10 Best Toddler Board Games

It’s when things are just getting too crazy that these 10 best toddler board games will come in handy. Behold, Jimmy is eating glue again. Next to him is Suzy, wrapped in toilet paper and becoming Evel Knievel as she jumps off a kitchen chair. The nursery room echos with the screams of young children fighting over toys. Someone is crying about who knows what. Another one is running away from Suzy. Chaos will never end unless you find a good destruction. You need a board game and a good one quickly. Never fear. We got you covered

Let’s Go Fishin’

letsgofishin

Let’s Go fishin’ is a fun game for young children where the object of the game is to fish for plastic fish with a magnetic fishing rod.
Best Boredom Antidote for: when Billy won’t stop pulling Mary Anne’s hair

Being colorful and lively makes Let’s Go Fishin’ a great game for a very young audience. It helps children practice hand-eye coordination and allows them to sit down and focus on a game just long enough for you to breathe. Breathing is always good.
Up to four children can try to catch the fish at a time. The fish “swim” around just fast enough with a set of batteries that tots have to practice patience and focus to win. So, you get more than just a break, but a good teaching moment as well.

Buy Now: Let’s Go Fishin’ (Free Shipping)

Hi Ho Cherry-O

hiho

Hi Ho Cherry-O helps teach children counting skills.

Best Boredom Antidote for: teaching early math s when the kids would rather run and scream

Hi Ho Cherry-o is best played with the assistance of older children, because of the math skills required. That said, it isn’t too hard for the little ones to play with assistance. Each player spins an arrow which determines how many plastic cherries (or other cute fruit) they can put in their baskets. In this way, kids get to practice their counting. This, along with teaching kids how to cooperate and take turns, makes it excellent preparation for Kindergarten.

Buy Now: Hi Ho Cherry-O (Free Shipping)

Chutes and Ladders

chutesandladders

Chutes and Ladders is a classic kids games that still pleases the young crowd.

Best Boredom Antidote for: teaching your children a few moral values in a subtle way
Chutes and Ladders is a great game because it combines basic number skills with teaching morals. Players are on a quest to get to the 100th square on the board, but a simple spinner determines how many spaces they can take to move up. When the climber lands on a “chute” or slide, which depicts doing something wrong, they get slid back to an earlier part of the game.

Buy Now: Chutes and Ladders(Free Shipping)

Don’t Break the Ice

don'tbreaktheice

Don’t Break the Ice is the type of game to have your child play when you know they don’t want to learn.
Best Boredom Antidote for: when Timmy wants to be destructive
Despite its name, the object of Don’t Break The Ice is to break the ice. Kids do this by taking turns to knock out plastic “ice” blocks from a frame. They must do this while not letting the character on top of the ice fall. It is quite horrific when you think about it from the perspective of this plastic character who happens to be trapped on a frozen lake where omniscient toddlers are slamming giant hammers into he surrounding landscape. The person who’s turn causes the character to fall (oh the horror!) loses. Along with being spectacularly entertaining (because you get to break things), this game works children’s coordination and turn taking skills. Although it is early for children to understand, Don’t Break the Ice is also a great example of how Newtonian physics works. So, you can put in a word about the concept of gravity as they are hammering away.

Buy Now: Don’t Break the Ice(Free Shipping)

Hungry Hungry Hippos

hungryhippos

Hungry Hungry Hippos is a high energy game for when kids have excessively high energy.
Best Boredom Antidote for: wearing them out before nap time

Not surprisingly, the point of this colorful game is to have your designated plastic hippo eat as many plastic balls at possible. There really isn’t much to it. Kids just press a lever in order to grab and chomp up the marble before their friends can. It is all about timing and aggressive food grabbing. While it is not exactly clear if this is a desirable skill or not, it’s a lot of fun for kids and up to 4 people can play.
The only downside is that pieces can break with harsh use. Your best bet may be to seek an older version of the game with durable pieces.

Buy Now: Hungry Hungry Hippos(Free Shipping)

Hoot Owl Hoot!

hootowlhoot

Hoot Owl Hoot! is a cute game for teaching little children how to cooperate and work together

Best Boredom Antidote for: teaching kids to play nicely

Hoot Owl Hoot! is all about cooperation: everyone wins if players can help the owls get back to their nests before dawn. This game is intended for ages 4 and up and might just be your child’s first taste of strategy. The values this game teaches are important. While many of the games mentioned are competitive, having a game that praises the value of team work relates to many real life situations. It is integral that young kids learn to work with each other and that beating others is not always the point of everything.

Buy Now: Hoot Owl Hoot!(Free Shipping)

Roll and Play

rollandplay

Rolll and Play is a great game intended for the very young.

Best Boredom Antidote for: when children are just starting to play board games

Roll and Play is a suitable first board game. Even toddlers as young as 18 months can play. Little ones roll a large foam dice and then draw a card. Each card has interactive tasks on it such as making facial expressions or performing easy actions. This game is a huge hit with children because of how interactive it is. Moreover, it is parent approved because it helps children learn about human emotions, counting, colors, and a host of other early skills. When it comes to having a game that is both entertaining and easy enough to play, Roll and Play is one of the 10 best toddler games. It is fantastic.

Buy Now: Roll and Play(Free Shipping)

Zingo

zingo

Zingo is like Bingo for little kids.

Best Boredom Antidote for: helping kids with word recognition

Zingo is almost like Bingo except during playing two cards slide out of the game board. Whoever can recognize that that card has a match with their Zingo board gets to cover that space. From there, the game is played like the typical Bingo game as spaces are covered. Meanwhile, tots get to practice important reading skills.
One important note about this game is there can be a wide separation of skill between someone as young as two and a player as old as six. Zingo rewards children for speed in word and image recognition, so when kids are not very close in age this game can be unfair.

Buy Now: ThinkFun Zingo(Free Shipping)

Snail’s Pace Race

snails

Snail’s Pace Race is a game that helps children with their patience and taking turns.
Best Boredom Antidote for: keeping them distracted long enough for you to make lunch

Snail’s Pace Race allows tots to use their color recognition skills in this simplistic game. Players choose which colored snail will finish first and last before the game commences. Then children roll the dice to see which colored snail gets to move forward. There are no words or numbers in this game, which makes it perfect for children to play by themselves. The dice only have colors and a snail is moved once each time its color is rolled. The game stops when one of the snails reaches its end destination. Whoever predicted the position of the snails the most accurately wins the game.

Buy Now: Ravensburg Snail’s Pace Race(Free Shipping)

My First Orchard

myfirstorchard

My First Orchard, is another one of the 10 best toddler board games for children to start playing as their first game.

Best Boredom Antidote for: introducing a 2 year old to games

My First Orchard is a fantastic game because it can be handled by very young kids. They collect large plastic fruit from an orchard in order to harvest it all before a raven comes to eat it. Children roll the large dice which advances the raven. Some skills practiced in this game are teamwork, focus, color recognition, and counting. It is a cooperative game similar to Hoot Owl Hoot! because the end goal is for everyone playing the game to win.

Buy Now: Haba My Very First Games- My First Orchard (Free Shipping)

These 10 best toddler board games offer a lot of pluses for parents and guardians as well as children. Adults catch a momentary break from chaos. Children get a chance to work cooperatively, take turns, and learn many skills that will benefit them later in school. By learning basic counting, early reading, colors, and teamwork, toddlers are being prepared for the tasks they will have to do in Kindergarten and first grade. This gives them a head start, a benefit that can help them in the long term. Altogether, with all the benefits developing minds receive from play, it’s a win win.