Save me more disappointments - board games for 4yr old

[SkyLarkDescending]

I would love some suggestions for board games/turn taking games for my DC, 4yr old.

I bought pop up pirate recently as I never got to play it as a child and always wished I had it. Well it was most definitely a disappointment - both DC and me got bored very quickly. I'm looking at more classics like mouse trap and operation - all games I had and loved but I'm not sure. I don't want to commit if they are going to get shoved in the cupboard in January!

I have DC, 2.5yr old also so bonus points for anything that is suitable for both of them.

Please give me your suggestions!

Can't go wrong with basics - snakes & ladders!

Frustration, snakes & ladders and ludo are all
classics for a reason in my opinion

Orchard Games are good. We liked Monster Catcher and Shopping List particularly.

Guess who

Don’t get Operation. I bought it for dd5 last Christmas and was excited to play as never had it as a kid. It was awful, really fiddly and a but underwhelming. We love Pop up Pirate though. Snakes and ladders is great, kerplunk, junior scrabble (Ds6 not a fan though) and battleships is played all the time. Dc4 is 2.5 and can get involved with Kerplunk, hungry hippos.

Connect 4 is good as you can cheat without being to obvious until they get hang of it. Plus 2.5y old can play along randomly and doesn’t spoil the game as such.

Mousetrap don’t you have to collect lots pieces and more skill and planning?

Junior monopoly is good rules very simple

Orchard games are great, mine have loved shopping list and the ladybird game

Connect four, snakes and ladders, jenga, number blocks

Our favourite games here are kerplunk, jenga, hungry hippos, dinosaur bingo, orchard toys shopping list game, giraffes in scarves, cheeky monkeys, snakes and ladders and the delightful "who did that poo?"

I think the games you mention are more like 6 or 7+. Turn taking is hard at 4, we love pop up pirate, we have a similar one that is a crocodile and you push his teeth down till he snaps your hand off! Don't wake dad, we love orchard toys and have lots of their games, we love the bingo type games like shopping lists or matching pairs like rainbow unicorns. We've also got the orchard toys snakes and ladders but the 4 yo still forgets all the time and annoys the 6 yo

Don't get mouse trap. We bought it for our neice and it is so bad compared to the original. the parts are flimsy plastic and don't sit in the way they should so the whole thing just doesn't work well and is very frustrating.

Connect4
Ludo
Coppit
Mousie Mousie (my DC love this one)

Spent ages trying work out rules to don’t wake dad it was beyond me! Wasn’t even under influence.

Lots of great recommendations thankyou. We have a few orchard games already - shopping list a definite favourite. Will look out for those mentioned.

Kerplunk! I forgot about that one thanks. And ludo!

@EcoCustard and @Santastuckincustoms good to know which to avoid too. Thanks for the advice.

How do you cheat at connect 4?! Think I'm missing a trick

What about guess who for a 4 yr old?

Cheating at connect 4… not blocking them when they have 3 in row and look surprised when they win

Jenga!

My rough heavy handed 3yo loves it and is actually really good at it!

Hungry hippos
Orchard games - we love shopping list, Tummy ache, giraffes in scarves
Kerplunk
Jenga
Junior monopoly
Farmyard bingo
ELC monkey business
The fishing game
My two can’t play snakes and ladders without cheating and arguing for some
Reason 🙄

You need to keep it really simple and easy at this stage, I think operation would be a little too challenging and frustrating for the average 4 year old.

My children loved hungry hippos at that age. Games where you still take turns but it’s not too fiddly or longwinded are good.

Or maybe snap.

My girls also loved a ‘go fishing’ game from Early Learning Centre.

SkyLarkDescending

What about guess who for a 4 yr old?

Yes we love guess who?!

Peaceable Kingdom has a number of good cooperative games.

And not a ‘board game’ but if you are looking for a toy that both can play with, have you got a marble run?

Hungry hippos!! Second the connect 4 suggestion. Also picture dominoes, snap, memory games and Jenga have all been popular here.

Orchard toys. Labyrinth jr.

Junior cluedo is good, although may be at five or six. (Plus you need three players which can be inconvenient!)

Junior Game of Life is terrible.

Junior monopoly is Good... lots of different themes too.

Card games like snap, pairs etc.