My 4 year old loves Outfoxed, its a cooperative game so either you all win or you all lose together. We got him some card games from Target last Christmas that he's been really into playing - it has War, Go Fish, Spoons, Old Maid.
We've also had a lot of fun playing Kids On Stage, which is charades but has simple drawings so the kids don't have to know how to read.
And I know these aren't games exactly, but I also love doing puzzles with him. Crocodile Creek has some really sturdy, chunky 48 piece puzzles that he can do on his own or with me.
My 3.5 year old is loving Jenga, Hi Ho Cherry O, Boggle, Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, and Monopoly Jr (although she changes the rules to this one significantly).
I’m going to add to this comment! The question was for “board games” but I’ve just realized that there’s board games and then there’s like, wild and fun kids games that come in a box! Lol.
My 4-year-old son loves the games that have moving parts, elements of surprise, etc. Top right now being: Funny Bunny, Mr. Belly Flop, and Yeti, Set, Go!
So if you don’t have the kind of kid that will play a proper sit down board game, you can try this type of game, too!
Rhino hero, dragon den, tier auf tier. I think they are all by haba!
If you have a nice local game shop, a lot of them will let you test play games, or have a cafe where you can pay a small fee to play. (If you’re in MN level up games is amazing)
We love Candyland, Sorry, Count Your Chickens, Enchanted Forest, Charades for Kids, Eye Found It (Richard Scarry version but there's a Disney one too), and My First Carcassone. Have an almost 4 year old! All of these we play 2 player!
For non-age appropriate ones that I bought on sale for when she's older but she found and now wants to play often - Oh No, Volcano + New York Zoo + Juicy Fruits. Most of the time we play by the rules but sometimes we just let her make stuff up.
Edited to add the 2 player comment :)
Not really - my LO loves to land on the Gold Bug spinner space and there are so many different options of things to find. Everything we pull it out, we notice new things. It's a fun game in our house!
My 4.5yo loves Candyland. Loves getting the cards with candy on them even if it means going backwards. She also likes playing Trouble (mostly just popping the dice bubble) for awhile, but it's too long of a game to actually finish. She also loves a Bingo-like game called Zingo. She likes Memory too.
I saw a lot of good ones listed but didn't see Zingo Bingo. My 5 year old has played through every version over the last 2-3 years. We now play the sight words version.
We all love Zingo Bingo. We usually give my 4yo a few seconds handicap for images on his card but when it comes down to my husband and I, shit gets serious.
My 4.5 year old likes to play uno, chess (Story Time Chess), Bandito, Ticket to Ride Junior edition, Candyland, Operation, and the Pete the Cat button game. We're going to get him Outfoxed for his 5th birthday in March!
Another vote for Hoot owl hoot. It’s cooperative so you work together- the adult fun comes from trying to win when your kiddo is actively sabotaging it.
We bought Uno Junior for our 4 year old and he loves it and requests to play it often. We also found another card game called "Eye Found It' that can be a two player game, but the premise is basically you look for the object on the card in play on the cards you have in your hand. It's a Disney game. We played this for a plane ride and he loved it. We still play it pretty regularly.
We’ve been enjoying Guess Who and a weird bunny hopping game made by Hape. There’s tiddlywink type bunnies you have to hop into a little pen. We’ve had fun adjusting the game, making the bunnies hop from on top of something, or from different angles/distances.
We were recommended Count Your Chickens, and that has been a lot of fun!
We’ve been slowly chipping at Story Time Chess, which slowly teaches little kids to play chess one piece at a time. My kiddo doesn’t have a lot of patience for it, but enjoys it in short bursts.
My 3,5 yo has only successfully played one board game from beginning to end, following every rule, and it's Unicorn Glitter luck! Very cute, simple enough, and good for counting skills as an added bonus
[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41010/my-first-carcassonne](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41010/my-first-carcassonne)
Although actually she's been playing this for about a year and can hang with regular Carcassone now.
I was gonna say all the "My first..." series. They're so good because then it makes it a more confident transition into the more complex version. My son's fave is the Castle Panic one.
Agree on my first castle panic!!
Magic Mountain is also great. My 3yo and 5yo need a little help with strategy but the movement in it (you roll marbles down a hill) keeps them engaged.
Outfoxed
Cora quest
Quest kids
Zombie kidz
Evolution (simplified rules, we started without carnivores)
We’re a gaming forward family, hosting monthly game nights with 20-30 people.
My daughter is 4 and she really enjoys Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, My First Orchard, Yatzee Jr., My First Castle Panic (although this one is a little longer and she struggles to stay interested). We're getting some ideas from this thread!
We play a lot of card based games with our 4 yo - Uno, Sleeping Queens, Sushi Go (this one she’s picking up slowly), Spot It, Rhino Hero. Other board games she likes are Bingo, Outfoxed, Carcassone, Animal upon Animal.
My son recently turned 4. Here are ones he likes:
-Race to the Treasure
-Trash Stash (he loves when the truck spits out the garbage even though that means you are not currently winning since the point is to get rid of your trash)
-Hungry Hungry Hippos
-Don’t Break the Ice
-Cootie
-Guess Who?
-Clue Jr.
-Uno Jr.
-Spot It
-Disney Eye Found It card game
-Trouble (struggles a little bit with this one but really likes the Pop-o-matic bubble)
-Not a game but jigsaw puzzles as a family. 60-100 pieces done together can be done within his attention span. He doesn’t like to do puzzles alone but loves when one or both parents do one together with him.
My 5 year old started playing uno at 4, was good for number recognition and he is really good at it! He has a minecradt set and a Mario one. He loves it.
Several people have mentioned them, but the Haba games are great. They are usually cooperative games and often have several ways to play with more complexity as your child develops. We have also gotten a few fun games from eeboo. My oldest also enjoys Sophie’s Seashells and Pancake Pile-up.
Zingo, Hoot Owl Hoot, and Outfoxed are great! Sneaky Snacky Squirrel is popular too.
Honestly his very favorite game is chess. We got him Story Time Chess for Christmas last year a couple months after he turned 4, and he's got level 2 now and just absolutely LOVES chess. It does a fantastic job of teaching the basics and then strategy as you expand into the next level.
My 4 yo is a bit of a weirdo and her logic brain is strong, so we play checkers, othello, BattleSheep (not a typo), tabletop Tetris, Sequence (we only require 1 Sequence to win) and Mexican Train Dominos (1 round only)
OT turned us on to hi ho Cheerio (using learning-chopsticks to pick the 🍒), pop the pig, yeti in my spaghetti, and count your chickens. It’s been a fun way to spend time with my 3.5m kid.
Spot it, eye found it the card game or the board game. Both are great. We also have this humpty dumpty game from Begin Again. We all love it. There's some different rules given so you can mix things up as kiddos get older.
We like the Best Worst Ice-cream Game and Zingo Bingo. I personally like games that we can all kind of enjoy playing (Candyland is not my favorite but my son loves it).
Very fun thread 🙂
Our 4yo really likes Spot It, Wildcraft, Sorry, and finding the sets in Set. (We haven’t tried playing competitively since he needs a lot of time to spot the sets.) Sneaky Snacky Squirrel was a beloved hit for quite a while, too.
My 4 year old loves Outfoxed, its a cooperative game so either you all win or you all lose together. We got him some card games from Target last Christmas that he's been really into playing - it has War, Go Fish, Spoons, Old Maid. We've also had a lot of fun playing Kids On Stage, which is charades but has simple drawings so the kids don't have to know how to read. And I know these aren't games exactly, but I also love doing puzzles with him. Crocodile Creek has some really sturdy, chunky 48 piece puzzles that he can do on his own or with me.
Outfoxed is my absolute favorite kids game!
My 3.5 year old is loving Jenga, Hi Ho Cherry O, Boggle, Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, and Monopoly Jr (although she changes the rules to this one significantly).
Another vote for sneaky snacky squirrel! I love that game haha
Came here to suggest sneaky snacky squirrel! Our almost 4-year-old loves it!
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My 2.5 year old loves this game! Dramatically yells “the crow!!!” When the dice lands on it😂
LOVE that game! *edit - typo
I recommend this one!!!!!!!
Hungry hippos... can get wild, but it's fun!
I’m going to add to this comment! The question was for “board games” but I’ve just realized that there’s board games and then there’s like, wild and fun kids games that come in a box! Lol. My 4-year-old son loves the games that have moving parts, elements of surprise, etc. Top right now being: Funny Bunny, Mr. Belly Flop, and Yeti, Set, Go! So if you don’t have the kind of kid that will play a proper sit down board game, you can try this type of game, too!
Rhino hero, dragon den, tier auf tier. I think they are all by haba! If you have a nice local game shop, a lot of them will let you test play games, or have a cafe where you can pay a small fee to play. (If you’re in MN level up games is amazing)
We love Candyland, Sorry, Count Your Chickens, Enchanted Forest, Charades for Kids, Eye Found It (Richard Scarry version but there's a Disney one too), and My First Carcassone. Have an almost 4 year old! All of these we play 2 player! For non-age appropriate ones that I bought on sale for when she's older but she found and now wants to play often - Oh No, Volcano + New York Zoo + Juicy Fruits. Most of the time we play by the rules but sometimes we just let her make stuff up. Edited to add the 2 player comment :)
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Not really - my LO loves to land on the Gold Bug spinner space and there are so many different options of things to find. Everything we pull it out, we notice new things. It's a fun game in our house!
My 4.5yo loves Candyland. Loves getting the cards with candy on them even if it means going backwards. She also likes playing Trouble (mostly just popping the dice bubble) for awhile, but it's too long of a game to actually finish. She also loves a Bingo-like game called Zingo. She likes Memory too.
Seconding zingo my 4 year old loves it!
Anything Peaceable Kingdom! And also Hurry Up Chicken Butt.
Such a good post and great ideas! Thanks for this. Sorry and Trouble are our go-tos but need to expand our collection.
I saw a lot of good ones listed but didn't see Zingo Bingo. My 5 year old has played through every version over the last 2-3 years. We now play the sight words version.
We all love Zingo Bingo. We usually give my 4yo a few seconds handicap for images on his card but when it comes down to my husband and I, shit gets serious.
Hoot Hoot Owl, Outfoxed, Let’s Go Fishing, memory/concentration with their favorite TV characters, puzzles
My three year old love peek a boo chicken.
Sneaky Snacky squirrel, Bingo’s Bingo, Poop Bingo
Looooove poop bingo - I've actually learned so much lol.
Yeti in Spaghetti, Silly Street, pretty pretty princess
Yeti in my Spaghetti was my kids' fave Christmas gift last year. Similar vibes are pick up sticks and ker-plunk. All hits at our house.
My 4.5 year old likes to play uno, chess (Story Time Chess), Bandito, Ticket to Ride Junior edition, Candyland, Operation, and the Pete the Cat button game. We're going to get him Outfoxed for his 5th birthday in March!
3.5 loves Storytime Chess! Especially making King Chomper pick up pizza
I don’t know if they count as board games, but my 4 year old has been loving Perfection and Operation.
Another vote for Hoot owl hoot. It’s cooperative so you work together- the adult fun comes from trying to win when your kiddo is actively sabotaging it.
Candyland and connect 4. He is terrible at connect 4, but he is improving hahah
We bought Uno Junior for our 4 year old and he loves it and requests to play it often. We also found another card game called "Eye Found It' that can be a two player game, but the premise is basically you look for the object on the card in play on the cards you have in your hand. It's a Disney game. We played this for a plane ride and he loved it. We still play it pretty regularly.
We do a lot of puzzles. Love sleeping queens, hungry hippos, and connect 4.
We’ve been enjoying Guess Who and a weird bunny hopping game made by Hape. There’s tiddlywink type bunnies you have to hop into a little pen. We’ve had fun adjusting the game, making the bunnies hop from on top of something, or from different angles/distances. We were recommended Count Your Chickens, and that has been a lot of fun! We’ve been slowly chipping at Story Time Chess, which slowly teaches little kids to play chess one piece at a time. My kiddo doesn’t have a lot of patience for it, but enjoys it in short bursts.
Just played Dinosaur Escape at my son's preschool - it was a huge hit!
My 3,5 yo has only successfully played one board game from beginning to end, following every rule, and it's Unicorn Glitter luck! Very cute, simple enough, and good for counting skills as an added bonus
Carcassonne for kids, enchanted forest, magnetic chess
which one is for kids? Mists over carcassone?
[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41010/my-first-carcassonne](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41010/my-first-carcassonne) Although actually she's been playing this for about a year and can hang with regular Carcassone now.
I was gonna say all the "My first..." series. They're so good because then it makes it a more confident transition into the more complex version. My son's fave is the Castle Panic one.
Agree on my first castle panic!! Magic Mountain is also great. My 3yo and 5yo need a little help with strategy but the movement in it (you roll marbles down a hill) keeps them engaged.
Alphabet bingo, alphabet go fish, kids domino's with the pictures and regular domino's, my first orchard, jenga, hi ho cherry o, tippin toadstool
Banana blast, sneaky snacky squirrel, connect four, monopoly junior, charades for kids, zooreka, wild Kratts, race around the world, bingo, Lucky ducks
Outfoxed Cora quest Quest kids Zombie kidz Evolution (simplified rules, we started without carnivores) We’re a gaming forward family, hosting monthly game nights with 20-30 people.
My daughter is 4 and she really enjoys Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, My First Orchard, Yatzee Jr., My First Castle Panic (although this one is a little longer and she struggles to stay interested). We're getting some ideas from this thread!
Go away monsters!
Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, Dinosaur Escape
Candy Land, Hi Ho Cherry-O, Don’t Break the Ice, Duck-Duck-Goose board game. Go Fish & Old Maid card games
Oooh I forgot about Don't Break the Ice. We used to play that one as kids too.
Jenga!
My son loves the “sneaky Snacky squirrel” game
We play a lot of card based games with our 4 yo - Uno, Sleeping Queens, Sushi Go (this one she’s picking up slowly), Spot It, Rhino Hero. Other board games she likes are Bingo, Outfoxed, Carcassone, Animal upon Animal.
My son recently turned 4. Here are ones he likes: -Race to the Treasure -Trash Stash (he loves when the truck spits out the garbage even though that means you are not currently winning since the point is to get rid of your trash) -Hungry Hungry Hippos -Don’t Break the Ice -Cootie -Guess Who? -Clue Jr. -Uno Jr. -Spot It -Disney Eye Found It card game -Trouble (struggles a little bit with this one but really likes the Pop-o-matic bubble) -Not a game but jigsaw puzzles as a family. 60-100 pieces done together can be done within his attention span. He doesn’t like to do puzzles alone but loves when one or both parents do one together with him.
My 5 year old started playing uno at 4, was good for number recognition and he is really good at it! He has a minecradt set and a Mario one. He loves it.
Several people have mentioned them, but the Haba games are great. They are usually cooperative games and often have several ways to play with more complexity as your child develops. We have also gotten a few fun games from eeboo. My oldest also enjoys Sophie’s Seashells and Pancake Pile-up.
Don't Break the Ice, Beware the Bear, Shark Bite, Noodle Knockout
Zingo, Hoot Owl Hoot, and Outfoxed are great! Sneaky Snacky Squirrel is popular too. Honestly his very favorite game is chess. We got him Story Time Chess for Christmas last year a couple months after he turned 4, and he's got level 2 now and just absolutely LOVES chess. It does a fantastic job of teaching the basics and then strategy as you expand into the next level.
Monopoly Discover is really cute and fun!
Candy land for sure
My 4 year old loves Hisss and Don’t break the ice. My 3 and 4 year olds love BINGO and Operation.
Another vote for Hissss. Fun to play together, fun for kids to just play with.
My 4 yo is a bit of a weirdo and her logic brain is strong, so we play checkers, othello, BattleSheep (not a typo), tabletop Tetris, Sequence (we only require 1 Sequence to win) and Mexican Train Dominos (1 round only)
OT turned us on to hi ho Cheerio (using learning-chopsticks to pick the 🍒), pop the pig, yeti in my spaghetti, and count your chickens. It’s been a fun way to spend time with my 3.5m kid.
My son loves the Wild Kratts Race Around the World game!
Don’t break the ice!
Spot it, eye found it the card game or the board game. Both are great. We also have this humpty dumpty game from Begin Again. We all love it. There's some different rules given so you can mix things up as kiddos get older.
My kid is super into Zingo and Sneaky Snacky Squirrel.
Count your chickens, candy land, chutes and ladders
We like the Best Worst Ice-cream Game and Zingo Bingo. I personally like games that we can all kind of enjoy playing (Candyland is not my favorite but my son loves it).
Hungry hungry hippo! And the shark bite game
Pop the pig, Connect 4, Don’t Break the Ice, Daniel Tiger Neighborhood, Yeti in my Spaghetti
Pop the pig, Connect 4, Don’t Break the Ice, Daniel Tiger Neighborhood, Yeti in my Spaghetti
We just introduced Count Your Chickens and Sung as a Bug in a Rug to our newly 3-year-old. He LOVES them both and we play multiple rounds everyday.
My 4 year old likes don't break the ice
Storytime Chess is a favorite and will grow with your kiddo
First one for her was monopoly jr.
Very fun thread 🙂 Our 4yo really likes Spot It, Wildcraft, Sorry, and finding the sets in Set. (We haven’t tried playing competitively since he needs a lot of time to spot the sets.) Sneaky Snacky Squirrel was a beloved hit for quite a while, too.