonological processing
Skip-Bo
This number sequencing game is easy to learn and great for the whole family to play together!
Skills it builds:
- Strategy
- Executive functioning
- Processing speed
- Attention
- Numerical awareness
Mental Blocks
A fun game of strategy, Mental Blocks requires you to work as a team to build a structure of blocks based on various views. The catch: you only get to see what one side of the structure looks like and your teammates see other views.
With varying degrees of difficulty, Mental Blocks can challenge even the engineers of the family while still being fun for younger kids.
Skills it builds:
- Visual processing
- Logic & Reasoning
- Attention
- Spatial awareness
- Executive functioning
Codenames
A guessing game with a secret-agent twist, Codenames is fun for larger groups of people. The game builds logic and reasoning skills as you try to find ways random words may be able to relate to each other—but don’t guess wrong or you may release the “assassin” and make the other team win!
Skills it builds:
- Logic & Reasoning
- Attention
- Memory
- Auditory Processing
Dabble
Using the 20 letter tiles that you draw, you need to make a 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 letter word before anyone else does. This is a great game to practice building words with emerging spellers or adults alike!
Skills it builds:
- Executive functioning
- Processing speed
- Spelling
- Logic & reasoning
Sequence
Watch opponents and work as a team to get your sequence of chips lined up first! This is a great game for many ages to play together and strengthen your brain.
Skills it builds:
- Strategy
- Logic & reasoning
- Working memory
- Visual processing
- Executive functioning
Tall Tales
This can be a solo game, a family game or a party game to engage any number of players! Grab a story card (no reading required) and random pieces to craft a creative and fun story.
Skills it builds:
- Creative thinking
- Processing speed
- Executive functioning
- Attention
- Verbal expression
Dimension
This 3-D puzzle game gets the whole family thinking visually and racing to earn the most points!
Skills it builds:
- Processing speed
- Visual-spatial awareness
- Visual processing
- Logic & reasoning
- Attention
30 Second Mysteries
Whether it’s just you and your partner or a whole family or friends gathering, pull out one of these mystery cards to see if you can solve the clues together!
Skills it builds:
- Processing speed
- Logic
- Deduction
- Attention
- Working memory
- Long-term memory
More Lists of Games for the Whole Family
Check out the links below for more roundups of brain-boosting games!
- 5 Holiday Brain Games to Play This Year
- Great Games for Kids with ADHD
- 7 Math Games That Are Actually Fun
- Brain-Boosting Travel Games and Activities
- Fun Games to Build Memory Skills
- Fun Games to Build Logic & Critical Thinking Skills
- Think Fast: Games to Build Processing Speed
Looking for Some Brain Training Games to Try?
We have a FREE brain training game pack with several games modeled after our brain training procedures that you can try with your kids at home.
