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!

So maybe just do that next time.

Mine liked any kind of memory pairs game, we had a Disney princess one. Also we had Gruffalo dominos, snakes and ladders. Anything that practices counting along the squares and taking turns is good really.

Frustration, hungry hippos, pop up pirate, snakes and ladders, snap, the shopping game are favourites here.

and our 4 year old has a better attention span for board games than the 6 year old. He is only just getting the hang of it now ( and not stropping if he doesn’t win ! )

Orchard toys!!! We have:
Spotty cows is an absolute delight
Snakes and ladders
Dinosaur dominoes
Fun food bingo
Alphabet lotto (theres pictures and letters so suitable for both your ages)
Unicorn fun is a good one once you remember the rules
Troll in a hole

I'm sure we have more but those are the ones I know we use.

Losing is tough though so be prepared for some tantrums 🤣🤣🤣

Not a board game but Uno is lots of fun. We have our own family rules which may be different to the published version.

I mean the youngest is only three! How many board games can a newborn participate in?

OP I would look at Orchard games or Haba. There are loads of brilliant young-child friendly ideas there.

And my personal favourite is Uno and Dobble - because they are very quick rounds so you can play multiple rounds in succession, which helps build tolerance for losing (a useful skill!) and because you can play for as long or as short as you have the patience for.

Sleeping queens, sneaky snacky squirrels, shopping list and dobble have been mentioned before and are all great. In sleeping queens, I seem to remember getting my 5 year old to do the sums for the little one. The game we absolutely loved at this age was animal upon animal - it’s a stacking game with little wooden animals and as much fun for grown ups as kids (similar to rhino hero in a way, but simpler).

My other top recommendation is getting some gamewright little hands card holders and then playing games like go fish, happy families and donkey.

‘Bugs in the Kitchen’ is an excellent board game.

Another one for Orchard Games. Lots of different ones. Lovely coloured thick card pieces. My kids loved them and while slightly tedious for an adult (not much strategy) each round doesn't last too long and people who honour usually have a role if it isn't just first to win.

They also loved ludo, any variation of snakes and ladders and sorry (which is effectively ludo)
At a tiny bit older than you'll elder one my eldest started to enjoy back gammon and drafts (simplified rules)