Hi
Monopoly Junior is a brilliant one to start with, it doesn't take hours and has a nice theme.
I like Downfall, Guess Who?, Frustration, Labyrinth, Pass the Bomb, Connect 4, Brainmaster.....

We got fed up with Operation, too fiddly for us....!

Lakeland have a selection of marble games, Pick Up Sticks, Table Football, etc

Have fun!!!

Helen

We love board games, they come out every Xmas and when we go on a villa holiday.
Gingerbread, I think you were referring to balderdash possibly. You use different mediums to guess words.
Our Favs are: rummykub, UNO, monopoly, twister and pictionary. I love Cludeo as well.
For younger kids: snakes and ladders, kerplunk and Dominos (you can even buy gruffalo or peppa pig ones) my 3 year old loves a game called picture sound lotto and Fish n spell she has been playing them since she was 2 so good for younger ones. I am not sure if you can still get it but hungry hippos used to be a childhood fav.

How about Blink (cards), Rummikub, dictionary, Labarynth, Jenga, Battleships, Perudo, Shut the Box, Boggle? Also, Pucket is great fun as a family present.

Orchard Toys games are great for the 3-5year old. My favorite is Incy Wincy Spider and Party Party Party. Just Williams at Clapham South usually have a good selection of Orchard Toy games as well as a great selection other board games. Don't forget you can park at the front of the store.

Mine love PIT ! lots of shouting and silliness but actually teaches good strategy. They also have one from Fun Learning called Exact Change which is excellent and v educational yet fun.

Pictureka too. Of course, always Top Trumps.

Draw Some is a good arty one.

I have 2 children now aged 3.5 and 7 and for the last few years we have played a lot Who's Who, memory, uno, monopoly (but this one will probably be better in a few years time) and, last but not least, "1000 bornes" (not sure it exists here though but you will find it in France), by far the best hit (and I remember hours of playing myself when I was a kid.)

Dobble is a fantastic gave for kids. Simple idea but great fun for kids of all ages to play.

I love all the ideas! This is fab... please anymore???

And dont worry re: age I usually dont really take them into account as I tend to buy for each specific child ie. according to personality and development, so I can see my 6.5 yrs old nephew can easily get a game for 8yrs but not necessarily my niece, etc;

I also want to add I found this morning in TK Maxx a portable fuse ball (spel? table football) quite cheap... I bet this is going to be quite popular and that both children and adults

Frustration is always good fun and easy to learn and Kerplunk, which involves marbles and straws.

Try popping in to Fun Learning on Northcote road. We have had two games from there recently which my kids (7,5 and 4) have loved - too many monkeys and snorta. They are also really knowledgeable about all their products which helps choose. Also another massive success with my gang is dobble which you can usually get in Just William at the clap south end of Balham high road.

Sorry just re-read the original post and realised the age range you are looking at i.e. 6.5 years to 2 months. You may want to save my ideas for a few years...

I would highly recommend Times up. A great game to play in teams and with children without the impression to play "baby games". I recently discovered it and had lots of fun playing with my nieces and nephews who are between 5 and 11 years old. Even the grand parents joined in and were addicted.

Fyi, the latest Monopoly edition has an electronic device. It allows players to buy streets at auction. It is quite fun though it means a bit more noise. It also speeds up the process of buying and you get to build the houses etc quicker. I see it as a plus as there are so many Monopoly games that I have never finished because I was called to lay the table for dinner

Don't also omit Cluedo. A great classic.

Less known and off track is "La guerre des moutons" from Asmodee.

Last but not least, you have the "Les Loups-garous de Thiercelieux". A recent card game but more aimed at 10 + years old.

Good luck!

Thank you a lot, i m loving all the ideas!

Anymore?

I miss the days when we could edit posts too...

'A bit like scrabble'

Bananagrams is good fun. I bit like scrabble but without the board.
Snakes and Ladders and ludo are good counting games.
Chess boards, draughts boards, backgammon and battle ship for strategy development (maybe in a few years time rather than this year)
Who's who, who's in the bag, connect 4, buckeroo, jenga, buzz off, twister are also great family games although I may be reliving my youth a bit.
And if you fancy something a bit different, a carrom board is excellent fun too and all the kids will end up with the carrom finger (a slightly reddened/ bruised finger from flicking the carrom piece around the board).