Ideas for games rather than toys for 3yo

[Nzou1050]

Seeing the guess who on the bargain thread made me think about possibly getting my DS a game to play for Christmas. Does anyone have any recommendations for games that would work well with this age group? He's pretty articulate but not amazing at taking turns. Only ideas I have that I was thinking might work are guess who or possibly buckaroo?

look at the Orchard Games - huge range for this age range- Monster Catcher, Shopping List etc

Orchard Toys do good games for this age group. Two by Two and the Shopping game popular in my house.

Great minds think alike

Pop up pirate
Snakes and ladders
Whatever Next
Any Orchard Toys game

Yep, another vote for Orchard Toys. The Incey Wincey Spider one is DD's favourite, she's 3 🙂

ds liked beetle, dominoes (we had very hungry caterpillar), memory, pop up pirate, hungry hippos, operation, we have buckaroo but it's not great as i don't think it's that well made, we have soggy doggy which is good cos the dice doesn't have numbers and is quite simple, there's an elephant game where u feed it and it squirts you that ds1 likes, the orchard games are good too. he still struggles with guess who at 4 tho.

Pop up pirate

Dobble. You can take it anywhere

My nearly 4yo has loved the Orchard/Galt games. Cake Monster is a particular favourite. We also have a Peppa Pig Snakes and Ladders and Elefun.

My 3 year old loves the Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel game - we play it daily! He also loves Pop Up Pirate and Snakes and Ladders

Yes to Orchard Toys! We have Baa Baa and Bus Stop, fantastic

Orchard toys are brilliant - ds1 loves Spooky Steps and Crazy Chefs.
Also the Early Learning Centre have some good games.

Hungry Hippos is good if taking turns is an issue. One of my 3yo DS' favourites is 3d Snakes and Ladder. You have little balls as pieces and all the snakes and ladders are little slides for them, so it's more fun that the normal kind. He also loves Screwball Scramble for the 'challenge' aspect and he's as happy to watch others take a turn as he is to play it. Jenga is a huge favourite though he is of the opinion that the person who knocks the tower is the winner (the same with Buckaroo where he thinks the object of the game is to make the mule buck). Timer games like Mr Pop and Perfection are also fun.

I think board games are pretty fantastic and playing them with DS has surprised me at just how educational they are as they usually involve counting, developing fine motor skills, matching shapes, etc. There is just so much learning by osmosis that they are great.

Dinosaur bingo and the ladybird game are bit hits in our house.

My 3yo loves don't steal busters bones

Wow, so many suggestions. Thanks everyone well check them all out. The pirate one definitely sounds like it would be a hit.

My 3yo loves pop up pirate, hungry hippos and animal card bingo (an old game my dad gave us); plus a lovely "find the card" game based on the old lady who swallowed a fly (which is an Orchard Toys game).

He also likes junior operation (with the pig and some food) but he's not very good at that one (belongs to the 8yo)

We found co-operative games worked well at this age. Especially Little Orchard

3yr old Ds loves Buckaroo, he also got a similar game but it's a shark and you have to fish stuff out of his mouth before his jaw snaps shut! He also likes Hungry Hippos and we have an elc version of kerplunk but it's with a tree/bees, he loves that!

Ds just turned 4 we have pop up pirate, pig goes pop, elefun, dohnutters and hungry hippos. He loves them all. He also wants crocodile dentist.

Buckaroo & Elefun are great for that age & if he can count to 6, then Frustration is perfect (although obviously don't be too fussy with the rules!).

This was absolutely wonderful and we had a LOT of games at that age, on a certain dice roll all the counters got on the merry go round, got span around and got off again or some such thing!

Pop up Pirate & Snakes & ladders were very popular at that age too.

www.amazon.co.uk/Noddy-Merry-Go-Round-Game/dp/B000B8T3TK

Frustration is another good one once a little older as there is a little bit strategy (keep going or get another counter going) but the rest is pure chance so it's a "fair" game for all ages.

Agree re Pop up Pirate - it's great for that age.