kid board games

The Officer and I have always loved playing board games, and recently we've loved playing them with our girls too. Belle and Bug have both gotten old enough in the last year to really enjoy games. I thought I'd give a little review of our favorite and not-so-favorite games for little kids. The preschool teacher in me loves all the learning that is done during games. Most of these games develop counting, one-to-one correspondence, memory, fine motor skills, and sportsmanship. Now I'll take my teacher hat off and review the games as a Mom who likes to have fun with my kids.

We started off our collection with the typical chutes and ladders and candy land. These are classics, but honestly not my favorite. I can't stand playing chutes and ladders with my kids.... it takes forever. Just when you think someone is close to winning, what do you know, there are slides strategically placed all around the end square so that nobody can ever make it to the end. The board is also not designed well, because the kids can never figure out which way they are supposed to be moving their piece. I almost always decline playing that game with my girls. Candy Land is slightly better since the end does not drag on and on and on. Still not the most exciting game, but the kids like the characters.

Here the Officer and Belle are literally wrestling over a Zingo tile.... not competitive at all

Okay enough complaining about games, here are our current favorites for a 4-year-old and 3-year-old. Belle's (4 year-old) absolute favorite right now is Zingo. You take turns sliding the Zinger to reveal picture tiles, then you race to cover your bingo board with the pictures. We all really enjoy this simple game.  It's pretty quick to set up and quick to play. Even the Officer and I are always happy to play it.

Bug's (3 year-old) current favorite is Sneaky Snacky Squirrel. This is another fun game that is quick to play, and it takes no time to set up. It's a cute game with a little squirrel that picks up colorful acorns that you put in your log. The first to fill their log wins, but watch out for the storm that takes all your acorns or the sneaky squirrel who can steal one of your acorns. Everyone has fun with this game.

Another family favorite is Busytown. This game takes a little longer to set up and play, but it's fun and the kids love it. This is a cooperative game, and I didn't know if our super competitive family would enjoy that, but we absolutely do! Everyone is working together to get to the end of the game board before the pigs eat all the food, so you are still competing against "the pigs". Nobody is counting, but we almost always win ;)

The girls received this Frozen 6-in-1 game as a gift, and they always enjoy it. It is perfect for their ages, and we like it so much we gave it to a friend for her third birthday. It contains matching/memory, which is one of my favorite preschool games. It also has Bingo, Crazy 8s, Dominoes, Go Fish, and Four-in-a-row. The games are all pretty fun, but matching is my favorite, and if your kids like Frozen they will love seeing all of the characters in this game!

The girls recently got this I Spy Preschool Game, and Belle really enjoys it. The directions have a few different game suggestions to use with the cards, but we mostly just play matching with it. We love matching games, and the girls enjoy I Spy pictures, so this is a good game for us.

So there is our game collection so far, and I would definitely recommend all of these favorites to families with young kids. They keep us busy in the evenings after dinner, and Belle is able to set all of them up by herself and play with Bug on their own. Did I miss any other preschool-aged favorites?!