Board game recommendations for nearly six year old and three year old

[sugarlumpwasarockinghorse]

My children are (nearly) six and (just) three and wondering what board games they might like? I haven’t really played any with them before!

Our nursery does play some Orchard Games stuff but honestly I don’t get all the critical comments about not having board games. We are a big board games family but I don’t think it’s weird that a 6yo and 3yo haven’t played much. TBH my kids will play board games beautifully at school and nursery but at home if it’s a winning or losing game then it’s WW3. Sibling love… So we play cooperative games at home as I don’t need the drama!

For your 3yo, Snug as a Bug by Peaceable Kingdoms is good as it has some counting, colour and pattern recognition etc. My 4yo and 7yo still enjoy playing it together.

Gnomes at Night is amazing but 3yo might have to get some help while they get the concept. Great for the 6yo. Feed the Woozle is fun too. Outfoxed is really good but a 3yo will need a lot of help with the deductive reasoning. Great for 6yo.

Top Trumps is good and all sorts of themes.

Shopping List by Orchard Games was always a firm favourite here. Most Orchard Games are pretty good really. A straightforward Snakes and Ladders would work too.

Ignore the first comment OP. It was unhelpful.

I think at 6 and 3 they are the ideal age to start to enjoy playing some games.

We play Shopping List which is great and there is also an Orchard games lottery one (red dog, blue flower etc) and a baby and mum animals one. But we just play that you take turns to turn over a card and then give it to the person who has it on their board as doing it the right way where you have to remember and turn it back over if you’re wrong just caused too many headaches!!!

we do have the pizza one that someone else recommended but my DD can’t take the stress of turning over a card that might have worms on 🙈! So we sacked that one off too!!! (Yes yes snowflake generation etc but we want it to be fun and hopefully she will become more robust as she gets older!!!)

we also play guess who!! A lot!

Dobble works but only 121 because my 7 year old is way quicker than the 3 year old (naturally).

Thanks all. I really like the sound of the cooperative games because I just don’t really want any drama over who won or lost at this stage!

Oh final recommendation: The Best Worst Ice Cream. Super easy concept.

(I lied: last two: picture charades cards and Animal Antics)

Pizza game is great, any orchard toys really. We had a hungry caterpaiilar game too which both mine loved.

Any matching games would work.

Oh the orchard toys shopping game was a fave

Phew, glad someone else said this! I was beginning to feel very inadequate.

My 4.5 year old and just 2 year old couldn’t handle much of this before descending into arguing, chaos, confusion, or just wandering off / declaring it “boring”. I know I need to encourage the older one a bit more but they do lots of other things; loads of art, reading, dancing, building, playing outside, etc. Just not board games at the moment….

That’s not what I said I said there aren’t enough adults at preschools and schools to facilitate board games among the classes of 30 odd pupils.

Yes my dc1 is an outdoorsy sort of child, always has been.

@BrightLemonHam
Just to wade in on this extra debate - I found your first post very rude. And your follow up posts unpleasant and wrong - my children play board games at nursery. So saying “of course they don’t” and a whole paragraph about why that is such a preposterous idea, is just not correct. Some do, perhaps some don’t. Families are all different too. It isn’t shocking. We play board games at home but it is maybe once a week…

It isn’t what you said; I agree. It isn’t very pleasant when people take what you’ve said and twist it around, is it?

How do you think they learn to cope with these situations if you don’t teach them?

The longer you leave it to teach them to win and lose appropriately the harder it will be, and it will have a negative effect when they are playing other games with their peers and are bad winners/losers.

And your comment is in reference to…?

Most good ones have been mentioned, my 3 year old also loves Three Little Pigs, they're 2+

https://amzn.eu/d/0522v44d

Sigh. To your posts, @BrightLemonHam . You have jumped on this thread and you have heavily inferred that I have been inadequate as a parent and neglected an important part of raising children, and don’t bother with the ‘I didn’t say’ bullshit, you know you were and so do others. You have referenced having a three year old but nothing else and I am not convinced you’re posting in good faith.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, genuinely appreciated.

You don’t think I’m posting in good faith because I’ve given you lots of board game suggestions that my 5 and 3 year olds love and explained the importance of board games?

Genuinely, if you don’t teach your children to be good winners and good losers, how do you think they are going to learn?

I think you are posting in bad faith because you have criticised my parenting and children but have done so in such a way that you can fall back on ‘What! I didn’t say that!’ which doubtless you will now. You gave me a list of games on the first page but told me nothing about them, literally just listed them. The rest of your posts have been critical and provocative.

@BrightLemonHam you’re coming across as so desperate to feel superior to other parents that it actually sounds deeply insecure.

Shock horror there are families that do things differently to you. Don't be so faux naive.

We’ve recently tried kerplunk which older DS (5) loved. The marbles make me a bit nervous with younger DS (2.5), but I just supervise closely.
Orchard Toys Rabbit Race has been a firm favourite and Ravensburger Peppa Pig matching game.

Hurry up chicken butt if you want a more active game (it has cards with silly things to do on).

Lots of good recommendations on here, I'm stealing some! At that age, mine loved Shopping List, Snap, Happy Families and Dobble.

My 2.5 year old loves sleepy sloths. And my 5 year old happily plays it with him. Turn the card over make the sound and wake up your sloths. Simple.

Many other posters have also listed games and told you nothing about them but you seem alright with them 🤷‍♀️

@sugarlumpwasarockinghorse haha! That was the fastest criticism of an OP I think I’ve ever seen!!

Look on eBay for an original (or near enough) Frustration game, with a “popomatic” in the middle. My dcs loved this - I had to play for hours! It’s simple but competitive enough to be engaging.

Hungry hippos, pop up pirate, buckaroo, pie face