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Inside: If you are looking for an easy and fun family activity idea, try a family game marathon! You can quickly set it up using your favorite games and enjoy a great time with your kids!
One of our favorite family night activities is the game night because we always have a lot of fun playing our favorite games or trying new games together!
We also have a box with quick board games and card games in our playroom, and we often use it to add more fun to our days. Those games help us connect as a family, and it takes less than half an hour to play them, so they are a great way to have fun together!
How to plan a family game marathon
Our box with quick games inspired a simple family time activity that is a lot of fun for both kids and parents: a family game marathon!
There are 2 ways to plan a family game marathon:
- by planning a family game time and play 5 games (or more) in a row
If you have young kids who don’t have a lot of patience, you can plan a break in the middle of your family game time and do something active for half an hour (like a dance party in the living room or a quick walk in the neighborhood).
- by planning a family game marathon throughout a whole day and play a game every 2 hours
This is a great idea to try on a rainy or cold weekend when you need to spend more time inside!
You just need to set an alarm on your phone every 2 hours and play one game from your list every time your alarm sounds (e.g., play one game at 10 a.m, one at 12 p.m, one at 2 p.m, and so on). This will allow you to play 5 games throughout the day and easily add more fun to your weekend!
Here is how to prepare the family game marathon:
1. Invite all family members to come up with ideas of games to include in your family game marathon. The only rule to follow is to only choose games that take less than 15-20 minutes to play.
We selected only card games for our game marathon, but you can include quick board games as well.
2. Use slips of paper to write down the name of each game, then fold them and place them in a small bowl.
3. Prepare a score card to keep track of the games (you can download it below).
⭐ Click here to download the printable score card
4. During your family game marathon, draw a slip of paper from the bowl, play the game mentioned on it, and add it to your score card. Keep going until you play all the games.
Enjoy and have fun!
9 awesome games to try during your family game marathon
If you are looking for new games to try with your kids, here are 9 awesome games that you can play in 15-20 minutes.
⭐ Card games
- Sleeping Queens (recommended for ages 8+, but we started playing it when our son was 6 and he quickly understood the rules)
- Rat-A-Tat-Cat (ages 6+)
- Dragonwood (recommended for ages 8+, but we started playing it when our son was 6 and he quickly understood the rules)
- Hoyle Fun Pack Kids Card Games (easy games to play with young kids)
⭐ Board games
- Sequence for Kids (ages 3-6)
- Zingo! (a bingo game with a twist – for ages 4+)
- Kingdomino (an award-winning family strategy game)
- My First Carcassonne (ages 4+).
Looking for more ideas to try with your kids? Check out our list of family night ideas!
