The Best Board Games for Kids, According to Experts

If you’re struggling to find games for very little kids, tryMonkey Around. “It’s likeTwisterfor toddlers,” explains Holly Magelof, toy buyer for theDolphin Bookshop, which she says is very popular among the toddler set. “You see the kids wiggling and giggling — it’s consistently a best seller.”

For a kid’s first game, Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang lovesFirst Orchard,which is rated for toddlers ages 2 and up. The game asks kids to work together to pick fruit from different trees before a hungry raven eats them. Plus, the design features bold primary colors and large game pieces that will keep younger children engaged.

Recommended by longtime Manhattan nanny Kasia Dabrowska, this bingo-esque game is easy to teach kids because the name of the game is speed-spotting familiar items like a dog, bird, or baseball bat. Strategist contributor and father of two Steven John also keeps it in rotation with his family.

“Outfoxedhas more replay value than I have ever experienced in a child’s board game,” says John. For months after first getting the game, his then-5-and-a-half-year-old requested a round nearly every single day, he adds. A classic whodunit, the game’s kids discover a series of clues and a group of suspects, zeroing in on the guilty fox through a process of elimination.

This cute game, featured in ourbest gifts for 4-year-olds guide, asks kids to help their monster named Meef get all of its teeth back before the other players. The illustrations are adorable, and the game does bake in some math for an added educational bonus.

A longtime Strategist favorite, this game teaches color matching, strategist thinking, and exercises fine motor skills, says Ro. “The game pieces are well made, too, making them a pleasure to handle,” she adds.

This silly game asks kids to place a yeti on a pile of plastic spaghetti that players then have to remove one by one without dropping the yeti. Sort of like a more funJenga. It’s also quite tactical, something younger children will appreciate.

For a lightning-quick, pick-and-pass-style card game, Lauren Bilanko, a co-owner ofTwenty Sided Store, suggestsSushi Go!, which she says is very easy to learn but still fun enough to play over and over again. The gameplay is simple: collect cards to create collections of dishes for different point values, and whoever scores the most points wins.

IllustratorStephen Walshtold us about this “really sweet” game about competitive panda husbandry that’s a favorite of his kids. It asks players to cultivate land plots and grow three species of bamboo for pandas. Walsh describes it as the “perfect Christmas Day game” to break out when you want something family-friendly and cheerful. The game takes about 45 minutes to play and is suitable for ages 8 and up.

Most ’90s kids will remember this classic, which is suitable for children ages 4 and up and can accommodate two to four players. “Nothing could beat being a kid and unboxing this game to build a wacky Rube Goldberg machine,” says board-game designerRob Sparks.

Similar toMousetrap,Operationwas beloved by ’90s kids. Walsh told us that while he loved this game when he was young, he also enjoyed playing it when he was older with his friends after a night out. The whole family can sit down and operate on Cavity Sam to remove his various ailments — including his wishbone, charley horse, and Adam’s apple — without setting off the buzzer.

For the kid who prefers running the bases than rolling dice, this tabletop game comes very close to the real thing. One player “pitches” the ball using a tiny lever, and the opponent up at bat uses a spring-loaded bat to try to hit it. There are also hidden contraptions and magnets that players can manipulate to influence the ball’s path, which adds a fun complication to the game. Players will advance to the next base or get a strike or foul according to where the ball lands.

Both Yang and Strategist senior writer Lauren Ro are big fans of this board game, which they play with their children. “It’s great for learning turn-taking, reading numbers and letters in a table format, and strategizing about how to lay the path pieces to pick up the key tokens and reach the treasure,” says Yang. “And because there’s a little randomization to it, it doesn’t get overly repetitive or boring to play.” Perfect for preschoolers or kindergartners, with a game play that lasts just long enough to hold their interest, says Ro. Yang also notes that the rules are “simple enough that you don’t have to relearn them every time you pull out the game (or stop mid-game to figure out what happens next).”

A cooperative game that asks kids to save the dinos before a volcano erupts. But it has a slightly more challenging premise because it also includes a memory component. “It’s another favorite of ours because it moves fast and requires some strategy,” writes Ro. “Plus, the small dino toys and 3-D volcano pieces are fun for little kids to handle.”

“I was really surprised at how it held up,” says clinical child psychologistGeorge Sachs. Fourth-grade teacher Courtney Caulfield adds that the kids in her class also love the throwback. “They like it because they can play with friends,” she says. “And it usually makes them think.”

Colleen Russo Johnson, a children’s-tech and media expert, recommends this remix of the originalConnect 4game, which requires a bit more strategy. In addition to placing their pieces in a slot, players must spin the corresponding column, which keeps gameplay interesting.

Anya Kamenetz, mother of two and author ofThe Art of Screen Time, recommends the fast-pacedExploding KittensgameThrow Throw Burrito, “which is a fun combination of goofiness and actual strategy.” Gameplay is only 15 minutes and can accommodate two to six players. Toy blogger and reviewer Lori Jepsen ofToysenberryis also a fan. “ “I mean, what’s not to love about throwing burritos at your siblings or parents or spouse?”

This edition ofMonopolyis designed for cheaters: The goal is to see how many rules you can bend or break in order to win. “Isn’t that the way every kid plays all the time anyway?” says Zibby Owens, mother of four and host ofMoms Don’t Have Time to Read Books. The game “encourages secret bank thefts, secret property swipes, and serious consequences if caught,” Owens adds.

This tic-tac-toe inspired board game is “visually appealing” and “complex,” according to Sophia W., a nanny for the New York–basedSmartSittingagency. Even better, Sophia says, “It’s well suited for gifted and special-needs children, as the colors stimulate kids who think visually.”

Spot It!is a matching card game in which kids try to find two identical images between two cards first. Since it’s small enough to fit in your hand, it’s a great game to keep in your purse for doctors’ waiting rooms or long car rides. The game comes in a bunch of different variations, including favorite IP likeFrozenandPaw Patrol.

Strategist senior writer Liza Corsillo, who covers kids’ toys, recommends an old favorite,Slamwich. “I am a sucker for any toy with cool vintage illustrations or designs, so after I saw this card game at a friend’s all-ages engagement party a few months ago, I went and bought it for myself, to play with my nieces and nephews,” she writes.The game only takes about 20 minutes to play and the objective is simple: Players flip and stack cards to reveal “slamwiches,” “double deckers,” as well as “sandwich thieves” and “munchers” cards that require players to turn over more cards. Whenever a slamwich, double decker, or thief card gets flipped, the first player to slap the cards wins those cards, and the first player to collect all the cards wins the entire game. “I lovedSlamwichwhen I was a kid,” adds Strategist sleep writer and board-game fan Amelia Jerden.

Ro loves playingRhino Herowith her two sons. The game asks kids to build a skyscraper out of cards that Rhino Hero can climb up without knocking over. “It’s a compact game that includes only cards and a small wooden rhino token, making it easy to pack for a trip or day out,” she says.

This farm-animal-themed board game “challenges kids to really think about each move,” says NAPPA Awards director Elena Epstein. The game’s main objective had kids create a layout for a series of cows, pigs, and other farm animals that must be kept separated using a limited number of fences, which tests a child’s logic, spatial reasoning, and planning skills. “Kids feel a lot of pride as they figure out each level,” Epstein says.

For something more educational, try this math game that was featured in our gift guide for 8-year-olds. To win a card, players have to get to the center number by adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing the five other numbers on the card (each number can be used only once). The first player to collect five cards is crowned the winner. While the game is designed for kids ages 8 to 12, each player starts the game by choosing their own level of difficulty, meaning kids of different skill sets can all play together.

This 3-DTetrisgame, recommended by Ali Mierzejewski, the editor-in-chief of the Toy Insider, works much like the original version of the game except you’re competing against other players using one pot of physical pieces. “You have to be strategic about what pieces you need and try to predict what the other players will need while playing. It’s a really fun way to update the classic video game,” she says.

A tried-and-true for a reason,Yahtzeeis “easy to teach, with minimal setup, and suitable for any number of players,” says Sparks. “This absolute classic will have players pushing their luck to roll high-scoring combinations of dice.” Most important,Yahtzeeis fast-paced, so it will keep kids engaged throughout the gameplay.

Collaborative games are great because they teach kids teamwork skills as they work together toward a common objective. Caitlin Meister, founder of theGreer Meister Group, a private-tutoring and educational-consulting practice in Brooklyn, recommendsForbidden Island, in which players have to work together to get off an island before it sinks into the ocean. “You reassemble the board each time by laying out tiles, so it doesn’t get boring,” she says. It has plenty of replay value.

In our roundup of the best board games to break out during parties, five of our experts praisedJust One. “Hands down,Just Oneis our favorite new party game,” says Kelsey Demers, who runs the board-game blogthe Tabletop Family. “It’s simple to play, a breeze to teach, and utterly addictive.” The game won the prestigious 2019 Spiel des Jahres, or German Game of the Year, which evaluates board games based on their game concept, rule structure, layout, and design. The main objective, as the title suggests, is for players to help their teammates guess a word by suggesting “just one” word as a hint. Which sounds easy enough, but, asMeeple Mountainfounder Andy Matthews warns, “Watch out, duplicate words cancel each other out,” so you need to be creative. A right answer scores your team one point, while a wrong answer docks two points, with the ultimate goal being to get as many points out of 13 as possible. This game takes about 20 minutes to play and is suitable for up to seven players.

Ticket to Rideis an adventure-style game in which players attempt to cross the country and connect cities by building train routes. Suitable for ages 8 and up, it is easy to pick up “but also offers a level of strategy and tactics just deep enough for competitive gamers to return to time and again,” says Ian Ross, who runs the popular Instagram pageBoard Games As Art.

Walsh describesDixitas “a great icebreaker of a game, fantastic for getting everyone interacting.” Great for kids with strong imaginations, it begins with one player being designated the storyteller; that player makes up a sentence based on the image on one of the cards in their hand. Then each player selects the card in their hand that best matches the sentence and gives it to the storyteller. The storyteller shuffles the cards and presents them to the other players, who place bets on which is the original card with the winners gaining points for correct guesses. As an added bonus, “the card artwork is beautiful, imaginative, and sometimes a little surreal,” Walsh says.

“Charterstoneis a campaign-style game in which, over the course of 12 games, you’ll build and expand a village shared by you and your opponents by constructing buildings and unlocking new elements with each play,” explains Demers. It’s a great choice for families with children because you can play it over many game nights and Sunday afternoons. The best part? After you’ve completed your 12-game campaign, “you will have a unique-to-you board game you can play again and again.”

“InKingdomino,players use tiles featuring different land types to build kingdoms within a set-size grid,” explains board-game enthusiast and Cartamundi tabletop games ambassadorSean Amdisen-Cooke. It’s a classic strategy game that is still simple enough to be played with both kids and adults. Its name — a portmanteau ofkingdomanddomino— also explains the basic premise. Just like with dominoes, players can only add a tile to the grid if the one it touches contains a matching land type.

According to Strategist contributor and dadDavid Pogue, “this isthe greatest game” that all ages can play. The rules of this spy-themed favorite are very similar to the basic elements of charades, with players dividing into two teams with one designated spymaster, who provides clues. By guessing the words correctly, players unveil the other teams’ agents. The first to unmask all of its opponents’ spies wins. Pogue calls it “truly hilarious and satisfying,” and though the designer has it labeled for kids 10 and up, Pogue notes that “Codenamesis super-fun with younger kids because they make fantastically imaginative connections between the words.”

Prime Clubhas kids ages 10 and up practice their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills as they advance around the board. By deciding which operation will bring them closer to winning or will bump other players backward, the game deepens both their logic and mathematical thinking while still being plenty of fun.

If your kids are bored ofPictionary, Quintin Smith, editor of the game-review siteShut Up & Sit Down, recommendsPictomania, which he describes as being “more deep, exciting, and competitive” than the old game-night standard. It’s “a side-splittingly funny” game, he says, because players are asked to draw and guess at the same time, “resulting in remarkably poor drawings and guesses.”

Corsillo discovered this game by way of her “strategy-game connoisseur” brother. According to Corsillo,Raccoon Tycooncombines the fast play ofTicket to Ridewith the social interaction ofSettlers of Catan, “but is more engaging and fun to look at.” A player will win the game by collecting the most points, but there are multiple ways to earn them, which ups the game’s replay value. Corsillo also notes that part of what setsRaccoon Tycoonapart is “the intricate, uncanny illustrations,” designed by painter Annie Stegg. “Every time I play, I discover some clever detail that makes me laugh,” she adds. “Another perk is that you can play with as few as two people or as many as five, and though you have to pay attention to multiple things at once, it’s not so complicated that a beginner or child couldn’t win on their first time playing.” But since the game play takes between 60 and 90 minutes, this game is better for older children.