As a ministry family, we aren’t always able to keep the same night as our Family Night every week. But I like to highlight some of the things we do with Family Time Fridays (even if our Family Night wasn’t on Friday this week, LOL!).

One thing our family loves to do, regardless of what night we have Family Night or when we’re hanging out in general, is play games together.  We play all kinds of games – card games, board games, outside games, puzzles, etc.

I recently game across some games that are right up our alley.  I found them through my OpenSky shop and I’m SO glad I did!

Around the Table has a series of simple, awesome, and fun games.  Beth, over at Around the Table, sent me some of the games to try with the family.

We were so excited when the package arrived (who doesn’t love packages!?) that we opened it up right away – yup, in the car on the way home.  We had some driving around to do, and it turned out to be one of the most fun ‘running errands’ afternoons we’ve ever had, thanks to one of the games in the box.

First off, we noticed how fun these games look.  They consist of question cards held on a round carabiner clip.  The cards stay on the clip, so there are no pieces to lose!  The games just look COOL, too.  They are compact, portable, and easy to use in almost any location.

On each card (Family Talk has 100 cards) is a question.  The ‘game’ is having someone ask the question and then everyone answers it.

For us, this was a PERFECT game for in the car.  We just passed the carabiner around between the 3 of us that could read (minus Dad, who was driving, and Mr Cutie, who is still learning to read English).  Each one of us read one of the questions and then everyone in the car took turns answering the question.

We had questions like: When do you feel the most afraid, and when do you feel the safest?  What job would you do for a day if you could pick anything in the world to do?  If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do?  and What is the most difficult thing about being a kid?

A few questions lasted us quite a while, since we all took turns answering, and they aren’t one-word-answer kind of questions.  We had to think about our responses and then take time to share the reason we responded that way.

We learned a TON about each other in that little gadabout.  And we laughed a LOT together.  Since everyone knew they would have their turn, the kiddos listened pretty well, and seemed to feel quite free to share when it was their turn.

My youngest son (age 8) was the quickest to lose interest – but that’s the norm at our house anyway, since he usually tries to move on from something before he’s even done with it.  Initially he said he didn’t even want to play.  However, as we got into the questions, and encouraged him to participate, he had some fantastic answers.  We figured out that the power of suggestion was strong for him, so we often let him answer first, otherwise his answers were often VERY similar to his brother’s answers.  Once the idea was planted, it was hard for him to think of his own.  But if he got to go first, he was his usual creative and imaginative self.

My middle son (age 9) enjoyed the game a lot and was quick to respond with off beat answers.  Sometimes he’d give a response to the question, and then think about it some more and give another answer as well.  It was fun to hear about what he was thinking and the things that are important to him right now.

My oldest daughter (age 11) almost took things too seriously to start off with.  She was very contemplative, and kept looking for the BEST answer.  After a few questions, and fiddling with the cards on the carabiner a bit, she figured out that we were just talking and enjoying the conversations that the questions started.  There is no right or wrong answer to the questions.  When she started sharing her own sincere answers, we really got a sense of her heart, and what she cares about most.

Sweetie and I enjoyed answering the questions ourselves, and being able to hear the kiddos honest responses.  Some questions really took some thinking for us, and were easier for the children to answer – not because they were difficult questions, but because they were about things we don’t often think about as adults.  The questions helped us to remember a child’s perspective about things – both from our own childhood experiences, as well as from the answers the kiddos gave.

We sat at the kitchen table eating dinner a few nights ago, and my daughter asked to pull Family Talk out again so we could ask a few questions over dinner.  It made for great dinner conversation.  I know we’ll be doing that some more!  It was also excellent because the compact form and laminated cards meant it was easy to have at the table with us (didn’t take up a lot of space, and was safe around the food and drinks).

It’s so fun to get the kiddos talking about things we can all get on the same page about.

The children all talk a lot, my youngest especially.  He likes to tell stories and make up adventures and jabber on and on about the battle that his Lego people are having, in GREAT unending detail.  We often lose track of his story, no matter how hard we try to keep up with him.

My middle son also shares fantastic details about his doings in a day, but even he forgets what the point of his story was before he gets to the end because he recounted so many specifics about the situation.

And my daughter will ‘like’ her way through a whole conversation (ok, like, there was this girl with a, like, um, reddish, like, bag or backpack thingy, and she like, hit, or smacked, but just a little smack, this guy she was like standing sorta beside….) until she’s driven her brothers nuts.

The questions in the Family Talk game give us a subject on which to focus our thoughts together.  Our answers are wildly different from one another’s – but we’re all working from the same starting point.  And since they are often questions we don’t usually think about, our answers are fresh and new (not necessarily ideas that we’ve been spinning around and around in our heads so we have lots of words to use to go on and on with and not end up saying a whole lot about anything…..um, yah….).

Along with Family Talk, Around the Table also makes Family Talk 2, Grandparent Talk, Buddy Talk, Teen Talk, and Camp Talk.  We’ll get to try out Grandparent Talk when PawPaw comes up next week to go hunting with Dad – and the kiddos are excited about that!  Buddy Talk is something that my kids have said they will take to sleepovers, Youth Group, school field trips, and anywhere they are looking for something to do with their friends.  While all the games come in the same basic form – colorful question cards on handy, shiny, color-coordinated, carabiner clips – the Camp Talk game has a carabiner with a built in flashlight, PERFECT for camp fires or tents or cabins! How fun is that!?  Camp Talk and Buddy Talk are both games that were created BY kids for kids – and they are ‘right on’ when it comes to cool questions for kids to ask their friends.

These little games are easy to tuck into a purse, backpack, glove box, or (for Camp Talk and Buddy Talk at least) a back pocket.  The questions are fun, insightful, and worthwhile, able to keep people interested in participating.  The answers have been fantastic and the time we’ve spent together, already, has helped us to understand one another better and we’ve made great memories.  We’ve laughed so hard we cried, and we’ve shared heartfelt responses as well.

I would also say that the games are in a great price range ($8-$10 a piece) and well worth every penny!  They are constructed well and will last through lots of handling, to say nothing of the invaluable time spent together and the priceless conversations elicited by the questions in the games.

I’ll say it again – I’m so glad we found these games!  I think they are in a fun, useable format, and I love the possibilities they open up for different situations and locations.  Once you get the family talking, there’s no telling where the conversation will lead!  And that is the most fun part of it all!

OH, I almost forgot – I have a special coupon for you!  It’s good for 50% off any product in my Shop.

Coupon Code: FIFTYOK

The coupon is good for the first five customers who use it and expires on September 30, so don’t wait.

Check out more Family Time Fridays here at my blog, and over at Tidbits of Tammy, too!

Around the Table sent me the 4 games shown in the photo above to review and keep for my family.  I received no other compensation for this review, and the opinions stated here are my own.