Up your game

HOMESCHOOLING is the ultimate test of your patience. And while many of us adapt, buying flashy folders and making weekly timetables, the rest of us are pulling our hair out and crying into our glasses come wine o’clock.

Games, however, are a great way to teach your kids. Some provide maths and reasoning skills, others test their spelling, and they all offer up a host of life skills, like learning how to take turns and be a good loser.

Granted, not all games are fun for parents, but invest in the right ones, and you can while away hours, happily playing (and teaching) together.

“Board games bring families together,” says Ellie Dix, board game designer, author of The Board Game Family and owner of The Dark Imp, a company which provides multi-generational, educational games.

“Playing together gives us shared experiences and sparks conversation that can last much longer than the game on the table. Board games are immersive: they demand all our focus. We can escape into the world of the game and put our other thoughts to the back of our mind, which is particularly important in these current frightening times.”

Here are our top picks... guessing where they are on the grid.

It’s quite a lengthy game, so will challenge concentration and – because of that – might not be suitable for younger children, but there aren’t many people who don’t enjoy a good game of this.

TWISTER

more players, the better – collapsing into a giggling heap of people is likely to bring a muchneeded laugh.

SPEED

OK, so you do sort of have to be in the mood for Monopoly as an adult, but it always gets a big thumbs up from the kids. Learning valuable lessons about money is educational too, as each player travels around the board buying up property and paying their bills.

And there are now loads of different versions of the classic game, including Monopoly Speed, for those short on time, Fortnite Edition for gaming fans, and Monopoly Junior for smaller folk.