When your child begins to notice the world around them, you often start looking for the next logical toys and learning materials to keep their intellectual development going. On the other hand, if your child is full of curiosity, they will probably be frustrated by the lack of activities appropriate for them. Board games are a great way to bridge this gap.
Board games are a great way to motivate and stimulate your child. They provide a safe space for your child to learn and explore while having fun. The best part about board games is that you get to spend quality time with your little ones.
However, there is an overwhelming amount of different board game brands with all kinds of educational components. As a result, it can be hard to know where to begin in finding the best board game for your child. That’s why computer kids daycare has put together a list of the best 15 educational board games for 3 year olds. The list covers a wide range of interests and will inspire you to spend quality time with your little ones. But before we do so, let’s first talk about why board games are suitable for kids.
Why Are Board Games Good for 3 year olds?
- Cognitive Stimulation: Playing games to stimulate your child’s intelligence is a great way to utilize their intrinsic motivation and curiosity. It also improves their problem solving and critical thinking skills as well as teaches them patience and strategy.
- Emotional Skills: Board games teach your children about winning and losing in a safe environment that gives them time to recover from loss and re-strategize how they play the game. It also helps build emotional intelligence by showing them how to regulate their reactions and frustration (which can be hard at such a young age).
- To Learn How To Work Together: Board games teach your children how to work together with others in teams and players and give them a better understanding of social interactions and sharing.
- Increased Communication: Games help children learn how to communicate in a non-threatening environment and develop language skills in a fun and playful way.
- Exciting Manipulative Activities: Manipulative toys such as puzzles, blocks, balls, and many more are essential for cognitive development in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. These exciting activities for kids channel their energy into productive pursuits while developing fine motor skills that will help them learn to write or draw.
When Can a Child Begin to Play Board Games?
The ability to choose among different options and understand the consequences of their actions is a sign of executive functioning, a skill that children gradually develop from age 2 or 3.
For this reason, it is normal for a child to think about what he will do next while playing with a toy, therefore requiring supervision at all times. Around the age of 1, your child should begin to exhibit an increased ability to play independently with toys. You can start introducing board games then. For example, 2-year-olds are able to play simple board games such as CandyLand and Chutes and Ladders by recognizing colors, shapes, and numbers.
What to Consider When Choosing Board Games for 3 year olds?
There are attributes and features in a good board game that will help your child develop their skills and foster their interests.
- The Number of Players – As a general rule, a good board game has at least two players because the competitive aspect encourages learning from mistakes and being able to see your opponent’s moves beforehand.
- Skills Learned – You want to look for a board game that will be educational and fun for your three-year-old. The best ones will still be fun even after a few rounds of play.
- Theme – When choosing a theme, you should consider something your child is interested in or familiar with from TV or books they have read. The most popular themes are animals, transportation, sports, bath time, robots, and dinosaurs.
- Complexity – Complexity will help you determine how difficult the game is to learn and play. You want to find a balance between too simple or too complex. So your child is never frustrated nor bored with the game.
With that in mind, We have compiled a list of the top 15 educational board games for three-year-olds based on these factors and more. Hopefully, you will find the one that is just right for your little one.
Top 15 Educational Board Games for 3 year olds
1. Zingo
It is a very educational game that kids and parents love. And right now, our top pick of all educational board games for 3 year olds. Kids don’t need to read to play this game, but it helps with essential reading skills such as visual discrimination. Zingo follows the concept of people’s favorite game, bingo, where children need to fill the card with the matching item called Zinger spits out, but it is words and pictures instead of numbers.
2. Yeti in my Spaghetti
It is simple and a very fun game to play with preschool kids. You create a nest of spaghetti noodles then put the Yeti on the top. Allow each kid to pull out one noodle until the Yeti falls into the bowl. Yeti in my Spaghetti is an educational game that develops taking turns strategy, fine motor skills, and cause and effect.
3. First Orchard
It is an excellent first game for 3 year olds. Simply, the amount of learning this game will provide is truly remarkable. It develops a child’s early math skills like counting from 1-10 and some basic science that trees bear one kind of fruit and birds consume fruit. This game also provides great learning from playing First Orchard, such as following directions, taking turns, and recognizing the emotions of losing or winning.
4. Hoot Owl Hoot
A very reliable board game for 3 year olds that helps develop cooperation. It is very fun and engaging to play. In playing Hoot Owl Hoot, children try to get the owl to the nest. They need to work together and cooperate to get all the owls on the best before sunset. To make it easier for your kids, begin with fewer owls on the board, and once they feel confident, try to make it more challenging by having all of the owls on the board.
5. Uno Moo
Playing Uno Moo will help young children learn about colors, farm animals, and strategy as they play. An interactive and fun way to play and practice their early math skills.
6. Feed the Woozle
It is a perfect family game for preschoolers and guarantees silliness and smiles all around. Children will ask to play this game again and again and laugh all the time. Children. Work together to Feed the Woozle different kids of silly foods. It helps kids strengthen fine motor skills as they balance the foods on the spoon, and it also develops gross motor skills with directed movements such as “hula dance,” “walk backward,” and “bunny hop,”
7. Hi Ho Cherry O
Hi Ho Cherry O is an oldie but goodie board game for 3 year olds. The best part of engaging and playing this game is it helps kids counting and turn-taking. So, provide this game to your kids and enjoy your moment of fun time with them.
8. Pattern Blocks and Board
It is an excellent game for children to play and develop their building skills by constructing their designs with the pattern blocks and then imagining playing with such creations. Pattern Blocks and Boards were designed for children to build problem-solving, shape recognition, visual-spatial comparison, patterning, and color coordination skills in one box.
9. Sneaky Snacky Squirrel
Sneaky Snacky Squirrel is somewhat similar to Hi Ho Cherry O and an excellent board game to provide for kids. No reading is required for players in this game; children use a spinner to get different colored acorns to fill the tree stump. But players need to watch for the sad squirrel, the storm, and the thieving squirrel that can affect the acorns. Also, using plastic tongs to pick up the acorns can help kids strengthen their fine motor skills.
10. Let’s Go Fishin’
This amazing fishing game is irresistible to play for 3 year olds and preschoolers. Kids love catching magnetic fish using the fishing rod. Let’s Go Fishin’ is an exciting game that teaches kids hand-eye coordination.
11. Stack Up!
The objective of the game is to stack 12 blocks. However, Stack Up! includes challenges that children need to perform. In addition, Intentionally knocking down is part of the game, which makes it more exciting for kids. Finally, a smasher appears and comes to knock the tower down.
12. Richard Scarry’s Busytown Eye Found It
This game comes with bright pictures, making it an ultimate I Spy board game for 3 year olds. Richard Scarry’s Busytown Eye Found It encourages children to teamwork and strengthens matching skills. Witness your kids race around the busy town solving mysteries and locating the hidden things and items. There is a lot to find in this large playing board.
13. The Little Orchard
Players one up to four can play this interesting game. Children roll a dice and choose a tile with a matching flower. The goal for this game is to collect five cherries before a player hits too many crows. The Little Orchard is an educational game that helps children learn about the world of flowers and fruits.
14. Magnetic Town Maze
It is an exciting and dynamic board game for 3 year olds and preschoolers. Using the magical magnetic wand, let a kid help and guide the colorful ball to make it back home, but have them watch out as there are blocked roadways along the way. Magnetic Town Maze is ideal for developing counting, fine motor skills, and building grit and patience as kids have to navigate the colorful balls into the correct right area.
15. Color Go Fish Card Game
It mixes and follows some simple “Go Fish” rules but uses colors. However, some parents have concerns about the colors used in Color Go Fish Card Game. Because it doesn’t use the primary colors like blue, red, and green but rather uses colors like apricot, buttercup, and jade.
In summary, these are some board games for 3 year old that parents can use to teach their kids basics. Next time you play these games with your kids, don’t forget to praise their efforts and efforts from learning from them.
