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best educational games for kids, best games for kids, best board games for kids,

Top 10: Best Fun & Educational Board Games

Posted on December 1, 2011May 28, 2024 by Pragmatic Mom

First of all, I want to confess that I am not a board game person. I do occasionally get forced into playing board games with my kids so I am familiar with some of these games but it’s always a balancing act to play with them as I am asked to modulate my play: “Play hard against me, mom, but not too hard. You’re playing too easy against me.” And my youngest freaks out if he loses so I always have to keep that into consideration. Should I let him win to keep him from throwing a nutty? Or is it good to teach him to lose gracefully? Is he even capable of losing gracefully? Is this a lesson best learned on the soccer field? This is not fun for me.

My other issue with board games is that my kids (at least the girls) used to deconstruct every board game into pretend “cookies” and put any play money into toy wallets and purses. Then, I would spend hours in the playroom trying to reassemble the games such that all the pieces were in their proper box. This also was not fun for me. I also wish I were not so anal as to actually care that the pieces were back in their boxes but that’s another issue.

Games are a fun way to get kids learning without them realizing that they are. I also have apps for that including a random country generator that makes learning about new cultures and languages fun. But I do like the family bonding element of board games!

There are other families I know that have a weekly board game night and it’s a fun time by all. I’m not sure we are that type of family. We’re probably too competitive; I blame my husband’s gene pool. So, I had to dig a little deep for this post. Once when I was the room parent for my older daughter’s Kindergarten class, we had to put together a “basket of board games” from our class for our school auction as the classroom contribution.

Every family purchased their favorite game to put in the basket. I was in charge of the said basket and had to collect the games plus guard against duplication. Some of those games made this list. I also asked my mom squad; those who actually know a thing or two about games. Finally, my kids’ amazing Kindergarten teacher who is an EXPERT on educational games weighs in with her two favorites. I trust her opinion!

Please leave me a comment with games that you enjoy playing with your kids! Thanks!

 

Best Educational Board Games for Kids

 

10. Dog-opoly

A fun version of Monopoly which is great for learning about money, both counting it and investment strategies! DesignTrackMind loves this game. We also noticed versions of this game by dog breed and also a puppy version.

9. The Allowance Game

Teaches kids about money. We got this game as a birthday present as my kids both like this game. (Of course, they only played it a few times before the money all went into wallets and was soon lost).

8. Sorry

My eldest’s favorite game.

7. Mousetrap

Great for budding mechanical engineers! My youngest asked for this game for Christmas. I think he plays this at school or on playdates.

6. Rush Hour

Teaches logic and problem-solving. My childhood friend gave this to us. She loves to play it with her nephew

5. Pegs in the Park

My son’s amazing Kindergarten teacher’s new favorite game. I am getting it for my son.

4. CountDown

My Kindergarten son loves this math game. It also has built-in differentiation so it can morph from an addition game to subtraction and multiplication. I love that it’s a wooden toy!

3. Bananagrams

A Mom Friend told me about this one. She calls it “speed scrabble.”

2. Zingo!

Teaches word recognition. Perfect for preschoolers! I actually love this game. Kids also love this sliding plastic dispenser.

1. Learning Resource Money Bags: A Coin Value Game

Learning about money has never been so fun! Great for K-3rd grade! DesignTrackMind recommended this one. Learning coin value through a board game is genius! It’s coming to my house this Christmas. I just ordered it.

Fun and Educational Board Game Honorable Mentions

 

Sleeping Queens, $10

A fun card game that uses Knights, Kings, Queens, Wands, Jesters, and Sleeping Potions in order to wake up sleeping queens. It also sneaks in addition and subtraction in two ways. Queens can be earned when woken and each queen has a point value which is also a multiple of 5. Adding up the queens is a skip counting exercise of 5’s and 10’s. There are also number cards. If you can make the number cards add or subtract into a number sentence, you can switch out the cards to hopefully win powerful Face cards.

My kids love this game and at first, I thought the rules seemed complicated but after a few rounds, it all starts to make sense and feel pretty intuitive.

 

Connect Four

Logical reasoning and strategy.

Gobblet Jr.

3-D Tic Tac Toe

PayDay

A great recommendation from a reader. Like The Allowance Game to teach about money

Orchard

A recommendation from a reader. Great for preschoolers!

Quick Chess (for beginning chess players)

This is a simplified chess game for kids that breaks down the game into smaller games featuring just a few of the chess pieces. It has two boards. One board has fewer squares than the traditional board; this is the side you use to learn the game piece by piece.

The other side has the traditional chessboard and I love how the back rows are labeled since I always get confused about how to set up the game.

Traintastic Cargo Game by Chuggington

This is a great game for preschoolers ages 3 and up who love trains. It’s a fun game of memory, pattern matching, and discovery!

Other recommendations from a Twitter friend: Apples2Apples, Blokus, GuessWho, Mancala, and Mastermind.

Great Non-Board Games From Readers: What’s Gnu?, Set, Uno, Yahtzee, and Yamado.

 

 

p.s. My Holiday Gift Guides are all here.  Popular ones include:

Gift Guide: Best Toys for Math and Science

Gift Guide: Best Toys for Arty Kids

Gift Guide: Toys to Get Kids Reading More

Gift Guide: Best Active Toys

Top 10: Best Fun and Educational Board Games

Gift Guide: Musical Toys for Kids

 

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31 thoughts on “Top 10: Best Fun & Educational Board Games”

  1. Julia says:
    December 9, 2010 at 6:35 am

    Great list. Zingo is an all time fave in our house as well! Also we discovered Orchard this past year which is a great game for preschoolers (tough to find good games for the little ones, I have found). I’m always on the hunt for new games so I will definitely check out some of these others!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      December 9, 2010 at 5:56 pm

      I will add Orchard to the list. Thanks so much for the recommendation!

      Reply
  2. Rebecca says:
    December 9, 2010 at 6:50 am

    Great list! Also, Pay Day (kind of like Allowance) and Set.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      December 9, 2010 at 5:56 pm

      Thank you so much for Pay Day! I remember this vaguely from my youth?!! I will add to the list! Thanks again!

      Reply
  3. Tarrah says:
    December 9, 2010 at 9:21 am

    i am a Don’t Break the Ice girl!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      December 9, 2010 at 5:54 pm

      Actually, that is the one game I am looking forward to playing this Christmas with my son!

      Reply
  4. Lee Andrese says:
    December 10, 2010 at 8:19 am

    This is great! I was wondering what board games to get my niece that are educational, and here they are. Thanks.

    Reply
  5. Kris says:
    December 13, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    THANKS for the nod:-)

    Reply
  6. Cindy Marie Jenkins says:
    December 15, 2010 at 8:23 pm

    Oh, yes, the long hours with family playing “Sorry”….thanks for bringing back great memories!

    Reply
  7. Julia's Child says:
    December 19, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    I second the motion about Haba’s Orchard game. My kids are 5 and 7 and they still enjoy it, although it makes a perfect “first game” for 3 year olds too.

    Haba’s animal Yahtzee is popular at our house, as is Uno. (Wait… those two don’t have a BOARD, exactly. Are they still board games?)

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      December 20, 2010 at 8:53 am

      Thanks so much for your great suggestions. I just added them to my post! My oldest was also asking me for Set, a card game, so it was easy to add in a new category! Thank you again!!!

      Reply
  8. Melissa says:
    September 5, 2011 at 12:07 am

    great list – thanks!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      September 8, 2011 at 11:38 am

      Thanks Melissa!

      Reply
  9. Melissa says:
    December 2, 2011 at 1:57 pm

    P.S. We have this Melissa and Doug game, Hide the Puppies, that the girls LOVE but it’s not a board game.

    Reply
  10. Craftwhack says:
    December 2, 2011 at 2:04 pm

    These are great! I put a few into my Amazon kid gift idea list. We LOVE Yahtzee here. My daughter is also in love with Apples to Apples.

    Reply
  11. Gina says:
    December 4, 2011 at 8:07 pm

    Ohhh, I’m so glad to find your list! I’d love this game!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      December 7, 2011 at 12:53 pm

      To Gina,
      Thanks for visiting my blog! You are entered to win!

      Reply
  12. Jen says:
    November 30, 2012 at 10:05 am

    I love board games! Santa always brings a board game at Christmas which is difficult as they don’t sell them in English here in Japan. Thanks for this list it will really help!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      December 1, 2012 at 9:24 am

      Hi Jen,
      Will Amazon ship English board games to Japan? Might be expensive shipping though! Hope Santa brings them to you this year!

      Reply
      1. Jen says:
        December 1, 2012 at 9:39 am

        Yes! A lot of toys/games can be shipped from there, but sometimes it’s hard to maneuver through their site and find what I want if I don’t know the game myself. But now I have a list!

        Reply
        1. Pragmatic Mom says:
          December 3, 2012 at 12:38 am

          Hi Jen,
          So happy to help!

          Reply
  13. Sarah Dugo says:
    November 30, 2012 at 10:05 am

    Great idea’s! Re-posted onto my FB fan page! I also would add the old favorite, Operation, fine motor skills always need developing!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      December 1, 2012 at 9:24 am

      Hi Sarah,
      Thanks! Ah, Operation! I think I failed to add because I find it so frustrating! That wish bone always gets me!!!

      Reply
  14. Zeeshan@games for kids with autism says:
    August 21, 2013 at 4:30 pm

    Really I liked your article and I personally feel that games are not only a source of entertainment but can help parents and teachers to teach most complex topics to the children with very less effort and lots of fun.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      August 21, 2013 at 7:35 pm

      Good point Zeeshan!

      Reply
  15. Becky says:
    December 13, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    I love watching my kids play Rush Hour- great game for them to do by themselves while I’m cooking. We love Bananas- good game for bilingual families, and Blockus too. Such a great list!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      December 15, 2013 at 1:06 pm

      Thanks so much Becky!
      We have been playing a lot of Blockus lately!

      Reply
  16. Sara Crosby says:
    January 3, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    Great list! Have you ever played any SimplyFun games? Bank It is our family favorite! Check them out and I bet some of the games will be on your next favorite list! http://www.simplyfun.com/georgia

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      January 5, 2014 at 4:34 pm

      Hi Sara,
      I will have to get Bank It! Thanks so much for your great suggestion!! We could use games to teach financial literacy!

      Reply
  17. Kate says:
    June 16, 2014 at 6:07 pm

    Me and my kids like playing Mousetrap and Zingo! These games are very educative and fun at the same time!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      June 17, 2014 at 9:15 pm

      Hi Kate,
      Mousetrap and Zingo! are such fun games!! We like them too!!!

      Reply

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