Advice and reviews for games targeted towards kids under 5 years old.
Dragon’s Breath from HABA is fun, easy to learn, and beautiful. You and your fellow players are little dragons, hoarding sparkling stones. But the stones are all stuck in a column of ice! Dragon Dad can melt the ice with his fiery breath, but who can grab the most stones as they fall?
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Board games are amazing for teaching our kids strategy and critical thinking, supporting their growing reading skills and comprehension. But board games also offer something that’s not talked about as much…
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Grab gumballs, then guess what they’re feeling! Guess It, Get It, Gumballs is a unusual cooperative memory game for ages 4+. It’s perfect to get your kid talking about feelings.
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Did you know that cuckoos don’t build their own nests? Kiki Cuckoo never learned to build one, and now she needs your help! Elliot helps Andrew and Anitra explain this cute all-ages dexterity game from HABA.
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We’ve got a top 10 today – yes, actually 10! Inspired by some filler games we recently received in the mail, and looking forward to hanging out with One Board Family (because we talked filler games when we had them on the podcast), we decided we’d talk about our favorite filler games today. First we thank Breaking Games, whose game
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Playing Castle Panic (a fantastic game) with my 4-year-old felt more like giving instructions to an unwilling robot. He wasn’t enjoying himself, and I wasn’t enjoying him not enjoying himself. Would My First Castle Panic be different?
My First Castle Panic is a cooperative tower (castle) defense game for 1-4 players ages 4+ that plays in just 20 minutes. Team up and protect the castle from monsters coming to knock it down! Throw the monsters in jail and save the castle!
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Kids love the candy theme and the fun characters. But Candy Land is too hard, too long, and uninteresting.
So, what can we do about that?
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Race for the treasure in Gnomes at Night, a cooperative maze game with a vertical board. Your partner(s) may have clear paths where you have a wall, so you’ll have to work together – fast!
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Drop It was designed by Bernhard Lach & Uwe Rapp and published by KOSMOS. It feels a bit like Connect 4 played with tangram shapes, if your object was to make as few lines as possible. Hear our impressions of this strategic dexterity game in about 6 minutes, or read on for more.
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Friends ask me on a regular basis about good games for very young children or children who have learning impairments. How can you have a game that’s fun without counting or even color matching?
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In Catch! from Peaceable Kingdom, players work together to move 4 cats to surround a mouse and keep it from escaping the yard.
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Once again, the holiday shopping season is upon us. The Family Gamers present our recommendations for your family: gifts of new games for all ages and abilities! We’ve got everything here from games for toddlers and preschoolers, to adult games, to large groups or two players. No matter what age you’re shopping for or what the occasion is, our family
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Looking for more games to play with the littlest gamers in your family? Corey and his daughter Sasha have got you covered, with this snap review of Where’s Mr. Wolf from Blue Orange Games.
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Mmm! is a favorite game to play with children. Reiner Knizia has created a puzzle that is neither too easy for adults nor too hard for preschoolers.
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Anomia is a word from a Latin root and means “without name”. It’s the term for being unable to come up with the name of an object. Anomia is also a game (from Anomia Press), in which players race to come up with a word that fits a certain category, ranging from “color” to “rock opera” to “shampoo brand”.
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The bakers in Sprinkleton have a big problem – monsters keep stealing all their donuts! Can you pick out the suspects and help the bakers recover their donuts? Monster Match is a new collaboration from the team that brought us Happy Salmon – designers Ken Gruhl & Quentin Weir, with art by Linda DeSantis. As with Happy Salmon, Monster Match
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The rules are so simple and intuitive, even a toddler can understand them. In fact, since the game is easy enough for toddlers to understand, this makes it a great game to play with them. You can slowly introduce them to strategy, and the materials are resilient enough to handle whatever it is that makes their hands sticky all the time.
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It’s that time again – time for holiday shopping. Need something new for the gamers in your life? Here is the Family Gamers’ guide to games your family will love.
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Every person who takes care of children knows the importance of play. But sometimes young kids need to be encouraged to stretch their imaginations. Sometimes their grownups need permission to be silly and simply have fun. Have you howled like a wolf today? Maybe you should!
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You are a king (or queen), looking to expand your kingdom. As you explore the terrain, you must decide which territories will be the best and most productive. But watch out! Other monarchs are scouting the territory, too, and may steal your most-coveted lands!
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