We recently discovered the amazing world of Gameschooling! So, I went on the hunt for the best board games for kids and families. These games are educational and loads of fun.
Robot Turtles [Coding / Age 4+]
We love this board game! Did you know that it was the most backed board game in Kickstarter history?
I was one of the backers falling in love with the sneaky way this game teaches preschoolers the fundamentals of programming, from coding to functions!
The game is really easy to learn and offers loads of learning opportunities. Before you know it, your little one will be writing computer games rather than just playing them
Zingo [Reading / Age 4+]
I bought this game when my son resisted learning sight words and short vowel words. Zingo is perfect for pre-readers and early readers and teaches recognition of essential words.
Zingo offers a bingo-style game that was developed by educators to create a great play and stealth learning experience for Pre-K to 2nd graders and help with reading skills.
Obstacles [Strategy / Age 5+]
My boys truly enjoy this game. Players adventure through paths of hazards and barriers.
Players overcome obstacles by using unlikely tools in silly and imaginative ways.
Players work together to make solutions to get them home together. A fun game that promotes cooperation, problem-solving, and imagination.
Sight Word Swat [Reading / Age 5+]
We bought this game when our 6-year-old fought us on reading. The game is a blast and our son learned a ton from it.
The game includes 220 of the most commonly used sight words. Kids want to learn and are encouraged to learn in a fun and engaging way.
Specially designed to teach the top Dolch sight words, sight word SWAT challenges kids to see, SWAT, and learn! Learning can be loads of fun!
Mancala [Strategy / Age 6+]
In college, a friend of mine made me a Mancala board and I immediately fell in love with this game.
Mancala is one of the world's oldest and best-loved games. You take turns scooping up the special stones and counting them out one at a time into the pockets on the board.
When a player drops a stone into an empty pocket on their side of the board, they capture all the stones in the opposite pocket.
It sounds like a simple marble game, but it's got plenty of strategies and reinforces Stem skills like counting and planning. The player who collects the most stones wins.
Blokus [Strategy / Age 7+]
Super easy to learn! Players need to stake your claim and protect your territory with the Blokus game!
Super easy to learn and packs a punch full of strategy learning and challenges.
Each player gets a set of 21 pieces – in red, blue, green, or yellow – then takes turns placing them on the board. There's just one rule: each piece you play must touch at least one other piece of the same color, but only at the corners!
The goal is to fit the most pieces on the board. The game ends when no more pieces can be placed down, and the player with the lowest number remaining wins!
Tiny Polka Dot is awesome younger kids and has a ton of variations.
I also highly recommend Prime Climb–it does an amazing job of naturally understanding factors.
Fraction Formula is amazing–my 5 year olds don’t understand fractions yet but they understand the game (and it helped one of my high school students understand fractions for the very first time)
Yes, thank you for these board games for kids recommendations! Prime Climb is on my list!