Techie Family Fun

Episode 13: Techie Family Fun

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These games allow your kids to be on their devices – but still participating in family games.

“Guess the song”

Use Alexa or any smart speaker and ask her to play a certain genre of music or music from a time period. The whole family tries to guess the song title – and perhaps the artist too. Whoever gets it first scores a point. Use Shazam to verify the answer is correct, or to find out what the song is if no one knows.

Sporcle quizzes

Sporcle has thousands of quizzes on every topic imaginable. The quizzes also have different styles so you can play for a long time without getting bored. Although these are designed to play alone, we turn it into a family game.

We take it in turns to select a quiz and then text everyone else the link and yell “Go”. Everyone tries to complete the quiz as fast as possible and when time runs out we see who did the best.

Kahoot

Kahoot is used in co-ops and schools as it is a fun way to do review. But you can also use it for family fun. One adult needs to sign up at Kahoot.com. Then find a ready-created quiz on a topic your family will enjoy. There are plenty of Christmas-themed ones. Once you select it and start it, everyone will be able to join the game using an access code that will be displayed on your laptop. If you can project it on a TV it makes it a bit easier for everyone to see.

Multiple choice questions appear one at a time and everyone answers on their own devices (phones, laptops etc all work). The faster you answer the more points you get. A leaderboard keeps track of how everyone is doing.

Quizizz

Quizizz is very similar to Kahoot. Try out both and see which your family prefers.

Headsup

Heads-up is a phone app available on iTunes and Google Play. The basic version is free but you pay if you add more packs or want to create your own.

Basically you divide into teams and then one person puts the phone on their forehead. A word/phrase appears and the rest of the team have to describe it to the person. Once they get it correct – or give up – they flip the phone to get a new word and you see how many a team can get correct in the time given.

Do read the review on Common Sense Media before playing as the app does encourage social sharing of videos of players and you probably won’t want your kids doing that!! But if the app is on your phone and you are controlling play, you can have a lot of fun together!

Phrase Party

Phrase Party is also a phone app that you can find on iTunes or the Google Play store. The lite version is free. This game plays like “Catchphrase”. You pass the phone around and each person has to describe the word/phrase they are given. Once someone gets it correct, they pass it to the next person. The person who ends up with the phone when the timer ends, is the loser!

All these games are great because everyone plays together and there are free versions of all of them.

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Contact Meryl via email on meryl@mediaangels.com or connect with her on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook