Having age appropriate games for 5 years olds allows young children to acquire a number of skills that will help them be more successful throughout their life. Board games provide many benefits including a means for children to bond with both other children and adults. They also help kid take their first steps in strategic thinking, develop communication skills, increases their ability to focus which allows them to be more prepared for the school years ahead.
Here are some buying tips and a look at (in our opionion) some of the best educational board games for 5 year olds.
Tips for Buying Board Games for 5 Year Old Boys and Girls
- Consider choosing both cooperative and competitive games to give children a more rounded playing experience.
- Consider games that will help children develop early reading and math skills.
- Choose games that are appealing to and age appropriate for a 5 year old, but will also be fun for multiple ages if child has brothers and sisters.
The Best Board Games for 5 Year Olds List
1. Scrabble Junior
This junior scrabble game is a great option for fostering letter and early word recognition and spelling skills. The game is designed for 2 to 4 players and comes with 4 tokens, a game board and 105 thick cardboard letter tiles. The game board is two sided for different levels of players.
One side of the game board has words already written on the board and kids match letters to the letters in the words. The other side of the board kids create their own words in a traditional scrabble style play.
2. Trouble
Trouble is a competitive game for 2 to 4 players. The object of the game is to be the first player to get all 4 of your pegs around the board and into home. The game comes with a game board with a die in a built in bubble, and 16 pegs, 4 of each of 4 colors.
This game includes strategic play and teaches good sportsmanship.
3. Ker Plunk!
Ker Plunk is a fun game that helps children around the age of 5 to improve their concentration. This game consists of a clear tube with 4 separate trays, sticks and marbles. To set up the game players place the sticks into the tube to form a web and then place the marbles on top of the sticks. Players then take turns removing the sticks one at time trying to avoid any of the marbles from falling.
At the end of the game the person with the fewest marbles in their tray wins. The game is designed for 2 to 4 players although one child can play this game on their own and still have fun.
4. Outfoxed
A fun cooperative game for 5 year old boys and girls Outfoxed is a game that helps children learn strategy and deduction. The object of this game is for players to work together to discover which fox stole the pot pie before the fox makes it back to their den.
The game consists of a game board, decoder, clues, suspect cards and thief cards. As well as dice with either eyes or paws on them. In order to move towards a clue players get three rolls in order to turn up paws on all three dice. If they get the paws they move towards the clue. If they don’t get 3 paws the fox gets to move. The idea is to eliminate enough suspects to guess the thief before the fox reaches his den.
5. Monopoly Junior
Monopoly Jr. is a simplified version of the traditional Monopoly game suitable for kids age 5 and up. This game can be played in about 30 minutes and features kid friendly properties such as Movie theaters, Ice cream stores and Pizza parlors. The game comes with a board, cute tokens, the properties and single dollar bills.
This game helps prepare children for playing the classic Monopoly game and helps children practice counting skills and gives them the idea of buying properties and collecting rent.
6. Animal to Animal
Animal to Animal is a fun animal stacking game for 2 to 4 players. The idea behind the game is for you to become the first player to stack all of your animals. The game comes with 29 animals and 1 die. Players take turns rolling the die to determine how many animals they can stack on their turn, whether to place another animal next to the alligator base, or give one of your animals to another player to stack.
This game helps to develop hand/eye coordination, fine motor skills and problem solving abilities.
7. Rivers, Roads and Rails
This path building game is an educational game that is ideal for 5 year olds. The game comes with 140 illustrated cards that children must match in order to connect the railroad tracks, roads and waterways so that the proper vehicle can travel the route uninterrupted. This game can be played by up to 12 players and the winner is the player that uses all of their cards first.
This is a great game for helping children work on their sequencing skills, turn taking and to help build verbal skills through social interaction.
8. Monkey Balance
Monkey Balance is a fun math game that is perfect for helping most 5 year olds improve their counting, addition, subtraction and problem solving skills. It also helps children develop their fine motor skills. The game comes with 19 monkeys, the numbers 1–10, a monkey scale and 30 double sided cards.
Players count the monkeys on the card and then place that number of monkeys on one side of the scale and the number on the other to balance the scales. Children can also perform simple addition and subtraction and use the monkeys and numbers to balance the scales.
9. Stacktopus
If you are looking for a fun game that encourages your child’s verbal skills and family bonding then Stacktopus is the perfect game for kids 5 years old and up. The game is suitable for 1 to 3 players and comes with 9 octopus fingers (arms) 24 cards and 18 cups. The object of the game is for players to stack their cups according to the cards using only the fingers with the octopus arms. A fun and silly game sure to cause lots of laughter and conversation.
10. Life Junior
Life Junior is wildly different from the more grown up version of Life. In this game kids get to choose a vacation adventure where they travel to by car, train, ship or plane. Kids earn money by landing on an animal or activity action card and performing the activity that the card tells them to do (walk like crab, make the sound of a cow, etc.) Players lose money by drawing event action cards.
This game teaches turn taking, animal trivia, sportsmanship and counting.
11. Peaceable Kingdom the Fairy Game
This Fairy game is a cooperative game that helps children learn teamwork, strategy, social skills, group decision making and creative problem solving. The game is designed for 2 to 4 players and consists of a game board, 4 gem tokens, 13 snowflake tokens, 44 snow storm cards, and 57 fairy garden cards.
The object of the game is for players to work together to fill the magic wand and banish Mr. Winter before he can place 4 snowflakes on a single flower.
12. Perfection
Perfection is a speed matching game in which players try and match shapes to the right space before time runs out. The game consists of 25 geometric shapes, and a game unit with a timer, and a pop up tray with a storage compartment for keeping the pieces. It also comes with instructions for play.
This game is great for helping to develop any 5 year olds memory, focus and concentration skills.
13. Monza
Monza is a car racing,color recognition and matching game. This game takes 5 to 10 minutes to play and consists of a board, 6 racing cars, and 6 colored dice.
Each player takes turns throwing the 6 dice and then moving their car one space at a time to the color directly ahead of the car that matches one of the dice. If colors on the dice come up that you can’t use, your turn ends and the next player has their turn. The winner is the first player who crosses the finish line.
14. Disney I Found It
Disney I Found It is a cooperative object seeking game for young children. The game comes with a 6 foot board (divided into 4 sections), 4 movers and their bases, 10 mouse ears, 30 search cards, a spinner, sand timer and rules for play.
This game helps children improve their focus and memory, object identification and teamwork. The object of the game is for all of the players to get on boats and reach Picnic Island before all of their food is eaten by the pigs. The Disney theme makes the game fun for children.
15. Mr. Mouth Feed the Frog
Feed the Frog is great game for helping 5 year olds improve their hand/eye coordination. The game is made for 2 to 4 players (although 1 person can practice on their own.) The object of the game is to get all of your colored flies into the spinning frogs mouth before the other players. The game does require a C battery and can provide hours of fun for both kids and adults.
Why Consider a Board Game for your 5 Year Old Boy or Girl?
Whether you are looking for a gift that offers educational value or simply looking for a boredom buster for those cold winter days spent indoors board games are perfect for a 5 year old and are sure to please any child and perhaps even their siblings and parents as well.