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I’ve always enjoyed seeing families playing board games together. It’s such an easy way to spend quality time together and have fun!
I was looking forward to the moment when I would be able to do this with my son. But I never imagined that it will come so soon!
He is almost four now and he already has his favorite games! And I like them too because they give us the chance to have some great time together!
I like to watch him enjoying the game. Celebrating every win. Even finding little ways to cheat as he gets to know the game better. 🙂
As he is still young I only focused on cooperative games. Because I like the idea of putting the accent on collaboration instead of competition.
Even for the games that are not meant to be cooperative games, we found a way to transform the rules and make them a team game. So the games don’t have a winner. We all work together to win the challenge of the game.
Here are some examples:
– When we play dominos, we don’t focus on who finishes the game first. Instead, we focus on building a long “road” of pieces together.
– When we play a memory game, we don’t focus on who has more cards at the end. Instead, we focus on finding all the pairs as quickly as possible.
And so on!
If you like the idea of playing games with your young kids, I’ve gathered here 5 of our favorite games! At the end of the article, you’ll also find a list of other awesome games that you can try with your children!
1. Count Your Chickens
Count Your Chickens is an award-winning cooperative counting game for kids and is one of our favorites!
It focuses on counting and it also helps kids learn social development skills. The game is suitable for children ages 3 and older. It can be played by 2-4 players.
2. Trucky 3
This game is normally for a single player. But as some of the challenges are difficult for my son’s age we transformed it into a team game and we solve the challenges together.
Trucky 3 is a great logic game and it’s fun too! Kids need to place some pieces inside the trucks without them sticking out. It has 3 levels of difficulty, from Starter to Master.
It’s suitable for children ages 3 and up.
3. Picture Word Bingo
This is an easy game that brings us a lot of fun! It also helps kids practice object and word recognition.
It includes 4 game boards so it can be played by 2-4 players. When I play with Bogdan each of us takes 2 boards to make the game more interesting.
You can find a similar game from the same collection here.
4. Memory game
Memory games were some of the first games that I was able to play with Bogdan. And we still enjoy them a lot!
We have one nice memory game from Little Passport because it was included in one of the monthly boxes. But we also have the Memory Game Despicable Me Edition from Hasbro. Bogdan is a big fan of the Minions so as soon as he saw the game he wanted to play it over and over again!
We transformed the game in a cooperative game. So the challenge is to find together all the pair as quickly as possible.
5. Balancing block game
When I purchased the Wooden Wonders Balancing Block Barnyard Playset I thought of it just as a toy for developing fine motor skills.
But after a while, it became a game that we play together! The challenge is to work together to see how high can we stack the pieces.
The game is great because it teaches kids about critical thinking. The fact that we play it together is also a perfect way to practice collaboration and have fun!
The game is suitable for children ages 3 and up. And let me tell you that stacking all those pieces is more difficult than it seems!
A list of other awesome games for young kids
I’ve gathered here a list of awesome games that are perfect for young kids.
We played some of them during playdates. Others are on our wishlist because they were recommended by other mom friends.
So in case you are looking for some inspiration for your game collection, I hope that you’ll like these ideas!
♥ The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game
Age: 3+
Skills developed: color matching
Age: 3+
Skills developed: attention to detail
Age: 4+
Skills developed: matching, simple strategy (award-winning cooperative game)
Age: 3-6 years
Skills developed: fine and gross motor skills, counting (award-winning preschool skills builder game)
♥ Thinkfun Roll and Play Board Game
Age: 18 months+
Skills developed: active play and gross motor skills
Age: 3-6 years
Skills developed: colors, numbers, shapes, counting (preschool skills builder game)
Age: 4+
Skills developed: letter matching
Age: 3+
Skills developed: matching, memory, turn-taking
I hope that you liked the ideas and that your kids will love these games! They will certainly bring a lot of fun in your home!
More from Playful Notes
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