Best Board Games for 2-Year-Olds
It’s never too early to get your little ones interested in gaming, and board games are a fantastic way to get kids learning and playing simultaneously. While board games can teach kids educational things like colors, shapes, and numbers, they also teach important physical, cognitive, and social skills as well.
Plus, gaming together is an excellent opportunity for bonding and connecting with your children.
Believe it or not, there are a plethora of games out there for even the youngest in your family. Many of these games are extremely adaptable and can grow with your child as you use the games in new ways.
No matter your child’s interests or abilities, there’s a game out there for him or her. Some of the best board games for 2-year-olds can be found below. Happy gaming!
🏆 Our Top Picks for Best Board Games for 2-Year-Olds
In a hurry? Take a quick peek before you go.
YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY (BEST GAMES BY AGE GROUP): Toddler & Preschool | Kindergarten | 2-Year-Old | 3-Year-Old | 4-Year-Old | 5-Year-Old | 5-6-Year-Old | 7-Year-Old | 8-Year-Old | 9-Year-Old | 10-Year-Old | 11-12-Year-Old | Teens & Teenagers
First Orchard
Players: 1-4
Playing time: 10mins
It’s harvest season at the orchard! But the pesky raven wants to eat the delicious fruits before you can pick them. Work together in this cooperative game to gather the apples, pears, and plums before it’s too late!
In First Orchard, young players will learn simple gaming procedures like rolling dice, taking turns, and following directions as they practice their farming skills. Throughout the game, children will practice counting and identifying colors, as well as learn to problem solve and improve fine motor skills.
Let this game grow with your kids, as the adjustable rules allow the game to become more complex for older players. Plus, the beautiful game pieces can be used as stand-alone toys where their imaginations can run wild.
What we liked
Kids will have a blast playing with others as they build important social skills, and learn to humbly win, or gracefully accept a loss.
What could be better
First Orchard might be a bit complex for 2-year-olds to grasp at first but is overall a great introduction to board games for young kids.
Panda’s Picnic
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 30mins
Nothing says family outings quite like a picnic in the park. But that’s no fun when it’s cold and rainy. Luckily, you and your 2-year-old can set up a picnic inside — without the worry of ants crashing your party.
Players will reach their hands into the picnic basket to grab the different foods and match the colors and shapes to their plates. Which food item did you grab from the basket this turn? Can you name it? What color and shape is it?
What we liked
Toddlers will expand their vocabulary with different colors, shapes, and foods. The game is adaptable for different skill levels as their cognitive and physical abilities grow.
This game is a great way to bond (screen-free) with your child and make memorable connections. Plus, they’ll have fun while learning and developing essential skills.
What could be better
Although the game says that it can be played two ways: by shapes and by colors, we’ve found that the color way really doesn’t work well at all. Also, the components could be better quality.
Acorn Soup
Players: 2
Playing time: 15mins
The soup of the day is… Acorn Soup?! Squirrels love acorns, and they need your help making their delectable soup.
Work with your toddler to help them identify all the ingredients from the recipe, then use the spoon to add the correct pieces to the pot. Count all the ingredients as you put them in to make sure the recipe is just right for the squirrels.
What we liked
Kids will learn different foods, and how to follow a recipe through matching. They’ll practice hand-eye coordination as they carefully balance the ingredients on the spoon and add them to the soup.
This game also encourages children to use their imagination, and they can even create their own culinary masterpieces.
What could be better
The price point for Acorn Soup is a bit high for the quality of the components.
Animal Upon Animal
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 15mins
It’s a race to the top in this animal stacking game. The rules are simple: roll the die and add the applicable amount of animal pieces to your pyramid. The first player to place all their wooden animal pieces is the winner, while any pieces that fall during your placement will be added to your pile.
What we liked
This game will test dexterity, while simultaneously building hand-eye coordination skills as players strategically find a place to gently stack each uniquely shaped piece.
With incredibly simple rules and quick set-up time, Animal Upon Animal has high replayability. And it’s a game the whole family can enjoy!
What could be better
This is a really cute game but there is far too much luck with the die roll, particularly the two free passes of crocodile and hand.
Monkey Around
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 10-15mins
Kids will go bananas for this game! Get them up and moving with Monkey Around.
It’s as easy as drawing a monkey card, performing silly actions, and placing the card in the banana tree. Actions will strengthen gross motor skills as you and your little one hop, pretend to sleep, make a bridge, or march together to fulfill your action cards.
Use the bean bag banana to practice balancing with it on your head or shoulders.
When the tree is filled with monkeys, start the game over and move in a whole new variety of ways! Play and laugh as you and your child wiggle and giggle together.
What we liked
This is one of the best dexterity and movement games to play with little ones. Monkey Around is very flexible with how you play, it’s silly, and the kiddos love to get up and move around. The quality of the components (other than the banana) is great and will withstand 2-year-olds for sure!
What could be better
The banana component is not stitched together well and may come apart during play. You only need 5 cards to win so gameplay goes pretty fast so the game doesn’t last long at all.
Rhino Hero Junior
Players: 1-4
Playing time: 10-20mins
Rhino Hero Junior consists of 3 fun mini-games that will get kids practicing colors and basic counting, as well as exercise their memories and tune their fine motor skills. In one of the games, children will build a tower, floor by floor from largest to smallest as the rhino climbs to the top without the building falling.
Kids will learn teamwork skills as they win or lose together in this cooperative game.
Another way to play is to have kids practice matching by laying the multi-colored tiles one by one and connecting like colors to make a rainbow path. Additionally, kids can also use the pieces in free play to build and use their imaginations.
What we liked
Rhino Hero is a fun and easy game to play with kids and families. The setup and tear-down is always quick and painless.
What could be better
The cards could have been better quality. They’re pretty thin and flimsy, and tend to fly away very easily.
Where’s Bear?
Players: 2
Playing time: 10mins
Can your inquisitive tot find where Bear is hiding? Your little ones will learn about object permanence as they look for their furry friend who’s playing hide and seek within the nesting boxes.
Each box represents a room of a house where you and your 2-year-old will take turns hiding the bear for the other to find.
With 5 games in one, there are plenty of opportunities for exploration and creative play. As your child grows, utilize the pieces in free play to create stories, practice math skills, and further develop vocabulary.
What we liked
The concept of this game is great. It can be used as an educational tool, especially for early intervention speech therapy (vocabulary, directions, articulation, turn-taking, and increasing word combinations).
What could be better
The components of the game could have definitely been better. The boxes aren’t graded properly and are too similar in size so sometimes they don’t stack well.
Building Site
Players: 1-4
Playing time: 5-10mins
Grab your construction hat and get ready for a hard day’s work. Players will get to help Bruno Bear with his newest construction project — building a house.
Step by step, the house will come together as you pour the foundation, lay the brickwork, and add the roof. Take turns flipping over orange construction cones to determine what piece you’ll bring to the construction site in your dump truck next.
When the game starts to get too easy, add the bird tokens to the mix to make the bank of tiles a bit larger. Play as the intended game, or use the game pieces for free play as kids built a house, play memory with the tiles, or simply drive the truck around.
What we liked
Like most HABA games, the quality of the components is great. Also, the memory section of the game is great to help with memorization and learning where items are after you turn them over.
What could be better
Building Site is more of an activity than a game. Also, the rules are a bit complex and may be too difficult for a 2-year-old to easily grasp.
Seek-a-Boo
Players: 1-2
Playing time: 10-15mins
In this learn-and-play game, kids will get to practice learning about animals, colors, foods, shapes, toys, clothing, and items found outside of the home.
The game consists of 36 “seek me” cards, all color-coded into these 6 categories. Players will draw a “find me” card from the deck and take turns flipping over the “seek me” cards from that category to find a match.
This game teaches children an assortment of vocabulary words as well as correct pronunciation. It also works to improve their memory and allows them to practice taking turns as they play with you or other children.
Increase or decrease the difficulty depending on the child’s age by using the cards to speak in full sentences or create original stories using the vocabulary words.
What we liked
We love this game for all ages in our family. There are multiple different ways to play it and to add difficulty as the child is ready (flipping cards over, matching border colors, etc). The fact that it’s interactive and gets the kids moving makes it even better!
What could be better
I wish the round cards had been made with more durable cardboard. They are very easily bent, especially by little ones who are still working on their dexterity.
Here, Fishy, Fishy!
Players: 1-4
Playing time: 5-10mins
We hope your tackle box is fully stocked for this next game. Here, Fishy, Fishy! is taking you to the depths of the sea to meet the interesting creatures who live there.
As with many of these games, the pieces can be used in creative free play as children get acquainted with the fishing pole, sea (the interior of the box), and all the fascinating animals.
To play the actual game, children will roll a die to determine which color fish they should catch. Using the magnetized fishing pole, they’ll use concentration and hand-eye coordination skills to reel in the matching fish.
Just like a worm to a hook, your little one will be hooked on this game.
What we liked
The game pieces are very well-made and adorable. Also, this game scales really well as the older they get, the more complicated the game can become.
What could be better
I wish the fish were magnetic and painted on both sides. The other side just has a solid color and no face.
Wrap-Up
We hope you enjoyed our list of the best board games for 2-year-olds. These fun and educational board games will help your little one build fundamental skills and encourage early brain development and critical thinking skills.
Starting a family tradition of playing board games was one of the best parts of my childhood and I know your family will love it too!
Have you tried any of the games on this list? Did we miss any games you think should be included? Drop a comment below and let us know what you think! We’d love to hear from you.
