In a world where excessive screen time is increasingly prevalent, it is important that we create activities to draw our kids’ attention from these electronic devices. Studies have shown that children who spend more than 3 hours a day looking at a screen limit other means of exploration and learning, reducing a child’s cognitive development. There are many proven intellectual benefits of kids playing with board games. This includes improving memory, motor skills, critical thinking, hand-eye coordination, recognition and teamwork. Without further ado, here are some of the best “screen-less” board games for kids in 2021!
Top 3 Kids Board Games for Memory & Brain Development
Improving your child’s memory can help improve several brain functions such as focus, concentration, attention to detail and information retention. These are essential cognitive skills which will be beneficial in your child’s future academic endeavours. Here are the top 3 board games designed to improve your child’s memory & brain development.
1. Caterpillar Clutter: Memory and Matching Game for All Ages
If you are looking for a fast-paced memory board game for kids, the Caterpillar Clutter would be an excellent choice. It is a simple to play board game designed to help develop your child’s visual memory and observation skills. Kids have to turn over a scene card, pay attention to the shoes in the picture, memorise them, turn over the scene card and pick up the shoes they remember! With a total of 20 scene cards, your child will always be challenged and will never get bored!
- Age: 4+ year old kids
- 1-4 players
2. Sandwich Mix Up: Tactile Shape Recognition Game with Quirkly Wooden Sandwiches
A strategic game of touch, visual perception & spatial reasoning, Sandwich Mix Up aims to improve concentration, motor, tactile, memory and quick thinking abilities. A recipe for fun and healthy competition, players rush to complete the sandwiches by finding the right fillings in the correct order. This memory board game for kids also promotes social interaction and spatial skills as kids use their sense of vision & touch to match the different pieces together.
- Age: 4-8 year old kids
- 1-5 players
3. Dig Up: Mental Tracking Brain Exercise Game for Kids
Dig Up is a visual tracking board game help kids learn how to pay attention and mentally trace a process path in their mind. Players will have to practice their mental tracing, visual and concentration skills to win the game. Visual tracking is an essential skill for reading development, coordination and maintaining focus. With over 64 possibilities, your child will be constantly challenged by this shifting underground maze!
- Age: 6+ year old kids
- 1-2 players
Best Kids Board Games for Creativity
Creativity plays an important role in a child’s development by providing opportunities to be imaginative, inventive and expressive. Board games have been known to be outlets for learning creativity as kids practice problem-solving, decision-making, critical-thinking and exploration skills. Here are our top board games to nurture creativity in kids!
1. Shape Your Story: Creative Drawing and Storytelling Game for All Ages
Designed to promote oral expression, artistic imagination and creative thinking, Shape Your Story is a kid’s board game that brings out the storyteller in your child! Enjoy this board game by drawing different objects with shapes and use your drawing to tell a story. With thousands of stories to explore, this board game is perfect for creative inspiration, literacy development and visual-spatial thinking!
- Age: 5+ year old kids
- 1+ players
2. Rolling Tales: Creative Thinking & Emotions Expression Game
A game of facts, emotions and details, Rolling Tales is a kids board game designed to help children exercise imaginative play. Through a series of plotting and articulation activities, your child will develop confidence, emotional expression and creative thinking. Roll the dice and build creative stories with the pictures on the top of the dice. With over 54 characters and feelings, there are limitless combinations to explore, learn and create!
- Age: 5+ year old kids
- 1+ players
Top 3 Kids Board Games for Problem-solving
Problem solving is one of the most complex skills a child can develop because this particular skill prepares them to resolve practical academic and interpersonal issues efficiently as they progress in life. Here are our top picks for board games that will that will not only enhance their problem-solving skills but teach them how to think independently.
1. Stack a Cake: Problem Solving, Sorting and Classification Skills for Preschoolers
Stack a Cake combines a series of activities - stacking, nesting & storytelling into an engaging dice-rolling game. Kids learn how to perform different actions such as singing, dancing and hugging, improving their problem solving, classification, visual observation and communication skills. With various prompts for play and engaging stories to read aloud, your child will be captivated in an engaging-play experience.
- Age: 2+ year old kids
- 1-2 players
2. Long Legs: Early Math Concepts - Addition and Subtraction
A simple math game with a monstrous dose of fun, Long Legs is a kids’ board game that helps children develop critical thinking skills, basic math concepts and strategic thinking. This board game uses math puzzles to introduce math concepts such as - double, greater than, less than, odd and even. Furthermore, this game is deal for kinaesthetic learners as children engage in decision-making and health competition.
- Age: 6-9 year old kids
- 2-4 players
3. Pajama Party: Critical Thinking, Colour Matching Fun Game for Preschoolers
This fast-paced visual observation board game gives children a head start in developing early problem-solving skills, logical thinking and enhanced processing speed. With over 21 different thinking cards & picture tokens, kids will have to think of solutions and match the colour combinations accordingly. Perfect for any occasion, Pajama Party can be played during game night, in the classroom, during a sleepover or even during travel!
- Age: 3-6 year old kids
- 2-4 players
Best Kids Board Games for Motor Skills & Coordination
Motor skills can be divided into 2 categories – Gross Motor Skills & Fine Motor Skills. Gross motor skills involve large muscle movements such as sitting upright, walking, squatting and climbing. Fine motor skills on the other hand involve small muscle movements such as writing, typing on the keyboard, using cutleries and holding a pair of scissors. Here are some engaging board games to help your child develop motor skills and prepare him for more complex activities in the future.
1. Stepping Stones: Numbers, Teamwork, Motor Skills, Balance & Coordination
An active movement board game with multiple gameplay modes, animal enthusiasts would be thrilled to explore 11 different animals life cycles in this fast-paced tongue card game. Kids will have to jump and balance on “stepping stones”, developing motor planning skills, coordination and cooperative play. For increased difficulty, you can add number challenge tasks to improve your child’s counting and numeracy skills.
- Age: 4+ year old kids
- 2-6 players
2. Beware of The Shark: Fast Pace Reaction Game on Attention, Social Skills and Quick Thinking
A fun-filled board game designed to improve your kid’s response inhibition, Beware of The Shark builds key executive functioning and motor skills. One player becomes the “shark” and the others become “fishes”. After the “shark” rolls the dice, he will try to grab the fish as fast as possible! “Fishes” will then have to escape as quick as they can to save themselves! With numerous variations and rules, this board game promises hours of entertainment!
- Age: 4+ year old kids
- 2-5 players
3. Sort in the Box: Hand-Eye Coordination & Categorization Sorting for Preschoolers
Sort in the Box is a cognitive board game for kids that enhances eye-hand coordination, vocabulary, categorization and visual perceptual skills. Based on a Connect-Laugh-Ask-Play (C.L.A.P.) methodology, this award-winning sorting board game promotes logical intelligence and classification skills by teaching kids how to sort object tiles of different shapes, animals and visual patterns.- Age: 3-6 year old kids
- 1 or more player game
Best Kids Board Games for Grammar & Vocabulary
Learning grammar helps your child effectively use the English language for reading, listening, speaking and writing. With grammatical competence and appropriate use of vocabulary, your child will be able to express himself accurately and fluently. However, mastering the English language can be dry and boring. To spice up your kid’s English learning journey, here are some educational board games to simultaneously refine your child’s grammar, vocabulary and linguistic prowess!
1. Grammar Wise: Develops Grammar and Enhances Vocabulary
A language learning board game designed to help children acquire knowledge on nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives, Grammar Wise encourages kids to develop expressive speech through sentence building exercises. A great alternative to boring worksheets, this educational board game helps children discover their own sentence structure patterns and form sentences with the correct syntax.
- Age: 6+ year old kids
- 2-4 players
2. Spell Cat: Fun Spelling Activity Kit for Classrooms and Home-schooling
Spell Cat is an interactive learning board game which promotes word recognition, vocabulary and writing skills in a multi-sensory way. Develop effective spelling skills by choosing a spelling picture word card place the letter tiles in the correct sequence. After which, train your memory skills by writing the word on the whiteboard from memory. If you spelled it correctly, grab the tasty cat food and feed the cat!- Age: 4-8 year old kids
- 1 or more player game
Top 3 Family Board Games for Kids
Playing family board games can strengthen relationships between you and your child. Furthermore, playing board games encourages verbal expression, social interaction and spatial awareness, all of which, are key to your child’s social development. Instead of a silent house where everyone is engrossed in electronic devices, family board games are great for positive family communication and conflict resolution. Here are our top picks for board games that will bring the entire family together!
1. Super Math Spy: Calculation and Logical Mental Math
An addictive fast-paced family board game, Super Math Spy involves mystery, math, memory and problem-solving skills. Put on your decoder glasses, take 5 mission cards each, roll the operation dice and rush to make an equation to make the target number on your mission card. The first player to get rid of all mission cards wins! With over 100 mission cards, the game will never be the same, enabling families to compete in a healthy way!- Age: 7+ year old kids
- 2-4 players
2. A Day in The Jungle Picture Bingo: Social Emotional Skills Development Game
A kid-friendly bingo game, A Day in The Jungle gives families opportunities to engage in conversations, build positive values and spend quality time together. As an added bonus, this interactive board game promotes visual observation, vocabulary and thinking and social skills, preparing your child for his future academic endeavours.
- Age: 5+ year old kids
- 2-4 players
3. Monkey Expressions: Social, Emotional & Feelings Learning Puzzle for Preschoolers
A kids’ board game designed to promote emotional intelligence, Monkey Expressions helps children share their feelings with family members and build social-emotional skills-empathy. Mimic the monkey’s expressions and use the situation thought bubbles to generate creative stories. Then share with others about the connections between emotions and facial expressions in the thought bubbles. With this therapeutic board game, parents can help their children develop self-expression skills and boost confidence.
- Age: 3-5 year old kids
- 1 or more players
Some Factors to Consider When Choosing A Kid’s Board Game
With so many board games to choose from, it is important that you purchase a board game that suits your child’s needs. Here are a few factors to consider before purchasing a board game for your kid:
- How old is your child?
- How many players can the board game accommodate?
- How long do you want to play for?
- What is the level of complexity?
- How much space do you need to play the board game?