Last Updated on December 9, 2022
Looking for new ways to keep those little ones engaged? They’re full of energy and learning a mile per minute. But they can also get easily distracted without the proper tools. So why not add some fun, kid-friendly games to your toolkit?
That’s why we’ve compiled our top picks for the best toddler & preschool board games. These age-appropriate games are easy for children to both learn and play, and will get them excited about board games.
By adding some of these to your collection, you can choose to join in on the fun or get that much-needed breather. Everyone wins!
Check out our guide for the best board games for Toddlers & Preschool kids below.
🏆 Our Top Picks for Best Toddler & Preschool Board Games
In a hurry? Take a quick peek before you go.
The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game
Players: 2–4
Playing time: 15 minutes
Be Sneaky Snacky Squirrels in this competitive forest!
Take turns spinning the wheel to decide what to do. Collect a certain color or number of acorns, or get unlucky and lose a turn.
You may also get the chance to steal an acorn from another player, practicing those budding strategy skills. But if the spinner lands on a storm — a gust of wind will blow all your acorns back to the tree!
Use the fun Squirrel Squeezer to move and place pieces and work on that coordination. The first squirrel sneaky enough to collect all its acorns wins.
What we liked
The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game is a great gateway for young children to get into board games. With a quick playtime and colorful components, it’s a winning combination for toddlers.
What could be better
The “stealing” component could lead to some unhappy youngsters, but it’s always an opportunity to teach a life lesson in the process.
With simple rules and some playful competition, your kids will go nuts for this game!
Create a Story Cards
Players: 2–4
Playing time: 20 minutes
Once upon a time…there was a game that got your kids excited about storytelling from an early age.
These fantasy-based story cards include characters, places, and props to get you thinking creatively. The pictures make it easy to join in, even if your young ones aren’t quite ready to read. Pull three cards, or one card at a time, to begin your tale.
The cards can be connected in endless ways to tell stories and the story can always change with each new card. So take turns and let your imagination go wild!
What we liked
Create a Story Cards have beautiful, kid-friendly artwork and make for a fun travel game to take on vacations, road trips, and long car rides.
What could be better
There are only 36 cards in the deck so replayability isn’t terribly high. There are, however, many expansion box sets to keep the story going!
Color Go Fish
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 20 minutes
Go fish!
This twist on the original classic will be sure to catch the attention of your little ones. The fish-shaped cards come in a variety of fun, unique colors. Take turns collecting fish from the deck or each other, and finding matching colors to make pairs. Don’t forget to count the pairs at the end to find the winner.
What we liked
With this familiar game, kids can practice their color-matching and counting skills independently-all while having fun. May the best little fisherman win!
What could be better
There are some non-standard colors in this game such as “eggplant,” “chartreuse,” and “salmon” which could be confusing for toddlers.
Richard Scarry’s Busytown
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 20 minutes
Let’s hit the town!
Kids will love playing on this Busytown gameboard that’s over 6 feet long! Tons of visuals and some sneaky, hidden items will be sure to keep their attention on the board. Work as a team, driving through the town to get to your final destination, Picnic Island.
Along the way, keep your eye out for specific objects around town. Can you spot them? The faster you do, the faster you’ll get to the island for a picnic. If it takes too long, the pigs may eat all the food.
Beat the pigs before they pig out and leave you with nothing!
What we liked
This simple, non-luck-based board game is tons of fun for little ones. With a 6+ foot board and colorful components, your kids will improve their attention to detail while having fun.
What could be better
The big board takes up a lot of floorspace, so it requires a big open area to play and is not very easy to transport.
Outfoxed!
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 20 minutes
Put on your detective hats!
The more hats the better in this cooperative game. Kids will love playing the role of detectives on this charming gameboard. Cute little crime solvers work together to solve the crime of a stolen pot pie.
Move around the board, collecting clues, suspects, and evidence. Using your best critical thinking and detective skills, you must catch the fox before he makes his grand escape.
What we liked
Outfoxed is a bit more structured than most games on this list, making it a fantastic gateway for young kids to learn how to follow rules, take turns, gather clues, and put them together to solve the mystery… together!
What could be better
The memory element in this game can be tricky for preschoolers to master, making it a bit frustrating to play.
You must work quickly or you’ll be…outfoxed!
Hoot Owl Hoot!
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 15 minutes
This game is a real hoot!
Work as a team to fly all the owls back to the nest before the sun rises. Take turns pulling a card that will either move an owl closer to the nest or the sun closer to sunrise. If all the owls make it home before sunrise, everyone wins!
What we liked
Hoot Owl Hoot! has kids exercising their teamwork and cooperation skills. The directions are easy for all ages to understand and enjoy.
What could be better
While this game teaches matching and some logic, much of it comes down to luck of the draw.
Sequence for Kids
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 20 minutes
Sequence for Kids is a smaller, animal version of the popular adult game.
Each player should have 3 cards in their hand at all times. Taking turns, choose one animal card to play. Put your playing piece on the same animal space on the board. Work against other players to put your playing pieces in a sequence. 4 pieces in a row wins.
Up, down, across, or diagonally-any way works as long as you get 4!
What we liked
The kids’ version uses fun picture cards to keep their attention while learning some new animal names.
What could be better
Occasionally, this game can drag on a bit too long to keep the attention of toddlers and young children.
Snail’s Pace Race
Players: 2-6
Playing time: 10 minutes
Snail’s Pace Race is a game of betting and luck.
Players take turns rolling colored dice and moving the corresponding snails. While the snails race across the board, kids will practice color-matching and ordering skills.
Here’s to hoping you guess the correct winner and loser! We hope you snail it!
What we liked
With simple instructions and colorful playing pieces, your kids will catch on quickly. Each player guesses which colored snail will be first and which will be last.
What could be better
As usual, we’re not big on luck-based games. However, it does make for some interesting and unexpected twists in the game.
The Yoga Garden Game
Players: 1+
Playing time: 30 minutes
Plant that seed of interest in yoga with the Yoga Garden Game.
Move a bee around the board to decide whether you will plant a flower, help the sun set, or do a yoga pose. Land on the question mark to invent your own yoga move! Don’t be afraid to get creative with it.
All the children can participate by joining in or counting out loud during each position. This game can also be played solo for those only children or little ones needing some alone time. If you plant all the flowers before nightfall, everyone wins!
What we liked
This is a good one for those kids who have some extra energy to burn. This active game has children work together to plant flowers before the sun goes down.
What could be better
There are no real decisions to be made in the game and the yoga positions have no bearing on the game. It is, however, a good introduction to games and yoga for young children.
Your kids will be saying “Na’ma’stay and play” in no time.
Zingo!
Players: 2-8
Playing time: 5 minutes
Zingo! The kid-friendly, picture equivalent of the popular Bingo!
Instead of numbers, pictures include age-appropriate vocabulary. Think apple, star, cake, house. Children can practice their word recognition, speed, and matching skills in a race to complete their cards.
As Zingo picture tiles are dispensed, work to collect the ones on your card. If two players have the same tile — the fastest player to call it out gets it! The game also comes with two difficulty levels to appeal to a wider age range.
What we liked
Zingo has very basic gameplay, combining both words and pictures. It’s great for kids who are just learning to read.
What could be better
It can sometimes get pretty competitive and turn into a bit of Slapjack in the process.
Get ready to yell Zingo!
Wrap-Up
There you have it! We hope you enjoyed our list of the best toddler and preschool board games! Playing these games will have years of benefits for your children from brain development to cooperation, critical thinking skills, and more.
Have you tried any of the games on this list? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Drop a comment below!
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