Our Favorite Educational Games For Teens
As a working mom, it can be hard to find time to play with our kids. One of my favorite ways to spend time with my kids is through educational games for teens.
When our children get older, we may find they are talking less and less to us. Combining this with our own work, errands, and running around, we may find that we are not spending the time with our teenagers as we want.
A great way to reconnect with your teen is to remember our teens are still children.
Did you know that children learn best through play? Even our teens like to have fun.
Use our favorite educational games for teens to connect with your kids!
Use Games To Connect With Your Kids
As a working mom who runs her own business, my kids know I am busy.
Finding the time to spend with them is important to me. I am always looking for creative ways to connect with them that are fun.
One tool we’ve been using lately is game night.
During our game, I notice the walls come down, and they start sharing about their day, but even if they didn’t, having fun and laughing with your kids is often just what we both need.
This connection is vital to our family. I share other ideas to make this “one-on-one connection” happen when you are a working mom, but playing games is probably my favorite.
Over time we have built up a list of educational games for teens that we love.
Some of these are currently resting in our game chest others are happily residing at the homes of family and friends.
Games In Homeschooling
I LOVE to use educational games to reinforce learning. So many games teach spelling, reading, building vocabulary, using math skills, and more.
Instead of drilling tests, I prefer to show how these skills come into play in real life. Or, in this instance, I make dreaded subjects such as math fun!
We also use apps as a way to reinforce learning as well. If you want our favorite list read: Top 5 Homeschooling Apps We LOVE!
When the children are not feeling well and are not up to doing school, they will usually chill out with a game or two. This makes me feel like the school day is not wasted, as I know they are learning.
When the power goes out, we use board games to relax and kill time while we wait. Below are some of our favorite games to play!
Disclosure: I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
5 Tips You Need To Know When Choosing A Game
Before choosing a game for you and your family, be sure to consider the following:
- Check the number of recommended players
- Check the age requirements
- Average time to play
- Consider the difficulty of the game
- Look and read the rules if possible
All of the above will help you find a game that is perfect for you and your kids and should be available on the box packaging or in the reviews.
If you prefer, you can see our updated list of great games for all ages here: Homeschool Fun: Games
5 Tips for Game Night With Your Family
Once you have your game picked out, and your teen is eager to play the next step is to make family game night fun!
Here are 5 tips we found that have kept the focus on fun:
- If you have a limited amount of time to play, let them know ahead of time and choose a game that will fit in that time frame or adjust the one you plan to play accordingly.
- Pick something they want to play if possible. Or narrow it down to a few you like and let them choose. Control makes teens happy and they get to feel responsible. Kids like choice!
- Have food and drinks with your game. Choose foods you don’t eat often. I love to mix cranberry juice with ginger ale and put it in tall glasses for the kids. It looks fancy. My crazy kiddos love crackers and dip, popcorn, and hot chocolate, as well as nachos! Teenagers love food, so pretty much anything edible works.
- Try to relax. I know sometimes when I play games with my teens after working all day, I am super stressed. I try to make some tea, take a few calming breaths, and switch gears from rushing around to having fun.
- At the end of the game, I thank them for playing, letting them know I appreciate them wanting to spend time with me.
Educational Games For Teens
Finding fun, educational games for teens that your teen finds interesting can be tricky.
If your kids prefer card games, check out these lists:
Games For Teens
Did you know that children learn best through play? And yes, this includes your teens. Here are some of our favorite games to play!
This one is always the top board game we love to play. It is a great way to practice math skills and have fun.
I was introduced to this fun family game at a family member’s house and it is great for kids of all ages.
This is our favorite game to play as soon as the power goes out. We set up candles and play around them. Why? Because it is a long game!
It is a GREAT way to kill the wait while the power is out.
We live in Canada, which means we get lots of snowstorms. This family game is known for competition and time. You can play a quicker game if you deal out the cards.
This game also helped me learn about geography. This family game takes time, so I don’t recommend this if you are short on time—another great game for power outages.
Such a favorite in our home. This game is pretty short and perfect if you do not have hours to play. Think after a long day of work. Short and sweet.
Uno is a great game for on-the-go. It is easy to take with you and a fairly quick game to play.
Trouble is a great game for all ages starting at age 5, but even my teens love to play it with their grandmother.
Backgammon is a family oldie for my home. Players from eight years old and up can enjoy the luck of the deal as well as exercise skills in strategy.
While I love this game, I do want to warn you if you or your children don’t like sound or loud noises, don’t get one with the battery-operated train in the center. This is a great matching math game for the whole family.
This one takes a few minutes to figure out, I recommend reading it before the kids get to it. However, it is so worth it, in my opinion!
Do you love words? This one is super fun to get creative with! The game of comparison is pretty hilarious.
Not heavy on the rules set up is quick and easy. You can change how long the game lasts to suit your mood.
Much like scrabble, but you get to stack the tiles for more word-building fun! Build your vocabulary one tile at a time. This one can be on the long side, but if you are running short on time just lower the number of points needed to win!
A fun fast drawing game, this one messes with my mind. After all, it isn’t how accurately you can draw that wins, but how well you can convey the message to your partners.
This game is perfect for a group of people. Cranium combines words, drawing, sculpting, puzzle solving, acting, and more!
Where every word counts! I prefer upwords, but the children like this just as much. They insist on having the dictionary.com app around to play.
I feel like this is a Canadian Game, we love playing this one. Very similar to the Trouble game. Great for all ages.
I think this might be my all-time favorite word game, it combines time and word building. You have to be quick and creative to win. Not limited to a small number of people, which is great for larger families!
Strategy, planning, and cooperation are needed for this game. This one you can play with 4 people and so far we adjust the points needed to adjust the time limit.
2 player game, but it is great for all ages. We love it because it is fast, competitive, and includes strategy!
Educational games for teens are a great resource to use in your homeschool, after school, or on the weekends.
Family games offer loads of learning opportunities plus a chance to take a break from work and enjoy your kids!
Do you use games in your homeschool?
📌Don’t let this post get lost in the internet abyss – pin it to your Pinterest board now!
[socialpug_share]
Hi, I’m Jen. I help working moms juggle their career and homeschool their kids by providing support, systems and tools. You are warmly invited to Join the Online Community Here!
