Two Question Games to Play with Your Family this Week
Vacations are great, amirite? So. Much. Family. Time.
Let me applaud your observational skills if you noted a hint of sarcasm in that. Vacations ARE great, except for the moments they aren’t—like the 12 hour car ride it takes to get there, or the 45-minute wait for a restaurant table while you entertain the younger cousins, or the rainy day that was supposed to be sunshine.
These are high-class problems to have. I won’t pretend they aren’t. And yet, they are also opportunities to turn slow or low moments into something that brings your family closer and raises the overall mood.
On vacation, I carry a deck of cards for moments like this. Euchre, blackjack, and Cabo (which we call Toll, for no apparent reason) are family favorites. And being who we are, we also play word games.
Knowing you might have extra time with your family this week, it seemed a good time to share a few of our favorite question-based word games that are perfect for mixed-age groups. You can play these games with a 4-year-old or a 94-year-old. (Our family has both!) And when the restaurant hostess calls you to the table in the middle of a round, it’s not a problem to step away.
Would You Rather
You’ve likely heard of this one. Playing is simple: you propose a fantastical choice and ask everyone to pick. Here are some sample questions:
Would you rather slide down rainbows or bounce on clouds?
Would you rather eat a dead insect or a live worm?
Would you rather be super strong or super fast?
Would you rather have tiger stripes or porcupine needles?
Would you rather stop time or go back in time?
Would you rather sweat sticky lemonade or have your breath always smell like garlic?
Would you rather be able to talk to animals or read people’s minds?
(You can find many more Would You Rather questions at the website where I found these.)
When our kids were small, we played another version of the game that asked the kids to pick pets. Would you rather have a cat or a dog? Dog. Would you rather have a dog or a ferret? Dog. Would you rather have a dog or a hedgehog? Hedgehog. Would you rather have a hedgehog or a narwhal?
Elimination
A second questions-based game is one my oldest, Sam, invented. It’s slightly better for older kids and for starting a legitimate conversation. Like Would You Rather, Elimination is based on posing a choice. But this time, the question is, Which would you rather get rid of?
Would you rather eliminate tissues or toilet paper?
Toilets or freezers?
Freezers or blankets?
Blankets or bread products?
Bread or rice?
This could also be more playful. Would you rather eliminate Taylor Swift or Beyonce? Recess or field trips? Netflix or Spotify? Homework or tests? Video games or Snapchat? Harry Potter or Percy Jackson?
You can change the game up by asking, Which would you rather give to the world?
The end of overpopulation or the end of xenophobia?
A home to everyone or a good education to everyone?
Writing lessons for everyone or music lessons for everyone?
A tattoo or a nose piercing?
With both games, the game pauses whenever the question leads to conversation or laughter—that’s the point, afterall. The game ends when you get bored with it. The game starts again when you think of an option that makes you laugh or makes you curious.
Happy playing this week!
Photo by RDNE Stock project