We love a good game night at our house!  Games teach children important life skills–waiting their turn, losing or winning graciously, sharing, and problem-solving.  Games can also reinforce math and reading concepts–number recognition, counting, probability, adding and subtracting, and letter and pattern recognition.  However, finding a game that is fun for the whole family, especially when our kids are so young (all under six), can be a big challenge.

I thought I would put together a list of our top five favorite board games for small children.  These games are both educational and fun, and they can be played by children under the age of six.

Best Board Games for Young Children

1. Crazy Eights

Crazy Eights  (3 and up) This simplified version of Uno is geared toward younger players.
As in Uno, players try to get rid of their cards by playing a card with a matching number or color to the one in the discard pile.  My oldest son loved playing this game when we were working on number and color recognition.  For the first few times that we played it, we all laid our cards on the table in order to model our thought process.  I would say, “Hmmm….I need to play a two or a green card to match the one that you laid down.  Do I have one of those?”  This helped him understand the rules of the game and gain a logical process for approaching his turn.

2. Story Cards

Story Cards  (2 and up)  Story cards is a non competitive game in which players take turns drawing five picture cards and creating a story based on those cards.  It is such a simple concept, but the game really helps encourage children’s imaginations and verbal skills.  Now that my oldest son is a little older (7), we talk with him about the beginning, middle, and end of his stories in order to work on sequencing events.  We always end up laughing at our silly stories!

3. Memory

Memory (2 and up) No list of games for younger children would be complete without the classic game of Memory.  We have played this with our kids at very early age in many modified forms.  When they turn two, we select five matches and place them all face up.  We’ll ask them, “Can you find two cards that match?  Where is the other ball?”  This helps them understand the concept of a match.  After they have mastered this skill, we will play the game with only 4-5 matches in order to create a smaller pool of cards to remember.  As their skill and memory increase, we add more and more matches.

4. No Stress Chess

No Stress Chess (4 and up) No Stress Chess teaches young children the rules of chess in a fun, relaxed environment.  The board has pictures that show where each piece should be set up (very helpful if you, like me, don’t know much about chess yourself!).  Then, at the start of each turn, the player draws a card.  The card tells the player which piece to move and reminds them of the directions that piece can move in.  For example, I could draw a bishop.  I can only move one of my bishops that turn, and the card helps me remember which way it can go.  I still have to decide which bishop to move in order to help me win.  No Stress Chess eliminates many of the thousands of decisions and possibilities that can make chess complicated for younger players, while still teaching them the strategy of the game.  I was nervous about getting this for our son when he turned four, but he has loved it!

5. Bunny Peek-A-Boo

Bunny Peek-A-Boo (2 and up) I love the way that this game teaches children spatial reasoning–something that I have always struggled with.  Bunny Peek-A-Boo is deceptively simple.  It consists of a wooden bunny and three other wooden pieces.  Players take turns drawing a card (of which there are different levels, so you can choose the ones appropriate for your child’s ability), which shows the items positioned in different ways.  The player then figures out how to make the real objects look like those in the picture.  Things are simple at first–the bunny goes on top of the red square, etc.  They get increasingly more complex as the child’s spatial reasoning improves.  We love the challenge and teamwork of this game!

So, get ready for some fun this weekend.  Make a big pan of brownies or pop some popcorn.  Gather around the kitchen table and have a family game night!

What games does your family enjoy?

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