This is a 4-part blog series on games. It includes games for preschoolers, early elementary, later elementary, middle school and high school.  This post contains affiliate links that will help you find the game easily.

We’ve found ourselves needing a little more family interaction lately in place of all our separate screen time during this crisis.  Games are the perfect remedy.  Here are some of our favorite games for Preschoolers and Kindergartners.

Hiss

This game is perfect for a preschooler. It’s simple, encourages matching colors and counting.  The essence of the game is to pick a card from a pile and match the color to  form snakes.  If you complete a snake, you get to keep the cards.  When no more matches can be made, you count the cards. The person with the most cards wins. This could easily be made into a cooperative game as well, which might be more suited for preschoolers.

 

Orchard

This is a delightful cooperative game where you try to collect the fruit before the crow gets it.  It encourages color recognition and cooperation, as well as some counting. A favorite activity for us was to make physical bar graphs with the fruit after the game, and then compare them for each player. Sometime we even put these on paper.

 

Harvest Time

This is another cooperative game where you try to collect the harvest before winter comes.  It often requires a little strategy and cooperation to bring all the veggies in.  Educational value includes reasoning, some counting, and color matching. It’s also just fun.

 

Spot It!

This is a matching game. Every card has six pictures on it. Each card has exactly one match for every other card. You can play this competitively to see who get the most cards, or cooperatively working to find the matches together. They have an Frozen theme alphabet set as well, though it’s much more pricey.

 

Leap Frog Dominoes

This is a spin off the typical domino game, but with a preschool flare.  You can switch up the cards in the dominoes to play with numbers, shapes, or words. Many of the word cards rhyme, so it could be matched by rhyme as well. Counting, shape recognition, and reading skills are strengthened with this game.

 

 

 

Get Up and Go

Stuck in the house and need the kids to get out some energy. This is the perfect game for them. It has a stack of action cards, some animal, some people, to act out and then your opponents give you points for your performance.  We don’t even both with the points, and if I’m feeling lazy, I don’t even bother playing. I just flip the card one by one while my daugher acts them out.  It’s a fun and entertaining to get moving on days you are stuck inside or need a change a pace before or after “school.”

 

Candy-land

Last but definitely not least is the old favorite, Candy-land. We wore this game out.  There of course is the color recognition skills and counting that are practiced.  But in addition to those, I’d encourage you to make your own rules up. It’s hilarious when you do.  One of our rules included any color drawn was double the amount until you got to the snowcone. We also put many more ups and downs on the board.  This one has lasted so long for a reason. It’s great fun.

 

Just a note: I participate in Affiliates Programs. When you use the links above, your cost is the same, but I receive a very small commission from your purchase. I use this commission to fund my website to keep it ad free. I want you to experience my website without being bombarded with ads. Thanks for your support. For more information on my relationships see my Policies and Disclosures.