Nine months ago, zoom was something I said when I was reading a book about space travel or race cars. And now, my 4-year-old asks if we are "Zooming" with the whole family for Thanksgiving!
Some of you may be spending the holiday with your family - perhaps they live close or you've found ways to keep yourselves and the community at large safer. For us, however, our family is very spread out and some are immunocompromised. The reward did not outweigh the risk for our family. So, we will be feasting as a family of 4 and then using technology to help us feel closer to our loved ones.
But, if you've ever tried doing a large group zoom with young kids, it can be a bit chaotic! So, we decided that game-play would be our saving grace.
Here are 5 great multi-generational games to play over Zoom!
Outburst - Think of it like Family Feud, but without the ever hilarious Steve Harvey and his crazy faces! You identify topics and work together as a family to list out as many things that fit that topic in a given time. The more of the items that match with the "host's" list, the more points you get!
Pictionary - Because Zoom allows you to screen share and has a built-in whiteboard, this game could be easily converted to larger groups online. If you need ideas for things to draw, you can use the actual game OR you can create a working document in Google Docs with a bunch of topics and let people chose from them as they prefer.
Charades - Similar to Pictionary (above), you can create topics or just let people pick at random on their own. You can use a game as a guide or create your own topics. Either way, this is a fun one for all ages and doesn't require anything other than a timer (which you can use your phone or download an app on the computer!)
Playing Cards - Believe it or not, you can actually play family favorite games like Go Fish and Hearts online with the PlayingCards.io. While it's not on Zoom, it is worth exploring.
Bingo - This is an easy one to prepare in advance and play as a group. There are random bingo generators you can use to call the combinations and you can make the cards here (just send around to everyone when done!) You can decide as a group as to the "game" you will play. It's fun for the whole family!
