April 9, 2025

"Imagination Unleashed: Our Favorite Made-Up Family Games"

"Imagination Unleashed: Our Favorite Made-Up Family Games"

In this playful episode of We Are the Hansons, we dive into the wild, creative world of our favorite made-up family games! From epic living room adventures to backyard challenges with silly rules and big laughs, these are the games that have brought our family closer, sparked endless giggles, and made everyday moments unforgettable. We talk about where the ideas came from, how our kids got involved in building the rules, and why imaginative play is such a powerful tool for bonding, learning, and letting kids just be kids. Whether you’re looking for fun new ideas or just want to laugh along with our chaos, this episode is full of heart, humor, and pure family magic. This is We Are the Hansons—where fun is a family value.

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Hey everyone, and welcome back to We are the Hansens.

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I am so glad you are here with me today

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for a fun, light hearted episode. Life with a big

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family can be chaotic and messy, loud, and definitely unpredictable.

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But one thing we've learned over the years is that

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when you've got this many people under one room, the

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best memories often come from the simplest things. Today, I

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want to talk about one of my favorite parts of

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being in a big family, the made up games we've

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invented over the years. These games are usually spontaneous, often hilarious,

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and they become such a natural part of our family

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rhythm that I sometimes forget other families don't play them too.

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So if you've ever looked around your house, saw your

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kid's board or bouncing off walls, and thought we need

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something to do, I hope this episode inspires you. Who

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needs board games or screens when you've got creativity. Let's

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dive into some of our favorite original handsen household games.

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The first game I want to share with you guys

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is the Alphabet Animal game. That has always been a

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big game for us because on our traveling when we're

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in the car and the kids are very bored because

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we're traveling a long distance. This is a classic. We've

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played it in the car, while waiting at appointments, or

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even while cooking dinner together. It's simple and perfect for

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all ages. Here's how it works. Each person gets a turn,

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going in order of the alphabet A through Z, and

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has to name one animal that starts with the letter

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they get, so, for example, a alligator, B, bear, C, cheetah, D, dolphin,

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and so on. Sometimes we add a twist, like making

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it a rapid fire challenge where you only have three

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seconds to respond. If you can't think of an animal

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in time, you're out last person standing wins. Other times

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we had a silly rule like you have to make

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us sound the animal makes or act like it. You

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haven't lived until you've seen a room full of kids

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and adults pretending to be kangaroos and zebras, trust me.

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And the best part everyone learns new animals. Someone will

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throw out coca or ibex and everyone will stop like

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wait is that real? Boom? Learning and laughing at the

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same time. It's so fun, so fun, And usually when

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we're on long trips the kids that is the first

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game they choose to play. Okay, I know the floor

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is lava isn't unique to us, but we added our

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own spin. In our version, will suddenly yell color lava

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and shout out a color instead of just saying the

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floor like blue is lava, and everyone has five seconds

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to touch something that's not blue. If you're touching blue,

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you're out. We've even done emotion lava. You have to

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pretend to feel a certain emotion or you're out. It's

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like charades meets hot potato meets full blown chaos. It

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is so fun. Mystery spoons. This one started totally by accident.

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One night at dinner. We were trying to get everyone

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to quiet down and finish their food, so we made

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up mystery spoons. One person holds a spoon and pretends

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to have a secret. They go around the table and

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whisper to each person what they think the secret is,

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but they're just making it up. Then everyone has to

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guess what the original mystery was, even though there never

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was one. It always ends in total silliness, weird guesses,

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and belly laughter. Sometimes the mystery is Uncle Dave's missing sock,

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or the spaghetti monster lives under the table. It's perfect

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when you just need a laugh and connect after a

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long day. The next one is sock Wars. This one's

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a handsome exclusive. Each person gets two rolled up socks,

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clean preferably. We clear the living room of breakaballs and

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the goal is simple dodge, duck and don't get hit.

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There's only one rule, no throwing at faces, but everything

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else fair game. We usually set a timer for ten minutes.

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At the end, whoever hasn't been hit wins. It's like

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picking the next movie or choosing dessert. It's like Dodgeball,

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but cozy. We also play the license Plate game. Each

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child in the vehicle has to find a license plate

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in alphabetical order. It is definitely hard. We also play

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in the car I Spy, and you gotta be quick

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because if they say I spy something green and you

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passed it already, you're out of luck. So you got

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to be very quick when you play I Spy in

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the car. The next game is Soundtrack Stories. This one

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is great for older kids or when you're winding down

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before button instrumental music, movie scenes, dramatic orchestra pieces, even

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video game soundtracks, and one person has to tell a

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story inspired by the music. It could be about a dragon,

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a spy, a trip to outer space, whatever the music

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feels like. Some of the most creative and emotional storytelling

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comes out during the game, and sometimes the younger kids

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just say silly stuff like a unicorn trip on a

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banana peel and fell into space, And honestly, it's beautiful

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every time. It is so fun. The next one is

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kitchen karaoke judge. This one is one of my favorites.

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This one is my favorite when doing dishes or cooking dinner,

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one person sings while someone else is the judge. But

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here's the twist. The judge has to give feedback in

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a ridiculous accent or using only animal sounds. It's part performance,

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part comedy routine, and all ridiculous fun. Sometimes the judge

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will say stuff like your pitch reminded me of a

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hauling goat stuck in a dishwasher. Ten out of ten.

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We don't even care if someone can't sing. It's all

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about putting on a show, laughing at ourselves and making

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chores more fun. You know, in a world where kids

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are growing up faster and screens are everywhere, I love

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that we've carved out this little world of imagination and connection.

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These games are games remind me that fun doesn't have

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to be fancy, It just has to be shared. And

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let me tell you, our family can have a good

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game of just stuff we make up. We come up

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with some of the best When we play these games.

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We're not just passing time. We're also bonding. We're letting

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go of stress, and we're seeing each other, we're laughing,

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and we're building the kind of memories I hope our

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kids will carry on forever. I hope their kids carry

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these games on forever. Someday when they're grown. I hope

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they say, remember sock Wars, or remember when Dad pretended

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to be a British goat judge for kitchen karaoke and

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just laugh all over again. That is going to be

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a memory that lasts forever. These games we can play

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over and over and they never get boring because each

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game is made up and we can add our own rules,

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we can add things to them, we can take things

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away from them, and it's not going to destroy the game.

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It's going to make it more interesting for our children.

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And our kids get to help make up different things

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to put in. The ten second rule, the five second rule,

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the two second rule. It's all in fun and the

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noises that come out of the kids's mouth when they're

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trying to pretend they're animals for our animal games. That

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is the most fun thing ever. And I know this

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isn't a made up game, but we kind of made

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it up in our own way. We play the game

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Bimboozled and that's where you have disgusting jelly beans mixed

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with yummy jelly beans. And we've played it so much

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the last couple weekends and we've actually invited friends over

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to play, our neighbors over to play. It is just

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a game that is fun for everyone. Granted it can

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be pretty disgusting at times, but we have made up

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where you can add two jelly beans and you get

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more points if you do double the jelly bean. And

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it could be rubber tire with vomit, it could be anything.

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And you have to put both jelly beans in your

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mouth at once and you have to be able to

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swallow them not spit them out. If you can swallow them,

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you get more points. Whoever ends up with the most

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points at the end, they're the winners. And let me

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tell you, guys, these kids love it. Even though the

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jelly beans are gross, they enjoy laughing while watching the

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other players gag on nasty jelly beans if they get

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a nasty one. And so we make up our own

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rules to the game as we go, so not always

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is it the same. Every time we make up different things.

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We also play charades where one person gets up there

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and they have to act out something and if somebody

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can't guess, the team that's guessing doesn't guess it, they

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have to eat a bad jelly bean. So it's kind

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of fun and the kids really really enjoy it. So

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if you're listening and thinking, my family doesn't really do

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this stuff, start small. Try the Alphabet Animal Game tonight.

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It's easy, free and guaranteed to bring some laughs to

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your family. And if you're already making up your own

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silly games, keep it up. What the weirdness and joy shine,

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that's where the magic lives. Thanks for hanging out with

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me today on We Are the Hansens. I'd love to

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hear about your family's made up games, so send me

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a message on our We Are the Hanson's Facebook or

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you can send me an email at We Are thee

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Hanson's Show at gmail dot com and please go and

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subscribe to our We are the Hansen's YouTube channel. Until

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next time, stay silly, stay strong, and keep making memories

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lack define and definite