16 Best Board Games for 3-Year-Olds (Plus What to Avoid)
As just about anything you attempt to do with a 3-year-old, playing a board game with them requires a Mother Teresa level of patience.
Between a preschooler’s short attention span and their inability to sit still longer than a few minutes, you’ll be lucky to get through a whole game with them. As an added bonus, they have an almost gleeful disregard for following the game rules.
And yet, skipping board games with your preschooler isn’t the answer, either.
Because research shows that playing board games with your preschooler improves their social skills, such as by developing a cooperative spirit, teaching them how to take turns, and nurturing other prosocial behaviors like sharing and helping others.1Eriksson, M., Kenward, B., Poom, L., & Stenberg, G. (2021). The behavioral effects of cooperative and competitive board games in preschoolers. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 62(3), 355-364. Board games can also boost educational knowledge.2Noda, S., Shirotsuki, K., & Nakao, M. (2019). The effectiveness of intervention with board games: a systematic review. BioPsychoSocial Med, 13(22). For example, playing a number board game with a preschooler supports their early mathematical development.3Elofsson, J., Gustafson, S., Samuelsson, J., & Träff, U. (2016). Playing number board games supports 5-year-old children’s early mathematical development. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 43, 134-147.
Short on Time? Here Are Our Top Picks
If you’re in a rush, here’s a quick run-down of the best board games for 3-year-olds that have been most popular with the parents and kids in this community:
- Best Overall Board Game for 3-Year-Olds: Spot It! Jr Animals, $10†
- Best Cooperative Game for 3-Year-Olds: Orchard or Hoot Owl Hoot, $50 or $19
- Best Educational Game for 3-Year-Olds: Concept Kids: Animals, $28
- Best Memory and Matching Game for 3-Year-Olds: Sequence for Kids, $16
- Best Card Game for 3-Year-Olds: Spot It! Jr Animals, $10
What’s a Parent to Do?
Unfortunately, the most commonly recommended board games for 3-year-olds like Candyland and Chutes & Ladders are all chance and no strategy. At best, they prepare your child to understand the concept of a scratch-off lottery ticket.
Not to mention the whole point of playing a game with your 3-year-old is to have fun while connecting. If you’ve actually managed to get your child to sit still for a game but you’re bored out of your mind, your child will sense that. Kids are more perceptive than we give them credit for.
The solution: Play better games.
When you play board games that you and your 3-year-old enjoy, you’ll be more likely to play with your child. Because keeping a copy of Hungry Hungry Hippos in your closet that you secretly hope your preschooler won’t find certainly isn’t going to help grow their social skills and educational knowledge.
Instead, cleanse your game collection of those mind-numbing board games for 3-year-olds and replace them with games you’ll both look forward to. Life is too short to be pulling out your hair when you could be giggling with your preschooler.
16 Board Games for 3-Year-Olds Your Child Will Love (And You Will, Too)
Use this list of fun board games for 3-year-olds to beef up your family game collection, and you won’t be sorry. (See what I did there?)
This list grew out of my family’s quest for the best family board games and card games over the last several years. Plus, we researched for hours and hours online to find as many suggestions as possible of board games for 3-year-olds, then market-tested them with our own crew and with friends who have preschoolers.
Not only will your child love these board games and card games, but you will too. If you need more ideas after you check out this list, head over to our list of the best preschool board games for more ideas.
And if your 3-year-old has a short attention span or isn’t interested in following board game rules, you’ll find a section at the end of this article to help you with that, too.
Related: The Best 21 Preschool Board Games You’ll Actually Enjoy, Too
But First, a Warning
When my second child was three, she swallowed a coin that got stuck in her throat. One emergency room visit, one surgery, and one five-figure hospital bill later, trust me that choking hazards are nothing to take lightly. We were lucky that we caught it in time.
Some of these board games for 3-year-olds—even the games marketed specifically for preschoolers—may contain game pieces that are the perfect size to be choking hazards. Please always keep a close eye on your child when they’re playing with a game that has small pieces. And if you have an infant or toddler, make sure they’re sleeping or otherwise occupied so they don’t find a fallen game piece and pop it into their mouth.
A Quick Note About Suggested Ages
Keep in mind that as with anything when it comes to kids and suggested ages, your mileage may vary. For example, some 2-year-olds might be able to play and enjoy some games for 3-year-olds, whereas some 3-year-olds might need help playing a few games marketed to 2-year-olds.
If you try a game and your child doesn’t seem ready for it, put it away for a couple weeks or a month, then try again. Your preschooler’s brain is growing constantly,4Brown, T. T. & Jernigan, T. L. (2012). Brain development during the preschool years. Neuropsychology Review, 22(4), 313–333. so they might surprise you sooner rather than later!
Note: indicates my family’s absolute favorite board games for 3-year-olds. These are the games my whole family can’t get enough of! In fact, we love them so much that we stock them in our store. Order from us here, and you’ll be supporting a family-owned business while also treating your own family to a fun new game!
Cooperative Games for 3-Year-Olds
When you’re starting out playing board games with your 3-year-old, cooperative games are your best bet. That’s because competitive elements of a game tend to go right over preschoolers’ heads.5Schmidt, M. F., Hardecker, S., & Tomasello, M. (2016). Preschoolers understand the normativity of cooperatively structured competition. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 143, 34–47. Also, competitive games typically leave younger kids feeling less enthusiastic about the game6Eriksson, M., Kenward, B., Poom, L., & Stenberg, G. (2021). The behavioral effects of cooperative and competitive board games in preschoolers. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 62(3), 355-364. and may even lead to more aggressive behavior and less cooperation after the game.7Bay-Hinitz, A. K., Peterson, R. F., & Quilitch, H. R. (1994). Cooperative games: a way to modify aggressive and cooperative behaviors in young children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 27(3), 435–446.
Here are the best cooperative games for 3-year-olds, according to the parents and families in our community.
1. Hoot Owl Hoot or Orchard by HABA
Time to Play: 15 minutes for Hoot Owl Hoot; 10 minutes for Orchard
Number of Players: 2–4 for Hoot Owl Hoot; 1-8 for Orchard
Minimum Age: Both games are a great fit for 3-year-olds and up
Get It: Hoot Owl Hoot or Orchard
When it comes to cooperative games for 3-year-olds, these two are our favorites aside from Feed the Woozle below. But because the game play for these two games is so similar, I recommend picking up either Hoot Owl Hoot or Orchard.
My kids love both games, so you really can’t go wrong. The wooden game pieces and picnic baskets for Orchard are super well-made and sturdy, but if that game is a bit outside your price range, Hoot Owl Hoot is just as fun. My kids regularly pull out both games to play together independently!
Pro tip: With Orchard, if your child still tends to put small objects in their mouth, I recommend starting out with the First Orchard edition because it has larger game pieces perfect for younger kids.
Orchard or First Orchard
“We LOVE Orchard and Animal Upon Animal!” – Richard
Note: The manufacturer says Hoot Owl Hoot is for ages 4 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) the vast majority of 3-year-olds are ready for this game.
Hoot Owl Hoot
“Family games should be fun for everyone! We have five kids, and that is one of the rules of our Friday Family Fun Night. We play a lot of co-op games with our kids — Hoot Owl Hoot and Outfoxed are really fun! … Co-op games are great for teaching kids slowly, as open hands and working together are good.” – Michelle
By the way, we’ve tested nearly every cooperative game for 3-year-olds made by Peaceable Kingdom, the same folks who make Hoot Owl Hoot. The other games were fun too, but Hoot Owl Hoot has been the clear winner!
2. Feed the Woozle
Time to Play: 10-15 minutes
Number of Players: 2–5
Minimum Age: Some 2-year-olds can play this, so it’s a great fit for 3-year-olds and up
Get It: Feed the Woozle
In this cooperative game, you work together to feed the Woozle by balancing snacks on a spoon while you deliver them. And as an added challenge, you’ll have to hula dance, bunny hop, or do something else silly at the same time. But watch out because if a snack falls along the way, the Woozle won’t eat it. When you’ve fed the Woozle 12 snacks, your whole team wins.
Cooperative games like this are great for building teamwork skills while still getting practice with taking turns. For that reason, this is a perfect first board game for 3-year-olds to teach turn-taking, foster good sportsmanship as you encourage your teammates, and nurture a sense of collaboration as you work together. And because each game takes around 10 minutes, it’s perfect for short attention spans, too.
This game also helps develop motor skills, gives practice with counting, and builds frustration tolerance. But most important of all, it’s pure silly fun!
Pro tip: When you need a way to keep your kids entertained so you can load the dishwasher (or catch a catnap), this game works great for an older sibling to play with a younger sibling. My kids play this together all on their own at least once a week!
Feed the Woozle
“My 6-year-old and 3-year-old love this goofy little game! Sometimes, we’ll all play together, and it’s fun to see my kids actually get along for 10 consecutive minutes. But if I’m busy, the setup is easy enough that the two of them can play together without me.” – Jackie
3. Concept Kids: Animals
Time to Play: 20-30 minutes
Number of Players: 2–12
Minimum Age: Most 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: Concept Kids: Animals
This cooperative guessing game is perfect for kids who love animals, and it’s one of those rare educational games that’s actually fun for both kids and adults.
As you play, you’ll build your child’s deductive reasoning skills, foster their sense of teamwork, and load them up with oodles of new animal facts. Your child will have so much fun playing they won’t even realize how much they’re learning along the way!
This game is a particularly excellent choice for younger kids because it doesn’t require reading. Plus, if your kids tend to butt heads, the cooperative gameplay will get them working together.
Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 4 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 3-year-olds are ready for this game.
Concept Kids: Animals
“We got this game when our youngest was 3, and I wish we’d known about it when our older kids were that age. It’s an under the radar gem! This is my preschooler’s favorite game, and unlike most games for young kids, I actually want to play this one.” – Taylor
4. Outfoxed!
Time to Play: 15 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: Outfoxed!
This board game is like Clue but for 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds. A fox stole a pot pie, and you have to figure out which fox it was before they escape into the foxhole.
My kids will regularly play this cooperative whodunnit game independently, and I love watching them work together as a team to solve the mystery.
This is a fun little game to build your 3-year-old’s logic and deductive reasoning skills.
Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 5 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) some 3-year-olds are ready for this game.
Outfoxed
“Outfoxed is cooperative so it’s fun for everyone and easy enough for even preschoolers to participate!” – Elizabeth
5. My First Castle Panic
Time to Play: 20 minutes
Number of Players: 1-4
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: My First Castle Panic
Castle Panic is one of my favorite cooperative board games for the whole family, so I was excited to discover they had a kids’ edition.
Because this is a cooperative game, you work together to fight off a horde of monsters who are trying to tear down your castle walls and destroy your castle. It sure is fun to work together as a family towards a common goal that doesn’t involve loading the dishwasher!
Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 4 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 3-year-olds are ready for this game.
My First Castle Panic
“We play Castle Panic and Carcassonne with our boys, and they LOVE them both. They are 3 and 6. Sometimes, our 3 year old is on a team, but he can usually play by himself for both games.” – Autumn
6. Dinosaur Escape
Time to Play: 10-20 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: Dinosaur Escape
This is another of our favorite cooperative board games for 3-year-olds. In this one, all the players work together to get all the dinosaurs safely to the island before the volcano erupts.
Your child will build memory skills and learn how to work on a team, all while having fun playing in a pretend world with dinosaurs and an erupting volcano. Even my 12-year-old gets into this preschool game!
Because this game is designed for younger kids, you’ll rarely lose to the volcano. But for 3-year-olds just getting their feet wet in the world of board games, that goes in the pro column because it helps build their confidence.
If you’d like to make this game more challenging over time, the game instructions include suggestions for variations. Or you and your kids can come up with your own house rules. Here are a few rules we sometimes play with to make it more challenging for older kids:
- Dinosaurs can search only the area they’re in
- Game pieces can move in only one direction
- Add more dinosaur or animal figurines so you have to rescue more before the volcano blows
- Each player can move only one dinosaur
- If you get a T-Rex, shuffle all the fern tiles and redistribute
- If you get a lizard, go back one space
Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 4 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 3-year-olds are ready for this game.
Dinosaur Escape
“We LOVE Dinosaur Escape in our family. It only takes about 10 mins to complete so it holds our 2 year old’s attention span. It’s simple enough for both our 5 year old and 2 year old to grasp. But best of all, it’s a cooperative game that gets them excited to work together…this is a winner!” – Katie
Educational Games for 3-Year-Olds
Research shows that playing an educational board game with your 3-year-old can help them learn.8Noda, S., Shirotsuki, K., & Nakao, M. (2019). The effectiveness of intervention with board games: a systematic review. BioPsychoSocial Med, 13(22). As one example, playing a number board game with a preschooler supports their early mathematical development.9Elofsson, J., Gustafson, S., Samuelsson, J., & Träff, U. (2016). Playing number board games supports 5-year-old children’s early mathematical development. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 43, 134-147.
But all educational board games are not created equal. Some learning games can be a snoozefest for your preschooler (and you). Here are the tried-and-true educational games for 3-year-olds that you’ll actually enjoy together.
1. Hoot Owl Hoot or Orchard by HABA
Time to Play: 15 minutes for Hoot Owl Hoot; 10 minutes for Orchard
Number of Players: 2–4 for Hoot Owl Hoot; 1-8 for Orchard
Minimum Age: Both games are a great fit for 3-year-olds and up
Get It: Hoot Owl Hoot or Orchard
With both these cooperative board games for 3-year-olds, your child will get practice with color matching. Hoot Owl Hoot also gives young kids a taste of strategic thinking and planning ahead.
Jump to the full description earlier in this post.
2. Concept Kids: Animals
Time to Play: 20-30 minutes
Number of Players: 2–12
Minimum Age: Most 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: Concept Kids: Animals
This delightful game will get your 3-year-old thinking about categories, similarities, and differences. Plus, they’ll get to hone their deductive reasoning skills.
Jump to the full description earlier in this post.
3. Outfoxed!
Time to Play: 15 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: Outfoxed!
I’ve loved playing this game with all my kids at age three! If you want to build your child’s deductive reasoning ability, this is the best pick.
Jump to the full description earlier in this post.
4. My First Castle Panic
Time to Play: 20 minutes
Number of Players: 1-4
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: My First Castle Panic
This cooperative game is excellent for teaching your child to slow down and think through their next steps. And because it’s cooperative, you can be a gentle support to your child as they develop their strategic thinking skills.
Jump to the full description earlier in this post.
5. Sequence Letters
Time to Play: 20 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: Sequence Letters
This game will help your child with recognizing letters and the sounds they make, but unlike most educational games, they’ll actually have fun playing this one. (And so will you!)
Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 4 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 3-year-olds are ready for this game.
Sequence for Kids or Sequence Letters
“The one we have enjoyed playing most with our 4-yr-old daughter is Sequence for Kids. We loved it so much that she wanted to purchase one for her friend for Christmas. :)” – Kim
Memory and Matching Games for 3-Year-Olds
Memory and matching games are the perfect fit for 3-year-olds because those kinds of games support the development of their working memory as well as their emotional knowledge, which they need for healthy social play.10Shimizu H. (2023). The Impact of Working Memory on the Development of Social Play in Japanese Preschool Children: Emotion Knowledge as a Mediator. Children, 10(3), 524. This is important because working memory is essential to early childhood learning.11Gathercole, S. & Alloway, T. P. (2008). Working Memory and Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers. SAGE Publications Ltd. Plus, research shows preschoolers with strong working memory skills are more likely to graduate high school.12Fitzpatrick, C., Archambault, I., Janosz, M., & Pagani, L. S. (2015). Early childhood working memory forecasts high school dropout risk. Intelligence, 53, 160-165.
Below, you’ll find the best memory and matching games for 3-year-olds, as reviewed by real parents and families in this community.
1. Sequence for Kids
Time to Play: 20 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds and up can understand and enjoy this game
Get It: Sequence for Kids
Most 3-year-olds aren’t yet ready for the classic Sequence game, so the Sequence for Kids version is a great way to get them familiar with that fun game before they’re ready to graduate.
What I love about this game is that after you play a few times, you’ll notice your child start thinking ahead a couple turns instead of just playing the second they find a match, which is excellent for developing their strategic thinking skills.
Sequence for Kids or Sequence Letters
“The one we have enjoyed playing most with our 4-yr-old daughter is Sequence for Kids. We loved it so much that she wanted to purchase one for her friend for Christmas. :)” – Kim
2. Spot It! Jr. Animals
Time to Play: 10-20 minutes
Number of Players: 2–8
Minimum Age: Even toddlers can play this one, so it’s an excellent pick for 3-year-olds and up
Get It: Spot It! Jr. Animals
This card game is similar to the regular version of Spot It! but simplified for younger kids with larger images and fewer images on each card.
My favorite part of this matching game for 3-year-olds is that it’s so portable. I can throw it in my purse when we’re heading somewhere the kids will have to wait a bit, like the doctor’s office or to a restaurant. The small tin holding the cards also makes this game a great fit as a stocking stuffer for kids.
If your child loves this game, Spot It! 123 is another version that will help develop their number sense.
Spot It! Jr Animals or Classic or 123
“A must have game for every home perfect for ALL ages…Spot It! It’s a matching game on a whole new level. My husband and I love this game as much as the kids!” – Cristy
3. Life on Earth Memory Game
Time to Play: 10-20 minutes
Number of Players: 1 or more
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds and up can understand and enjoy this game
Get It: Life on Earth Memory Game
It took us three tries to find the best memory matching game for 3-year-olds: the Life on Earth game by eeBoo.
The original Memory game was fine, but the artwork is babyish so our older kids weren’t as interested in playing with their younger sibling, not to mention the cardboard pieces were flimsy and easy to bend. Another edition was a little too “creative” for young kids to figure out, and we couldn’t seem to find the memory game that was the perfect fit.
Then we found the Life on Earth edition: The artwork is gorgeous, and the thick, sturdy pieces are perfect to prevent bending or ripping by curious little hands. Plus, with younger kids, each piece gives you an opportunity to talk through different types of animals and share fun tidbits you know about them. Great for building your child’s vocabulary!
Here are a few ways you can play this memory game with your 3-year-old:
- Classic game: Flip all the cards upside down and take turns flipping two at a time to find matches.
- Variation for younger kids: Flip all the cards right side up and take turns spotting matches. Or as another option, you can set out just a few matching sets at a time like 3 or 4 matching sets face down.
- Sorting game: Flip all the cards up and sort them into groups. For example: Which of these would you find in the ocean? The sky? On land? Or: Find all the purple cards, and so on.
Life on Earth Memory Game
“I’ve gone through a few different memory games over the years as my kids have grown, and I wish I’d just started with this one. The pieces are durable, the illustrations are beautiful, and I love watching my 3-year-old play with her grandparents!” – Jenny
4. Outfoxed!
Time to Play: 15 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: Outfoxed!
This clever cooperative game helps develop your child’s working memory skills because when you receive new clues, you have to compare that to what you know about the pool of suspects. Plus, Outfoxed is just plain fun. This is an all-time favorite for my family!
Jump to the full description earlier in this post.
5. Concept Kids: Animals
Time to Play: 20-30 minutes
Number of Players: 2–12
Minimum Age: Most 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: Concept Kids: Animals
This is another fun cooperative game that will give your child practice with memory skills. For example, they have to remember which animal they’re giving clues about, and they have to remember which clues they’ve already given. But because 3-year-olds are still learning, all is not lost if they forget! They can simply peek at the animal card again, or they can check the clues on the board.
Jump to the full description earlier in this post.
6. Dinosaur Escape
Time to Play: 10-20 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: Dinosaur Escape
In this cooperative game, your child will build memory skills while playing in a pretend world with dinosaurs and an erupting volcano. If your 3-year-old loves dinosaurs, this game is a must!
Jump to the full description earlier in this post.
Card Games for 3-Year-Olds
Card games are a fun choice for playing with your preschooler because they’re typically quick to play, which is great for their short attention span. And you can typically set up a card game more quickly than a board game so that your 3-year-old doesn’t lose interest before you even start the game.
In this section, you’ll find the best card games for 3-year-olds that you’ll both enjoy.
1. Spot It! Jr. Animals
Time to Play: 10-20 minutes
Number of Players: 2–8
Minimum Age: Even toddlers can play this one, so it’s an excellent pick for 3-year-olds and up
Get It: Spot It! Jr. Animals
This card game for 3-year-olds is simple and quick yet still challenging enough to keep adults engaged, too. Whenever we would head on a trip with our kids at age three, this portable little game is the first game I’d pack.
After your child masters this version for younger kids, they can graduate to the regular version of Spot It!.
Jump to the full description earlier in this post.
2. Create a Story Cards
Time to Play: 5-15 minutes
Number of Players: 2 or more
Minimum Age: 2-year-olds can play this one (even if their stories don’t make a lot of sense!), so this is a great fit for 3-year-olds and up
Get It: Create a Story Cards
This simple card game for 3-year-olds is a great way to foster your child’s imagination and build literacy skills.
The game has several variations, but our favorite is this: Each player takes turns picking a random card. The first person starts a story with “Once upon a time…” and then on the next turn, the next person uses their card as inspiration to add to the story.
The stories we come up with as a family always leave us giggling!
What’s especially great about this game is you have several versions to choose from, and to kick it up a notch you can even mix different sets together:
This one also makes for a fun travel game to take along on road trips or plane rides.
Create a Story Cards
“This little game is quick, easy, and fun! You pick a card, say “Once upon a time…”, and let your child fill in the details. Then you can ask follow-up questions like “and then what happened?” until they peter out. I love that this requires minimal brainpower from me when I’m tired (which is always) and my daughter LOVES coming up with the stories. Great for her imagination!” – Fiona
3. Sleeping Queens
Time to Play: 10-15 minutes
Number of Players: 2–5
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: Sleeping Queens
This card game is technically for older kids, but our preschoolers all played this game since the age of three. Of all the games for 3-year-olds in this list, this one has been a top favorite for our kids and our number one go-to as a family. The rules are simple enough for a preschooler to understand, but the game still keeps everyone on their toes.
We really and truly never get tired of this one. Plus, you can play a whole game in about 10 minutes, which is perfect for getting in a dose of family connection before sending little ones off to bed.
Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 8 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) many 3-year-olds are ready for this game if you help them.
Sleeping Queens
“My daughter and I love Sleeping Queens! It teaches them math without them even realizing it – or me, for that matter. I remember my daughter laid down a sequence that was like 1 + 3 + 5 = 9, and I thought ‘How did you know that…?’ Then I realized she just figured it out from doing math in the game. So cool to watch her learn right before my eyes.” – Ann
By the way, when you’re playing card games with your child, this card holder is a must have for little hands. Your child can hold it to see their cards, or they can set the holder down on the table for a break. (This particular card holder has stood the test of time, as opposed to other card holders we’ve tried.)
Readers who bought Sleeping Queens also bought
Little Hands Playing Card Holder“I love the card holder, plus your suggestions for how to play with little kids!” – Linda
More Awesome Games for 3-Year-Olds
If you need more ideas of games to play with your preschooler, here are the best games for 3-year-olds that didn’t fall into the above categories.
1. Yeti in My Spaghetti
Time to Play: 5-15 minutes
Number of Players: 1 or more players
Minimum Age: 3-year-olds can play this with a little help
Get It: Yeti in My Spaghetti
This game is similar to Ker-Plunk, but it’s a better fit for 3-year-olds because Ker-Plunk’s marbles are choking hazards.
To play this fun little game, you lay the spaghetti pieces across the bowl then put the yeti on top. (No logic or story behind this setup—just go with it.) Then each player takes turns pulling out one piece of spaghetti. If the yeti falls to the bottom of the bowl on your turn, you lose. This is usually the point where the kids collapse into giggles, which can be contagious!
This game is perfect for preschoolers because it helps develop their executive functioning skills when they learn (the hard way) to be patient and pull the spaghetti pieces out slowly.
Yeti in My Spaghetti
“We love Yeti in My Spaghetti. :) Low competition and just a fun game!” – Jane
2. Animal Upon Animal
Time to Play: 10-15 minutes
Number of Players: 1-4
Minimum Age: Even some 2-year-olds can play this one, so it’s a great fit for 3-year-olds
Get It: Animal Upon Animal
When your child is ready to move from cooperative to competitive board games, this is a fun stacking game. In this game, you stack different wooden animal figurines on top of a large alligator, trying to see how high you can stack them before it all comes crashing down. This game develops your child’s executive functioning skills as they learn they’ll need to be patient and use creative problem-solving in order to get their animals to stack without falling down.
But even when the stack does come crashing down? Giggles all around.
This game is great for developing your child’s fine motor skills. But it can also be a fun challenge even for adults because the painted pieces are a bit on the slick side, so it’s harder to stack them than you might imagine.
Then when your child beats you fair and square at this game, you won’t even care because they’ll literally glow with pride.
And unlike some other stacking games for kids that are made with low-quality plastic, these sturdy wooden pieces are made to last. 3-year-olds aren’t always the gentlest with flimsy game pieces, but our copy of this game has lasted through four kids! (Side note: This game is made by the same company who makes Orchard, which my kids also love and is featured earlier in this list.)
At first, start by just stacking the pieces like you would with blocks. As your child gets more confident and comfortable with the physics of the game, you can follow the game rules.
Warning: If your child still tends to put small objects in their mouth, I recommend starting out with the First Animal Upon Animal edition because it has larger game pieces perfect for younger kids, then later you can get this edition.
Animal Upon Animal
“We LOVE Orchard and Animal Upon Animal!” – Richard
3. The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game
Time to Play: 15 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Minimum Age: Even toddlers get into this one, so it’s excellent for 3-year-olds and up
Get It: The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game
This makes a good first board game for 3-year-olds because it doesn’t require a lot of strategic thinking, it’s quick to play, and the game rules are easy to understand. Plus, the artwork is adorable!
But here’s my favorite aspect of this game: Kids can easily play this independently while you sneak a catnap on the couch.
If you have more than one child or your child likes to play board games with friends, you’ll likely want to play this with the kids the first couple of times to help them learn the rules, but after that you can peace out.
Here’s the setup: Your forest friends are hungry, and they need your help. Be the first to fill your log with delicious acorns, and you win.
The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game
“Great fun for little ones and adults!!! We play with my 5 year old who loves it and my 2 year old who is starting to understand. It’s one of the few kids games that is actually fun for me to play as well. I highly recommend this game. It is great quality and great design!” – Dan
Beware: Board Games for 3-Year-Olds to Avoid
If your child is enjoying playing a game with you and you’re enjoying the experience too, ultimately, that’s the most important factor in what makes a board game a good fit for your family.
With that said, some parents have reported certain board games for 3-year-olds as being mind-numbing for adults and/or frustrating for the child.
If you want to avoid that experience, here are a few board games for 3-year-olds to skip bringing into your home. If you already have any of these and you want to phase them out, what’s worked well for other parents is to move the game to a less visible spot wherever you store board games and instead move one of the fun games from earlier in this article in their place.
- Candyland: This game does give kids practice with taking turns and following directions, but that’s true of any game. Kids can get unnecessarily frustrated with this game because the penalties are completely random, and they have no agency for making a choice that would influence the outcome of their turn. Adults don’t enjoy this game because it’s repetitive and boring, with absolutely zero mental effort required. The game manufacturer also seems to have changed the game board in recent years, such as by making the path visually busy and hard to follow and by adding more squares to the path to make the game longer. Neither of which are a good fit for young children.
- Hi Ho! Cherry-O: This game does require counting, so in theory it could be an educational game for 3-year-olds. But if your child ends up frustrated and sad, they won’t be learning anything. As an adult, setting up the tiny fruit pieces (40 of them!) to start the game is tedious. Also, when you grab your basket from the game board, those tiny fruit pieces will roll into the hole left by your basket—and you have to pause the game to put them all back where they belong. From a child’s perspective, the spinner is unfriendly, with almost half of the spaces you can land on forcing you to give all your fruits back. That can be incredibly frustrating for young kids.
- Chutes & Ladders: As with Candyland, this game involves zero decision-making. Just spin the wheel and move, which makes it mind-numbing for adults and means it doesn’t have staying power with kids as they grow. Also, adults and kids don’t enjoy that this game seems to drag on, especially as you reach the end.
- Hungry Hungry Hippos: This game is frustrating for young kids because the hippos tend to detach during the gameplay, and sometimes the mouths won’t open, whereas other times, the mouths get stuck open. That means you have to stop the game and fix it, which requires extra patience on a young child’s part—not their strong suit. If that weren’t bad enough, the marbles often get stuck inside the track or a hippo’s neck, so you have to stop the game and fish them out. On the adult side, the setup for this game is tedious, as is having to be “tech support” when the game breaks while you’re playing it.
- Don’t Break the Ice: The legs of the ice stand come off, which is helpful when you need to put this game back in the box, but not so helpful when you’re in the middle of the game and they come off. Then your child has to wait while you put it back together, interrupting the flow of play. The ice also falls out too easily, especially with repeated plays as what’s holding the ice in place loosens over time. And as with the other non-recommended board games for 3-year-olds in this list, the game is all luck and no strategy.
- Let’s Go Fishin’: Similar to Hungry Hungry Hippos, this game does give young kids motor skill practice. However, the motor that spins the board goes fast and the fish are very small, so it’s too challenging for many 3-year-olds. Also, adults report that the sounds of the motor and the fish rotating are grating, plus kids who are sensitive to sensory input hate the noise. But most important of all, the current version of this game seems to have quality control issues because it often breaks after a few times of playing it.
How to Play Board Games With Your 3-Year-Old: 8 Tried-And-True Tips
If you haven’t played many board games with your preschooler yet or if you’ve tried and it hasn’t worked well, this section is for you.
Preschoolers aren’t exactly known for their ability to sit still, follow directions, and take turns. So at first, playing board games with your child can feel a bit…futile. They zip off three minutes into the game, they seem determined to destroy as many game components as possible, and trying to bend your preschooler’s will to follow the rules can land you in the middle of an epic tantrum wondering when the “fun” is supposed to start.
After introducing my own four children to board games and also playing countless games with the preschoolers of our friends and neighbors over the years, I’ve stumbled on a few tricks for how to make playing games with your 3-year-old go more smoothly.
Here are a few tips for introducing your preschooler to board games so that you’ll both grow to enjoy the experience of playing games:
- Do a test run. Your preschooler has a limited attention span. So if you’re playing a brand-new-to-you game for the first time, you might use up all their patience while you’re reading the rules and figuring out the game. Before you sit down to play a new game with your child, play it by yourself after your their bedtime or during naptime (if you’re still lucky enough to have a napper at this age!). That way, when you do play the first time with your child, you’ll be able to jump right into the fun part.
- Go for cooperative first. When you’re starting out, play cooperative games for 3-year-olds like Outfoxed! or Orchard. Why? Because competitive elements of a game tend to go right over preschoolers’ heads.13Schmidt, M. F., Hardecker, S., & Tomasello, M. (2016). Preschoolers understand the normativity of cooperatively structured competition. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 143, 34–47. Also, competitive games typically leave younger kids feeling less enthusiastic about the game14Eriksson, M., Kenward, B., Poom, L., & Stenberg, G. (2021). The behavioral effects of cooperative and competitive board games in preschoolers. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 62(3), 355-364. and may even lead to more aggressive behavior and less cooperation after the game.15Bay-Hinitz, A. K., Peterson, R. F., & Quilitch, H. R. (1994). Cooperative games: a way to modify aggressive and cooperative behaviors in young children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 27(3), 435–446. If you do play a competitive game where there’s one winner, you can make a big deal about how much fun it was to play the game together. You can also model good sportsmanship by congratulating the winner, but try to keep the focus on how fun the whole game experience was.
- Make it quick. Because young children have short attention spans, you’ll have the best results if you start out with quick 5- or 10-minute games like Yeti in My Spaghetti, rather than games that take 15 to 20 minutes or longer.
- Let them choose. Wherever you typically keep your board games, make sure the preschooler-friendly games are at eye level and the others are less visible. Then let your child pick which game they want to play. (Forcing a child to play a specific game they’re not interested in typically won’t result in a fun experience!)
- Put fun first. If you’re a stickler for following the rules (that’s me!), you might get especially frustrated when your 3-year-old loses interest in a game you’ve started or refuses to play by the rules. But if at any point you or your child are no longer having fun, give yourself permission to hit the pause button on that game and try again later. I am absolutely guilty of turning a game into an unnecessary power struggle with my child, and that never ends well!
- Bend the rules. While your child gets used to playing games, feel free to bend the rules to simplify a game or make it more fun for them. Some of the board games for 3-year-olds listed above include rule variations for younger children, but you can make up your own variations too. The ultimate goal is to connect with your child and inspire a love of playing games, so be flexible. For example, when we’re playing the Life on Earth Memory Game with a 3-year-old, we flip all the cards right side up and take turns spotting matches that way. Or as another alternative, you can set out just five to six matching pairs at a time and flip those over.
- Repeat yourself. For a young brain to learn, they need repetition. So while it may feel frustrating to keep reminding your child of what to do next and what not to do, gentle and kind reminders are exactly what they need to improve their ability to focus, remember instructions, and control their impulses.
- Play on teams. To get your child used to the mechanics of game play, play a few rounds with them on your “team” before you let them loose to play on their own. When you’re on a team together, your preschooler can be responsible for things like rolling dice, picking a card from the draw pile, moving your pawn, and so on.
- Follow the leader. For example, if your child is having fun stacking the animal pieces in Animal Upon Animal, that’s awesome. But if instead they start playing pretend with the animals and doing all the animal noises, that’s awesome too. The overall goal of playing board games with your preschooler is to have fun together, so follow your child’s lead and roll with the punches.
- Narrate the game. Pretend you’re a sportscaster, and comment on everything that happens in the game. Narrating the game both helps your child understand the game rules and boosts their vocabulary. Also, game strategy may be a foreign concept to your preschooler right now, so talking through your own decisions during the game can help build their reasoning skills.
- Move back one space. Every child develops at their own pace. If the board games for 3-year-olds in this article aren’t working for your 3-year-old, that’s perfectly okay and nothing to worry about. You can follow the tips in the rest of this section to infuse a playful spirit into your board game experience until your child is ready for more, or you can pick up one of the best board games for toddlers and see if those might be a better fit for now. Remember: If you try a game and your child doesn’t seem ready for it, put it away for a couple weeks or a month, then try again. Your preschooler’s brain is growing constantly,16Brown, T. T. & Jernigan, T. L. (2012). Brain development during the preschool years. Neuropsychology Review, 22(4), 313–333. so they might surprise you sooner rather than later!
Before you go, get my FREE cheat sheet: 75 Positive Phrases Every Child Needs to Hear
Your Turn
What are your favorite board games for 3-year-olds? Share in a comment below!
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