Card games are a great way to have some quick fun as a family! They’re easy to store and easy to travel with – and typically easy to pick up on. We’re sharing our absolute favorites in this post, along with some recommendations for which types of kids and families each is best for. Many of these are great for learning, too – from math to reading to history!
This post contains affiliate links. You can read my disclosure policy here.
Want a quick game to practice some history? Do you know when shampoo was first invented? Or when zero was first used as a number? No? No problem – here’s a chance to learn. Place your card along the timeline in the correct place without looking at its date. If you get it correct, great! If not, well draw another card, and learn about another event! It’s a great game to help kids learn about history!
It’s a fast and easy game that can be played in 15 minutes and then played again to test what you’ve learned.
Are you ready to get hit by a foam burrito? How about excited to hit your friend with one? Play this game by passing around cards, trying to collect sets for points. But watch out! Some sets are battle sets and then it’s time to grab the burritos and make sure you’re not the one getting hit! A great, hilarious, and active game that’s sure to get you laughing and moving around. (I mean who can not laugh when there’s burritos to throw at friends and family?)
Who doesn’t like the fairytale story of the princess who needs to be woken by the prince? Well, even sleeping queens need their kings once in a while. Gather enough queens (or enough queen points) by waking them up. But beware, others can steal your queens away with knights, or put them back to sleep with sleeping potions! If you don’t have enough good cards, use your adding skills to discard number cards and hope to draw that dragon you need to fend off the enemy knight.
It’s a cute, sweet, and fun game that helps kids with their adding skills, and no reading is required to play!
Ever wanted to plant and harvest beans? I know, I know – sounds quirky. Well, it is! Quirky and fun! Take the cards dealt, but don’t rearrange them! (You have to play them in order.) Drawn cards get placed in the back and the cards in the front are your next play. You can however, trade with the competition from anywhere in your hand, so trade that wax bean you don’t need for a chili bean you need, and plan how to plant your fields to get the most coins.
The great thing is that it doesn’t require reading, but helps kids with counting and decision making. Do they have enough beans for another coin, or is it better for them to sell now and open up the field?
Kittens? Explosions? And laserbeams?! A hilarious and quirky game about trying to not get exploded. Use your cards to see the future (look at the first three cards of the draw pile) to see what comes next. Attack your enemies by making them take extra turns right when you think that exploding kitten is about to come up! Every card has a funny flavor text. Don’t like that card your opponent plays? Play a Nopebell peace prize. But be careful: they might nope your nope with a Nope Ninja or a Jackanope, and two nopes make a yep!
If you draw an exploding kitten hopefully you have a defuse card ready to stop it with belly rubs or kitten therapy, because if not…BOOM! You’re out!
A great fast game that can be played over again. No reading required, but if you read the flavor text you’ll be in stitches.
A party game where each round someone is the judge. They draw a green theme card. Everyone else places a card from their hand that they think best matches the text on the green card. Or maybe they just think it’s a funny contrast to the green card. It doesn’t matter, really – it’s the judge’s choice, so play what you think they will pick! If they pick yours, you get a point. Then the judge position moves around the circle.
Play to a set number of points (the rules say how many they suggest, but it’s really up to you on how long you want to laugh), and see who wins. Great for a few or a lot of players!
A bit of reading is required (only words or small phrases, but a bit of vocabulary helps kids get the humor). Another thing to note, there are a lot of cards, and for younger kids there are some cards they won’t get. But even if you have to pull a few cards out, there’s still plenty to play with!
This two player dueling game is great for budding strategists. Examine the opportunity cost for a new expedition and see if you have what it takes to turn a profit in points. The rules and play are very simple: There are five expeditions with cards associated with them. Each expedition costs points to start, and you get it back by playing point cards for that expedition.
The twist? You can only play point cards in ascending order and you’re competing against your opponent for each expedition. Double down on an expedition or two with a wager card, but be warned: an expedition with just a few point cards can cost you points and it would have been better if you had played no cards on it at all! Play multiple rounds and see who has the high score at the end. It’s a great chance to think about your mistakes and correct them
This is a quick card game with just enough strategy to help teach kids to think a few moves ahead to get the points they need to win.