10 best board games forKids
Bored of board
games? Very unlikely, even in this day and age of high-tech toys.
Board games never go out of style!
Turn-taking children's games are not only fun to play,
they're educational on many different levels, including
social. Kids learn about waiting to take a turn (patience),
winning and losing, along with cooperation and
competition—all while they have fun. Basic numeracy and
logic skills are also exercised in most games as well.
Interaction
with siblings, friends, and parents is an important virtue
developed through board and card games. Cooperation is another.
It's a social skill— a learned one at that—and
sportsmanship is a valuable skill.
There are
plenty of games available that are specially designed to suit
young children's needs and abilities. Nevertheless, parents will
want to be on hand the first few times kids play the games—not
only to help them learn the rules, but also to give them
encouraging feedback during the inevitable small setbacks. We take
a look at some of our favorite games for kids here.
1
 Apples
to Apples Junior
Apples to Apples Junior! is based
on the party game, Apples to Apples, but it is designed to be
enjoyed by children as young as 7. This game is oh so funny and
very educational.
The
box simply consists of cards & red apple cards and green apple
cards & in a tray. Players are dealt 5 red apple cards each.
These cards each feature a word (such as "ants",
"grocery store", or "my hair") along with a
definition. The player who has been chosen as "the
Judge" draws a green apple card. The green cards feature a
descriptive word (such as "spooky",
"important", "large", or "funny")
with synonyms of the word. The other players then look at their
concealed red cards and attempt to find the card in their hand
that BEST fits with the green card word. For example, if the green
card word is "large" and a player has a hand with the
words "ants", "the first day of school",
"pajamas", "grocery store", and "my
hair", then he/she might decide to play the card
"grocery store" as one that best fits the word
"large". Each player selects a card, lays it in front of
them, and then the judge mixes up the played cards and makes a
"judgment" on which card is the best fit. The beauty of
the game is that the decision is at the discretion of the judge!
Kids
really laugh through the game and they learn vocabulary
words and associations at the same time. This is a hilarious
thinking game. Note that the nature of the game means that it
can't be played by just two kids. It's a party game! In fact, Apples
to Apples Junior is just wonderful for promoting social interactions. It's a
almost as fun to watch as it is to play. (Parents will just
love watching kids giggle, negotiate, and associate!)
 [For more information, user
reviews, or to buy: Apples to Apples Junior
at Amazon.com]
2
 Pet
Hunt
This excellent card-match
game really gets kids thinking! With Pet Hunt,
children draw a number of cards, each featuring pictures of
four animals. Smaller cards depicting two animals are drawn,
and players determine whether they have a match. The
trick—which makes the game much more educational than
simple matching games& is in the smaller cards. Players
might draw a card with a cat and a turtle and then decide
whether they have a larger card depicting both—if they do,
it's a match. If the turtle, for example, has a large red X
over it, then they need to determine whether they have a
card that has a cat, but NOT a turtle. If both animals are
crossed off, a match occurs only if they have a card that
has neither a cat nor a turtle.
We love this game! It's best
suited for children at a Kindergarten through second-grade level,
or any child who can handle the extra thinking required.
[For more information, user
reviews, or to buy: Pet Hunt
at Amazon.com]
3
Cranium's
Cariboo
This fabulous game for preschoolers takes kids on a treasure hunt—for colorful
balls! They unlock compartments with a special purple key
after matching colors, sets of objects, or letters. Is a
ball hiding inside the compartment? Very
cute game!
[For more information, user
reviews, or to buy
Cranium Cariboo at Amazon.com]
4
 Zingo!
The classic
game of Bingo has been made a little zippier and more
child-friendly. Zingo! features a dispenser filled with
tiles, called a Zinger. When kids slide the dispenser, out pops
two tiles featuring familiar objects, such as houses or cats. The first child to shout out the
object's name (as long as it matches with a picture on their card) gets
the tile. You can also allow children to grab the tiles instead of
calling out their names. Families can decide whether the goal is
to fill the entire card or simply a row.
This game has
some special features that make it superior to a regular game of
Bingo. The Zingo cards are two-sided—the yellow side makes for
a less competitive game than the red side! This is a great feature
that allows families to decide whether they want to have a more
relaxing or a competitive game. Also, the dispenser is innovative
and fun to use.
Our testers
return to this game often. It has all the potential to be a
long-standing favorite. Two to eight children can play the game,
and, as noted above, families can choose to tone down the
competitive aspect of the game by selecting to play with the
yellow side of the cards.
[For more information, user
reviews, or to buy:
Zingo
at Amazon.com]
5  Smart
Mouth
Family time is fun with a good
game! Smart Mouth is exciting and
educational. Its rules are simple: players use the
Letter Getter that randomly "draws" two letters. The
first player to call out a word that begins and ends with these
letters wins the tiles.
[For more information, user
reviews, or to buy: Smart Mouth
at Amazon.com]
6
 Cranium
Cranium is a "whole-brain" game designed for kids
older than 12 and adults. Its variety of activities and
questions is its most impressive feature. Players form teams
and compete to get to the purple brain at the center of the
board called Cranium Central. They might have to answer
multiple-choice questions, act out something for others to
guess, or sculpt a mystery object from clay. It's a fun and
engaging game.
[For
more information, user reviews, or to buy: Cranium
at Amazon.com]
7
 The
Very Hungry CaterpillarFor
the younger set, there's The Very Hungry Caterpillar Game.
Based on Eric Carle's classic children's book, this game
challenges children to identify colors and shapes. A
beautiful and colorful butterfly is featured on the game
board. Kids can play either cooperatively (a "winnerless"
game) or competitively. Best for ages 3 to 5.
[Buy The Very Hungry Caterpillar Game
Amazon.com for approximately $35 US]
8
 Picture
LinkAnother
game for board game-beginners is Picture Link. The
rules are very simple. Players call out pictures and attempt
to build a path from one side of the board to the other.
This game is fast-moving when everyone is paying attention,
and very easy to follow. Perfect for kids ages 3 to 5.
[Buy Picture Link
Amazon.com for approximately $35 US]
9
 UpWords
This
classic board game is loosely based on Scrabble, but it's a little
easier to play and to score. If
you’re not already familiar with the game, players spell
words on the game board grid using their letter tiles in
order to score points. The twist here is that there’s a
third dimension to game-play –- letters are stackable, so
that lone can not only become alone, but also long
or along. An easy scoring system is understandable
for people of all ages.
UpWords is a great board game for families to share, and
it's affordable too.
[For more information, user
reviews, or to buy:
Upwords
at Amazon.com]
10
 The
Letter Factory Game
Children
often need some hand-holding when it comes to working
through board games, simply because they need to learn about
turn-taking and develop some patience. The Letter Factory
Game by Leapfrog features electronic hand-holding in the
form of Professor Quigley, a talking guide who lets them
know whose turn it is, how many spaces to move, and which
cards to find. This
board game has an educational agenda, but it certainly
doesn't detract from the fun. In fact, The Letter Factory
Game features little ditties that can be downright silly
about each letter of the alphabet, and it reinforces colors
and counting concepts as well. Two levels of play
accommodate children ages 3 to 5 or 6. Phonics letter sounds
are introduced with this fun and educational game.
[For more information, user
reviews, or to buy:
The Letter Factory Game
at Amazon.com]
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Our Buyer's Guides help make buying
choices easy for consumers. We test hundreds of children's
products and strive to keep up to date on the latest releases. Of
course, every family is unique. We can't please everyone. However,
we are able to select some special titles that are at the top of
our "edutainment" list--those that have that extra edge
in the categories of design, entertainment, education, and play
value.
Besides the
letter grades we give most products, reviews on this site often
come with a rating bar chart--a visual breakdown of how the
product rates in a number of categories. If you'd like to know
more about how software products are rated, click here.
As we test new
software and products, we update these buyer's guides to
reflect current availability and up-to-date recommendations. These
guides are intended to help parents make sense of the often overwhelming
choices available to them.
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