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Make your family game nights exciting and inclusive with the best board games for toddlers so that your younger children can join in the fun!
Board games are not only a fun part of childhood, but they can also teach your child various values that are needed as they navigate through life.
These values include taking turns, cooperative play, and following directions and rules.
Board games are also an excellent way for your child to develop their problem solving, reasoning, and thinking skills.
Playing games from an early age is not only fun for your toddler, it’s also a wonderful way to increase bonding with other family members and friends.
With that in mind, here’s a look at our handpicked list of the best toddler board games for oodles of fun and lots of laughter and excitement!
We’re confident you’ll find at least one game here that your little one can have lots of fun playing.
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Editor’s Choice – Our Top Pick Of The Best Toddler Friendly Board Games
Here’s why the Candy Land Kingdom Of Sweet Adventures Board Game is our top toddler board game:
- Toddlers absolutely love playing this game!
- Helps your little one practice identifying and matching colors
- Wonderful game for kids who haven’t learned how to read yet
- Kids love making up all kinds of stories as they move along the path
- Great way to improve your child’s fine motor skills
- Introduces toddlers to the concept of winning and losing and how to be a good sport
- fun game for the whole family to play
Check out our detailed review below if you’d like to know more about the Hasbro Gaming Candy Land Kingdom Of Sweet Adventures Board Game.
Candy Land Kingdom Of Sweet Adventures Board Game
This Candy Land Kingdom Of Sweet Adventures Board Game is much like the Candy Land classic game that so many of us played as kids.
Made by Hasbro, the name of the game is for children to race their different colored gingerbread men along the sweet path to see who can get to the Kings Castle first.
Tons of fun to play, it’s also a color matching game designed for two to four players.
And it’s ideal for little ones who haven’t learned to read yet.
The game consists of the game board, four gingerbread pawns, a deck of cards each bearing a color, and instructions on how to play.
Parents often purchase this game because, having played this game themselves as kids, they know exactly what to expect from this game.
Although some of the graphics have changed, the basic game is still the same, and is something that parents feel comfortable with and toddlers enjoy.
A great way to develop your toddler’s communication and socialization skills, this updated version of a beloved game is sure to add a whole lot of fun to family game night!
Why We Recommend Candy Land Kingdom of Sweet Adventures
- Toddlers love that this game is so colorful!
- Kids think the cartoon-like treats that appear along the path are fun
- This game is a good reinforcement of the need to take to turns
- It can help develop your toddler’s fine motor skills
- Helps your little one practice identifying and matching colors
- Helps your child develop their socialization and communication skills since it takes at least two people play
- Introduces toddlers to the concept of winning and losing and how to be a good sport
- Wonderful game for kids who haven’t learned how to read yet
The Next Top 4 Toddler Board Games You Should Check Out For Your Child
Educational Insights The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game
The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game is a fun and exciting game for toddlers.
The object of this game is to be the first player to gather five acorns (one of each color) and put them into your stump.
This game consists of a colorful tree shaped game board, a ‘squirrel squeezer’, twenty acorns in five colors (red, yellow, green, blue and purple), and a spinner.
To start the game, you scatter all the acorns onto the tree game board.
A spin of the spinner determines what your child does when it’s their turn.
They can get an acorn or steal an acorn from someone else, but they can also lose their turn or lose all their acorns.
Toddlers love the ‘squirrel squeezer’ (which is just a big pair of squirrel shaped tweezers) that they use to pick up their acorns and put them into their stump.
The squeezer is a great way to develop your child’s fine motor skills, and the spinner can help with color and number recognition.
Overall, the game is a great way for kids to practice their hand-eye coordination, matching skills, and strategic thinking.
Designed for toddlers ages 3 years and up, this delightful board game is tons of fun!
Why We Recommend The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game
- Fun board games that toddlers love to play over and over!
- This game can help your child develop their fine motor skills
- Fun way to improve your child’s hand-eye coordination
- Helps kids practice their matching skills
- Encourages children to take turns
- Can help teach your child the principle of following rules
- Encourages kids to develop their language skills
- Helps children learn about strategic thinking
- Teaches children to be good winners and losers
- Can help your child with color and number recognition
Zingo
Zingo is an awesome, award winning board game that’s made by Think Fun that toddlers love!
This awesome matching game is a fun twist on tradition bingo, and the object of the game is to be the first to cover all the squares on your challenge card.
To do so, players take turns sliding the Zinger dispenser, which dispenses two yellow tiles at a time. Each tile has a picture on it along with the word for that picture.
If the picture on a yellow tile matches one of the spots on your child’s challenge card, your child takes the tile and places it over the corresponding square on their card.
If none of the players can use either yellow tile, the tiles get put back into the Zinger dispenser. The first person to cover all nine squares on their challenge card and yell ‘Zingo!’ wins the game.
Not only do kids enjoy playing the game, they also love using the Zinger dispenser.
Zingo is a wonderful way to help your toddler with image recognition, word recognition, focus, matching, and language skills.
It comes with seven challenge cards, which means that lots of kids (and adults too) can join in the fun!
While it’s recommended for children age 4 and up, quite a few parents we know shared that their 3 year old toddler loved playing the game!
Why We Recommend Zingo
- Zingo can help your child improve their fine motor skills
- Kids love using the Zinger dispenser
- Fun way for kids to practice their image and word recognition
- Great way to improve your child’s focus
- Can help improve children’s language skills
- Teaches toddlers how to follow rules
- Helps children practice their matching skills
- Can use the game to help your child develop good sportsmanship
- Helps kids develop their social skills
Richard Scarry’s Busytown Eye Found It!
Richard Scarry’s Busytown Eye Found It! is a fun-filled cooperative board game for toddlers age 4 and up.
The object of the game is to get to Picnic Island before the pigs eat all your picnic food.
To get to Picnic Island, you have to take a ferry and the ferry doesn’t leave until all the players are on it.
If all the players get to the ferry before the pigs eat all their food, they win!
Players will race through Busytown solving mysteries and searching for hidden objects on their way to the ferry.
And there’s tons of fun and adventure to be found along the way including a bustling airport, lively city streets, and an exciting harbor filled with goofy looking boats.
To play the game, each player takes turns spinning the spinner. On your turn, you can either move a certain number of spaces, lose a piece of food to the pigs, or draw a Goldbug card.
When someone draws a Goldbug card, everyone gets to participate.
Each Goldbug card has a different object on it, and all the players try to find as many of whatever object is on the card as they can, before the timer runs out.
Every time someone finds the object, they mark it with a magnifying glass tokens.
When the timer runs out, the number of magnifying glass tokens on the board equals the number of squares every player can move.
The game comes with a gigantic (ie six foot long) colorful game board, 4 cute movers with bases, a spinner, a ferry tile, ten magnifying glass tokens, six food tiles, thirty Goldbug cards, a timer, and instructions on how to play.
Kids love the gigantic game board and cooperative games are a great way to encourage teamwork and foster kindness and compassion.
This game is also an excellent way for your toddler to improve their observation skills, and practice object recognition and matching skills.
Designed for two to four players, ‘Eye Found It!’ is a delightful game that kids can play on their own once they get the hang of how it’s played.
Why We Recommend Richard Scarry’s Busytown Eye Found It!
- Toddlers love solving the mysteries and searching for hidden objects as they race towards the ferry!
- It’s a cooperative game, so it helps encourage teamwork and foster kindness and compassion
- This game is an excellent way to help improve your child’s observation skills
- Can help your child practice their object recognition and matching skills
- Children learn to focus and pay attention to detail
- Can help kids increase their verbal and communication skills as they have to cooperate with one another in order to win the game
- Can help toddlers improve their matching skills
- Helps children learn more about sharing and playing together peacefully
- Children get practice in following rules
- Wonderful way to practice good sportsmanship
Hi Ho! Cherry-O
Hi Ho! Cherry-O is such a classic children’s game that we simply had to include it on our list of board games for toddlers age 3 and up!
The object of the game is to fill your basket with fruit, and the first player to put all ten pieces of their fruit into their basket wins the game.
While the original version of Hi Ho! Cherry-O only had red cherries, this updated version allows kids to pick from four different colors of pretend fruit.
Each color represents a different fruit – cherries, blueberries, apples, and oranges.
To start the game, each player picks a color and then they get ten pieces of fruit which they ‘hang’ on their tree.
Kids then take turns spinning the spinner.
There are four spots on the spinner that allow kids to pick varying numbers of fruit off their tree and put them into their basket.
But there are also two spots that make them take pieces of fruit out of their basket and put them back onto their tree.
And if kids land on the ‘spill’ spot on the spinner, they have to take all the fruit from their bucket and put it back onto their tree.
Toddlers enjoy picking pieces of fruit off their tree and putting them into their basket, and they love saying ‘Hi Ho! Cherry-O!’ when they have all 10 pieces of fruit in their basket.
This game can be played by two to four players, and it’s a fun way to develop your child’s motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
It’s also a great way for your child to practice counting, sorting, and color recognition.
This fun and colorful board game by Hasbro makes a great addition to any family game night!
Why We Recommend Hi Ho! Cherry-O
- Toddlers love how colorful the board and pretend pieces of fruit are
- It can help your child practice counting, sorting and color recognition
- Fun way for kids to improve their hand-eye coordination and motor skills
- Kids enjoy taking the cherries off their tree and putting them into their basket
- Helps children practice following directions and rules
- Kids get to practice taking turns
- Helps teach children about sportsmanship
- Great way for children to develop their social and communication skills
More Toddler Friendly Board Games Your Child Will Enjoy Playing
Hoot Owl Hoot
Hoot Owl Hoot is a delightful cooperative game by Peaceable Kingdom which 4 year old toddlers enjoy playing.
The owls have gone out into the forest at night and the object of the game is to get all the owls back into the nest before the sun comes up.
The game comes with a colorful game board, six owl tokens, one sun token, thirty-six color cards, fourteen sun cards, and instructions.
To start the game, you place the six owl tokens onto their designated spots on the board, and you put the sun token onto its spot.
Three color cards are then dealt face up to each player.
Each color card has a different color circle on it which corresponds to the colored circles on the board.
Players take turns moving the owls around the board using one of their color cards.
Once a card is used, it’s set aside and that player draws a new color card.
If you draw a sun card, you have to move the sun token one space closer to sunrise.
Because this is a cooperative game, any player can move any of the owls. And all the players must communicate and work together and figure out the best way to get all the owls back to the nest before sunrise.
This fun matching game is made from eco-friendly materials and can be played by two to four players.
It’s ideal for 4 year olds, but it’s also a great game for older kids to play with younger kids as they can each them how to strategize.
Why We Recommend Hoot Owl Hoot
- Your toddler will learn how to work with others towards a common goal
- It teaches kids about basic strategy
- Can help improve your child’s matching skills
- It’s made from eco-friendly materials
- Helps your child improve their problem solving skills
- This game requires decision making on the part of each player
- Allows children to practice taking turns
- Helps your child develop better communication skills
- Teaches kids about teamwork
- Toddlers develop listening skills as they listen to the ideas of other children
- Cooperative games are a wonderful way for your child to learn about kindness and compassion
First Orchard Cooperative Board Game
This awesome First Orchard Cooperative Board Game is a great way to teach your toddler about working together towards a common goal.
Working as a team, players try to pick all fruit off of the four fruit trees before the raven reaches the end of the path.
Players take turns rolling the die. They then pick a fruit that matches the color they’ve rolled.
If someone rolls the basket image, they get to put whatever color of fruit they want into the basket. But if a raven is rolled, the raven hops forward one space closer to the orchard.
If the players get all the fruit in the basket before the raven reaches the orchard, the players win.
Because this is a collaborative game where all the players work together, everyone either wins or loses together.
The board game comes with 1 raven, 1 fruit basket, 4 green apples, 4 red apples, 4 pares, 4 plums, 5 path cards, 4 trees, and 1 colored die.
This game takes about ten minutes to play, which is perfect for toddlers with shorter attention spans. But don’t be surprised if your little one wants to play again and again!
Why We Recommend The First Orchard Cooperative Board Game
- Kids love trying to beat the raven to the orchard!
- Fun first board game for toddlers to play
- Easy to set up and understand
- Helps your child learn about taking turns
- Great way to teach your toddler about working together towards a common goal
- Helps kids develop language skills, as they have to talk to one another while they’re playing
- Can help young kids begin to understand following directions and rules
- Helps your child learn about sportsmanship
- Helps toddlers with early color recognition and counting
Pete The Cat The Missing Cupcakes Game
The Pete The Cat The Missing Cupcakes Game is a playful board game based on the popular Pete The Cat book series and toddlers love it!
It’s Pete’s birthday and the Grumpy Toad has stolen all of the cupcakes for the birthday party.
To get all of the cupcakes back, players must work together and perform various activities along the way.
The fun activities include singing songs, performing different physical activities, and identifying food, words, and animals.
Completion of the activity earns toddlers a cupcake.
The game is designed for two to four players and takes about ten to fifteen minutes to play.
It consists of fourteen cupcakes, twenty colorful birthday present cards, a game board, a spinner, four game pieces, the Grumpy Toad, and a cupcake tray.
Cooperative board games are a wonderful way to encourage teamwork, kindness, and compassion, making them ideal for young toddlers.
This game is designed for children ages 3 years and up, but it’s fun for the whole family.
Why We Recommend Pete The Cat The Missing Cupcakes Game
- Toddlers love the idea of getting the cupcakes back from the Grumpy Toad
- Since this game is based on the popular book series, it can inspire your child to want to read the books
- Cooperative games foster kindness and compassion
- Encourages kids to work together, which helps build social skills
- Kids like the colorful game board and game pieces
- Helps your child improve their vocabulary skills by talking to one another
- Helps fuel children’s imaginations
- Kids learn about taking turns
- Helps your child practice following directions
Peaceable Kingdom Monkey Around Board Game
As a parent, you know how difficult it is for most 2 years old toddlers to sit still for any length of time, which is what makes the Peaceable Kingdom Monkey Around Board Game so much fun for your child.
Now they can play a board game that actually demands they move in order to play.
This game consists of a board with a tree that has spaces for fitting on 5 of the 40 cards that come with game.
It also has a bean bag banana to add to the fun.
One at a time, the players draw a card and must act out what the card tells them to do.
Activities include such things as shaking hands, standing on one foot or balancing the banana on their head.
The game is normally quick since it ends when all of the blanks on the tree are filled.
However you can keep playing the game until the cards run out if you prefer.
This is a great board game for family game night as it is suitable for children as young as two.
But older children, and even adults, get a kick out of playing this game as well!
Why We Recommend The Monkey Around Board Game
- Young toddlers enjoy fun and laughter playing this board game!
- It helps your child develop both gross and fine motor skills in a fun way
- Helps your child learn about taking turns when playing a game
- Children learn to follow directions
- Your child learns about cooperative play
- Game can be tweaked to meet your child’s growing development
- This game is just plain fun and full of giggles!
Wildcraft!
Wildcraft! is a wonderful cooperative board game that allows 4 year old toddlers to explore and learn about healing herbs.
Grandma wants to make a huckleberry pie, so she sends everyone out to get the huckleberries.
The huckleberry patch is at the top of Huckleberry Mountain.
The name of the game is for everyone to make it from grandma’s house to the top of Huckleberry Mountain and back before dark.
But along the way, grandma wants you to collect some of her favorite medicinal herbs.
If all the players arrive home before dark everyone wins.
If they fail to make it home before dark, then grandma has to go looking for them.
This delightful educational game comes with a colorful game board, fifty-two plant cards, fifty-two trouble cards, twenty-five cooperation cards, four game pieces, a spinner, instructions, and a downloadable story.
Each player starts the game with 4 plant cards.
You then take turns spinning the spinner and moving the designated number of spots up the mountain towards the huckleberry patch.
Every time you land on a plant spot, you collect a plant card.
If you land on a trouble spot, you draw a trouble card.
The trouble cards have a specific ailment on them (eg toothache, sore muscles, etc), along with pictures telling you which medicinal plants can heal the ailment.
If you have a plant card that matches the ones on the trouble card, then you’ve cured the ailment and both the cards get returned to the bottom of the deck.
If you don’t, you keep the trouble card until you draw the right plant card.
There are also moon spots and rainbow spots on the game board.
Each time a player lands on a moon spot, the sun is moved one spot closer to sundown.
And every time someone lands on a rainbow spot, they can draw a rainbow card.
Toddlers love the rainbow cards, because they allow them to either help someone else cure an ailment or move further up the mountain.
While the concept of the game is simple enough for a young child, the information young toddlers can learn about medicinal herbs makes it interesting for the whole family.
This award-winning game is designed for two to four players and it’s made in the USA using eco-friendly materials.
Kids don’t have to know anything about medicinal herbs to play and enjoy this game.
The beauty of it is that they’ll learn as they play!
Why We Recommend Wildcraft!
- Toddlers love that they can help other players when playing this game
- Children learn about helping others to achieve a common goal
- Kids enjoy learning about medicinal plants and how they can help us heal ailments
- Cooperative games are a wonderful way to foster kindness and compassion
- This game allows your child to practice their matching skills
- Great way to learn about teamwork
- Helps kids develop their ability to patiently take turns
- Can help kids develop communication and social skills
- Fun way to learn about strategy
- It’s made from eco-friendly materials
- Helps develop an interest in the outdoors and nature
Chutes and Ladders Game: Retro Series 1978 Edition
Whether you enjoyed this game as a kid or you’re new to it, you’ll love introducing this fun-filled Chutes and Ladders Game: Retro Series 1978 Edition to your toddler!
The object of the game is to be the first player to reach square one hundred at the top of the game board.
Playing the game is simple.
Players takes turns spinning the spinner and moving a designated number of squares.
Along the way, you can land on spots that allow you to climb up a ladder to a higher level.
But there are also spots you can land on that make you slide down a chute to a lower level.
Kids love the vibrant and fun graphics on the game board and many don’t even mind sliding down the chutes because it’s so much fun!
Designed for two to four players, this retro version of the classic game was a must for our list of the toddler board games.
Not only is it ideal for kids 4 and up, it’s a game that people of any age will enjoy!
Why We Recommend Chutes and Ladders Game: Retro Series 1978 Edition
- Kids love the colorful graphics on the game board
- Toddlers enjoy climbing up the ladders and don’t mind sliding down the chutes
- Teaches kids how to follow directions and rules
- Allows your child to practice taking turns with others
- Helps develop fine motor skills
- Great way to improve counting and number recognition
- Children can learn how to be a good sport
The Ladybug Game
The Lady Bug Game is a fun adventured filled board game for toddlers age 3 and up.
The object of this entertaining game is to get all the lady bugs home to the rose garden, while avoiding the deadly praying mantis.
Along the way, players collect aphids to feed three lazy ants.
Designed for two to four players, it only takes about twenty minutes to play, so it’s perfect for younger kids.
The game itself consists of the game board, four lady bug pawns, sixty-one aphid chips, thirty-two lady bug cards, and eight praying mantis passes.
This award winning board game is a wonderful way to help your toddler with early reading skills, color recognition, and number recognition.
Why We Recommend The Lady Bug Game
- Great way for your child to practice counting and number recognition
- Kids will be introduced to early reading skills
- There’s plenty of opportunity to practice following rules and instructions
- Your child can practice patience while waiting for their turn
- Toddlers love the colorful board and cute play pieces
- Can help develop both language and socialization skills
- Kids can learn valuable lessons in good sportsmanship