The way we play with our kids changes constantly. As they grow, their abilities expand and we sometimes struggle to keep up. Preschoolers in particular have very specific ideas about how to play. They no longer allow you to lead the play, and often get frustrated because they want you to play a certain way (which they neglect to tell you.) This leaves you feeling frustrated! When this started happening with my boys, I felt sad to leave behind the restaurant play, block building, and ball rolling that we had done together. Those play sessions have now turned to Legos, puzzles, card games, and board games. The board games are fun! I love to get them as gifts for my boys because I think they are so much more valuable than the typical character toys they want. Case in point, last night my husband and I went out to dinner after parent-teacher conferences. When we got back to my in-laws to pick up the kids, they were playing a game with their grandpa called Tip-It. (I never heard of this game!) They were having so much fun with this old balance game and continued to play for nearly an hour. AN HOUR. I mean, really, I’m not saying it’s a miracle, but it is not easy for little ones to stay focused on one thing like that for so long! So as the holidays are approaching and you are dreading the influx of new toys, consider suggesting some games for your family. Here are some of our favorites:
Silly Street
This is such a wonderful game for teaching your child how to play board games. It is very simple, but you have to read the cards, so adult help is typically necessary. The cards direct you to do, find, or sing all manner of silly things. It is truly designed to teach kids various skills: coping with disappointment, being the leader, and being creative. I really like it and it is one of my favorite things that Santa brought our family last year for Christmas.
Candy Land
It’s a classic for a reason. It’s so simple to play that they can do it independently. I like it for teaching them how to play a board game, and increasing their ability to focus on one thing for a longer period of time. It is seriously boring for parents and has limited challenges for the kids, though. This leads me to mention it as truly a beginner game, not as beloved and well-played as others on this list.
Eye Found It!
This game is actually available in two versions: as a card game or a board game. The card game is awesome, but we’ll discuss the board game here. This game is meant to be cooperative, meaning that the players either all win together or all lose together. This game is a Disney game: the board has depictions of several Disney worlds on it. Players move along the large game board, and on certain turns, everyone searches for hidden pictures in the scenes. (For example: apples, flowerpots, swords) All the players get to then move the number of objects found towards Cinderella’s castle at the end of the game board. Eye Found It is such a fun game. It’s so interactive and the kids love finding everything!
Count Your Chickens!
This game is also a cooperative game! It’s very simple for little kids and they can play pretty well without much help from grown-ups. Basically, it has a bunch of little chick pieces and one mother hen. Each player takes a turn with the spinner and puts chicks back into the hen house before mother hen gets to it at the end of the game board. It’s easy and the kids don’t even have to know the numerals to play, as long as they can count. This game is a quick one that they like to play over and over to try to win!
Yeti in my Spaghetti
Even though I find the plastic spaghetti pieces EVERYWHERE, I still like this game. It’s simple, silly, and fun. There is a red bowl. Lay the spaghetti across the top of the bowl, put the little yeti figure on top, and take turns pulling out spaghetti without letting the yeti fall. Kinda like Jenga meets Don’t Break the Ice.
My First Bananagrams
I like word games and have always liked Bananagrams. Someone gave my oldest son the preschool version of this game and we loved using it this summer as good practice for Kindergarten. It is definitely for an older preschooler. My 4 yr old likes playing with the letter tiles, but can’t engage much independently. It’s so versatile, and I think just playing with the tiles has helped his lower case letter recognition. I did word families with it with my oldest and it was so beneficial for him. The true directions for the game are to get a bunch of letters and use all the tiles to form your own crossword puzzle before the other players, using every tile you have. The preschool version has great suggestions of other “games” to play with the tiles to build literacy skills.
Memory Match Game
There are oodles of versions of this game. We have a Disney Cars movie version. It’s fun and the kids can really build their focus and memory skills by playing it. Now the version we have can be frustrating because so many cards look similar, so I take about half of the cards away when we play. My 4 and 6 year old are just starting to play this game without much help from me. Target usually has several versions of this game on sale for like $4 near Christmas. I think it’s worth that!
I hope you check out some of these games! They really help us with quality family time as our kids get a little older. Mention games your family loves in the comments! I’d love to try some new ones!
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