6 Kids’ Games You Can Stuff in a Stocking

Every year I read long lists of games that supposedly make perfect stocking stuffers. Every year I find myself saying, “Really, what stocking does that fit into? One made for King Kong?!!!” So I thought I’d put together some lists of games that can actually fit into a normal Christmas stocking. The first of which is this list: 6 Kids’ Games You Can Stuff in a Stocking. Here goes…

Any child will beam with joy to find their stocking filled with these fun games. They’re even fun for you to play! Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they’re educational, too. Personally, I think all games are educational, but these are even labeled educational.

1. Spot it! Frozen Alphabet

Last year Blue Orange Games repurposed their hottest property, Spot it!, into a series of educational titles, namely: Spot it! Alphabet, Spot it! Numbers & Shapes and Spot it! Basic English. This year they combined those titles with some of the hottest intellectual properties around to produce themed versions, including Spot it! Frozen Alphabet, Spot it! Disney Princess Words and Spot it! Pixar Words. All of these cute games have round cards in a sturdy tin. There’s no need to keep the box, so toss it and the games will fit easily into a stocking. You might even be able to fit all three!

Spot it! Frozen Alphabet invites preschoolers to learn the alphabet while matching letters and images from the wintry world of Elsa and Anna. The familiar characters and objects make learning fun and playful.

Spot it! Frozen Alphabet supports 2 to 8 players ages 3 and up and plays in about 15 minutes.

2. Spot it! Pixar Words

In Spot it! Pixar Words, kids boost their early reading skills by racing to spot matches between basic site words and the corresponding pictures while playing with all their favorite characters from the hit Pixar movies. Each card is decorated with a variety of images from the films, so the whole family will have fun connecting an image to the movie it comes from! Players can match picture to word, picture to picture, or word to word. As in all Spot it! games, there’s always one, and only one match between any two cards.

Spot it! Pixar Words supports 1 to 9 players ages 6 and up and plays in about 15 minutes.

3. Spot it! Disney Princess Words

For every little girl there’s a Disney Princess. This little tin has them all so your little princess can be on her way to reading as well as Belle in no time. Each card is decorated with a variety of images from the Disney Princess storybooks and movies. Players can match picture to word, picture to picture, or word to word. As in all Spot it! games, there’s always one, and only one match between any two cards.

Spot it! Disney Princess Words supports 1 to 9 players ages 6 and up and plays in about 15 minutes.

4. Speedeebee!

Speedeebee! is a word trivia game that’s fun for the whole family. With 150 fun challenges and four alphabet dice, players race to find words containing or excluding the letters shown on the dice that fit the challenge. Example: Name something you could find in a haunted house starting with one of these letters.

The letters rolled: V T L S.

You might answer: Vampire! Skull! or Trap!

The first to call it out, wins the card and reads the next challenge. It’s not only fun, but educational, too!

Speedeebee! supports 2 to 6 players ages 8 and up and plays in about 20 minutes.

5. Tell Tale and 6. Tell Tale: Fairy Tales

Tell Tale can be used as a new generation storybook. Pick up a few cards, arrange them in the order you want, and start telling a story. Each of the 60 cards is double-sided, providing 120 different images to spark the imagination. Pictures range from the charming to the ordinary and encompass a range of situations, making it easy for players to improvise stories. For a more “Once Upon a Time” experience, there’s Tell Tale: Fairy Tales. which is illustrated with whimsical characters and situations so you can weave even more fanciful stories ranging from the romantic to the preposterous.

Take turns playing a card and adding to a cooperative story or let each player make up their own tale with the cards in their hand. 4 quick family games (Storyboard, Round ‘n Round, Showtime, and The Stack) and thousands of short stories await you in these little tins.

Utilizing their new licenses from Disney, Blue Orange Games created two new versions of Tell Tale this year: Tell Tale: Toy Story and Tell Tale: Disney Princess. Both have new storybook-like packaging and feature rectangular cards. Unfortunately, they’re a little too big to fit in most Christmas stockings. The original tins, however, fit perfectly.

Tell Tale and Tell Tale: Fairy Tales support 1 to 8 players ages 5 and up and play in about 20 minutes.

So there you have it. Six kids’ games you can stuff in a stocking!

 

Copyright © 2014-2015 by Tina G. McDuffie. All rights reserved.
Photos courtesy of Blue Orange Games.