Now that the school year has started again, and my older boys are back in school, my 3 year old is loving the fact that he has me all to himself during the day. He misses his brothers, but is definitely taking advantage of all the one-on-one time we’ve had lately.
We’ve been painting, reading lots of books, and coming up with fun activities for him to work on fine motor skills, math concepts, and learning the alphabet.
We’ve also played his favorite board games over and over again.
My kids have gone through phases with board games over the years. They’ve had a few games that were fun for awhile, but then sat in the closet untouched after that. My oldest boys are big fans of strategy games, and still play those often.
As far as board games for preschoolers, we’ve played many of the same ones for years. It’s so much fun to play the same games with my youngest son, that I did with my oldest when he was young. We’ve also added a few newer games to our collection, and they’ve quickly become favorites.
These 5 board games are suitable for preschool age children. A few timeless classics and a few new games that entertain and engage young children:
- Candy Land
– This classic game is always a hit with young kids. Full of mouth-watering pictures, and a fun way to work on counting and color identification skills.
- Hi Ho Cherry-O
- I remember playing this one as a child in the 80’s. Such a great counting game, and a wonderful way to teach kids one-to-one correspondence.
- The Cupcake Race - This is a newer game, but is quickly becoming a favorite with the preschool crowd. Children work on number identification, colors, counting and more, as they race to be the first to build a cupcake.
- Super Why ABC Letter Game
- My 3 year old is a huge fan of the Super WHY series on PBS Kids, so I wasn’t too surprised when he picked out this game at the store. I was thrilled when we started to play, and I realized how much he was learning. Letter identification, rhyming, and spelling are all a part of this game.
- Curious George Matching Game
– Our favorite little monkey and all of his friends are the stars of this exciting matching game. Much like other memory games, the idea is to find as many matches as possible. The nice thing about this game, is that is can be played with fewer cards for a faster game or for those with shorter attention spans.
– This classic game is always a hit with young kids. Full of mouth-watering pictures, and a fun way to work on counting and color identification skills.
- I remember playing this one as a child in the 80’s. Such a great counting game, and a wonderful way to teach kids one-to-one correspondence.
- My 3 year old is a huge fan of the 
– Our favorite little monkey and all of his friends are the stars of this exciting matching game. Much like other memory games, the idea is to find as many matches as possible. The nice thing about this game, is that is can be played with fewer cards for a faster game or for those with shorter attention spans.As a parent and teacher, I find board games to be a useful tool in the classroom and at home. While playing board games there are many skills and concepts children are working on. Here are just a few:
- Listening skills
- Following rules
- Turn taking
- Making predictions
- Critical thinking skills
- Eye-hand coordination / Fine motor skills
- Literacy and math skills (matching, counting, letter and number identification)
- Social skills and collaboration
- Sportsmanship
Playing board games with children is a meaningful and intentional way to spend time together. Children thrive on the undivided attention of their parents, teachers, and other positive adult role models. Board games are a great way to bond, while learning and engaging in an exciting activity.
Do you have a favorite board game for young children?