The 6 Best Games for Toddlers

What’s inside this article: A list of the best collaborative and board games for toddlers to play, with parental guidance and participation.

In childhood, play is the basis of almost all learning. Research shows that play-based learning is more effective than other teaching methods, such as direct instruction.

Through play, children can explore, discover, find meaning, problem – solve, and take risks. These are all important aspects of learning and strengthening social skills.

Playing with others helps children learn social cues, listening, perspective taking, turn-taking, sportsmanship, and how to share ideas with others and negotiate if necessary.

One easy way to help toddlers begin developing these important skills early, is with age-appropriate structured games.

So – here are the best games for toddlers to play.

Best Games for Toddlers

1. Candy Land

Candy Land is a classic beginner game – it’s perfect for toddlers because it doesn’t require any reading or counting.

This board game is a great way to introduce your toddler to the basics of turn taking and sportsmanship.

2. First Orchard

First Orchard is a great choice as a first game. It helps toddlers develop social skills such as taking turns and following directions while reinforcing color recognition, quantities and counting by ones.

Players work together in this game – they win together, and they lose together. To play, you roll the dice and piece the matching fruit from the orchard before the raven makes it to the end of the path to steal it.

Game pieces (the fruit, raven, and dice) are all large and made of wood, making it durable, and easy for little hands to play.

3. Banana Panda – Suuuper Size Memory Game

This game has colorful illustrations, large pieces, and easy to follow rules, making it a great beginner game for your toddler.

This is a classic memory match game where you flip the cards over to find the match. It’s a great way to start building working memory from an early age.

4. Animal Balance

This animal stacking game is almost like an introduction to the classic Jenga game, but for toddlers.

To play, randomly select an animal block and place it on the base of the black block. Stack freely to see who can stack higher, and stack all the animal wood blocks.

5. Magnetic Fishing Game

You’ve probably seen the game Let’s Go Fishin’. which has small magnetic fish that move around, and you have to try to pick them up with your fishing rod.

This game has the same concept, only it’s 100% natural wood, the fish are much bigger, making it safer for toddlers, and they don’t move around.

This game helps toddlers develop hand eye coordination, along with color recognition and turn taking.

6. My First Board Game

My First Board Game from Toi combines basic care themes that emerge during early pretend play in childhood, with a large cloth dice, several props and activity cards.

Kids will feed, put to bed, and care for their pig according to the game instructions. This inspires creativity and imagination, builds hand-eye coordination, and helps young children understand the world around them.

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These are just a few of the great games for toddlers that are out there! There are many different options out there, with different themes to meet your little ones interests.

So, here are a few tips for choosing games for toddlers:

• Choose games that are activity based and don’t require reading to play
• Make sure the game pieces are large enough that they don’t pose a choking hazard
• Look for games made with non-toxic materials such as natural woods
• Choose games that help develop skills – like fine motor, hand eye coordination, color, number, and letter recognition
• Always supervise and engage in games with your toddlers

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