Family Game Night with Young Kids
It’s the weekend and the perfect time for Family Game Nights! Our kids love game nights! The kids look forward to it and get excited to pick out games to play. I’m always looking for age appropriate games for little kids. I love games that are both fun and educational. Playing games can teach kids important skills like taking turns, being fair, following instructions and learning how to win and lose with grace (we are still working on this). Below are the 5 games that we like to play. Most are for my 4 year old but some of these games my 1 year old can play as well.
This one is a classic. I remember playing this game with my nieces and nephews. They would literally play this over and over and would never get tired of it. We bought this as a Christmas present for William and it’s a big hit. He spins the wheel to see what colour he needs to move his little candy figure to. The first one to the candy castle wins! My son loves to spin the wheel but the bigger version uses cards and is a bit more durable.
This one is another classic. This is the kids version of Snakes and Ladders. This game helps kids learn to count the number of squares to move. William was able to understand instructions and follow the rules of the game. He doesn’t like to go down the chute because that puts him back and he doesn’t like to lose. We are still working on teaching him that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I found that playing Chutes and Ladders helped reinforce this.
We love playing Pop Up Pirate! It’s a great game to learn to take turns and also working on fine motor skills. William loves when the Pirate pops out. He thinks it’s hilarious. This is a game that they can play on their own without adult supervision as well (bonus!). We first discovered this game in a Speech Therapy session for William. There were a lot of prompts to use words in this game like who’s turn is it, what colour is the sword, push the sword in and will the pirate pop up. We had so much fun playing it that I knew we should get one for home. I’m so glad we did and we have bought it as gifts for other kids too.
Let’s Feed the Hungry Caterpillar Game
Another fun board game! William loved reading the Hungry Caterpillar book so when we saw that there was a board game we wanted to try it out! It is an easy game to play and has an easy puzzle at the end. In the game, the caterpillar needs to eat each of the fruits just like in the story. Each fruit is a puzzle piece that is a part of the butterfly. Once you eat all the fruit you will have all the puzzle pieces to build your colourful butterfly. So cute.
William loves to fish. He also likes to pretend to fish in the pool or even in the bathtub. The Let’s Go Fishing game is also a classic game that most kids like. This game is great for younger kids as well as it is an easy game to learn to play. My 1 year old Lily picked it up very quickly. This game helps them practice their hand-eye coordination. We also use it to practice colours and math.
Game night for us includes a few of these fun games, some tasty snacks and fun drinks and everyone is happy.
Have you played any of these games? We are always looking for more games so let me know if you have any suggestions!
