Top 10 Games for 4 Year Olds

What can a typical four year old child do? Between 48 and 59 months, most children learn to:

• distinguish different shapes (and know some shape names)
• identify colors by name
• Narrate what they’re doing and what they did in the past, although their sense of “how long” is not good.
• Count to ten
• Build with blocks (not just stack them)

A four year old’s attention span (focus on a single project) is still only about 10-15 minutes. So games should be short, although they may ask to play the same game over and over again in a single session.

You’ll notice our top choices in games share some overlap with our recommended games for 3 year olds. But we’re less wary of small pieces, since most four year olds will no longer be tempted to put game pieces in their mouths.

Find more games for every age:

1. My First Castle Panic

We were shocked from the first time we tried this game. It really dials in the interest and difficulty perfectly. Play it together as a family, matching colors and shapes to put monsters in the “dungeon” (printed in the box). But if your kid is anything like ours, you may find them playing it independently before too long!

Read our review of My First Castle Panic and find it on Amazon.

2. Disney It’s A Small World

A twist on the typical memory-matching game. In this one, you can move around the table to find the scenes that match your cards – and physically move the 3D walls to find what’s on the other side!

It’s a Small World is played as two teams and is about the same length as a typical memory game. But the tactile, moving walls, sturdy game pieces, and cute multicultural scenes will appeal to both children and adults.

Watch our review of Disney It’s a Small World or find the game on Amazon.

3. Monza

If your kid is very interested in racing, Monza is a great choice. On your turn, you roll six dice and use them to move your car ahead on colored spaces on the track. While they’re racing, your child will also be learning sequencing (how to string actions together). Monza also allows for up to six players, while still being a nice, short game under 15 minutes.

Read our analysis of how Monza teaches sequencing and find the game on Amazon.

4. Dragomino

We recommend Dragomino even for three year olds, because it’s appealing even to young preschoolers. You match together domino-style tiles to get “dragon eggs”. But 4 year olds can begin to understand that some color types will be more likely to yield “full” eggs and others will be more likely to be empty.

Read our review of Dragomino or find the game on Amazon.

5. Dragon’s Breath

More cute dragons appear in this game of dexterity and prediction – along with beautiful sparkly stones. By age 4, most children can choose which color stone they’d like to collect on each new player’s turn, and also choose how they want to remove rings: slowly? quickly? straight up? sliding off to the side?

As parents, we love how this game grows in skill with our kids, and also how the act of playing cleans up the game.

See our review of the award-winning Dragon’s Breath or find the game on Amazon.

6. Suspend Junior

Although it may look like what happens when you ask your child to hang up spare clothes hangers, Suspend Junior is a wonderful game of dexterity and balance from trusted toy makers Melissa & Doug that will reinforce turn-taking and resilience.

Spin the spinner, then hang your piece in the matching color. Parents can introduce additional rules as kids grow, such as only using one hand, or preventing pieces from “sharing” a supporting space.

Find Suspend Junior on Amazon.

7. Turtle Splash

This game combines dexterity with memory. Flick the turtle token down the ramp to the “lake”, then choose animal tiles to flip over, hopefully matching the next animals that are waiting in line on your player board!

Turtle Splash is a memory game at its core, but there are all kinds of ways to adjust the difficulty to keep it interesting for all players.

See our Turtle Splash review or find the game on Amazon.

8. Stampfarm

For kids who are ready for just a little bit more strategy – or ones who just love stamps – we recommend Stampfarm.

Roll the dice, then choose one animal to stamp onto your sheet. The self-inking stamps stayed nice and clean for us over hundreds of uses.

The scoring requires a lot of counting and some basic adding, so it’s best with adult help. A more challenging mode with goal cards means this game can stick around well into the school years.

See our review of Stampfarm or find the game on Amazon.

9. Gnomes at Night

This cooperative game will be challenging for four year olds. It requires true cooperation through communication and fine motor skills. Two players (or two teams) must work together to navigate through a vertical maze – that isn’t the same on both sides of the board – while hunting for specific treasures.

We find that this game teaches kids control (you can’t move the gnomes too aggressively or they’ll fall apart) and enhances their communication skills. Even if they don’t know “left” and “right”, kids can point in the direction they need help.

Read our review of Gnomes at Night or find the game on Amazon.

10. Gobblet Gobblers

Raise your hand if your kid is obsessed with tic-tac-toe. Are you tired of it yet?

In Gobblet Gobblers, you play tic-tac-toe with pieces in three sizes. You can place a larger piece over a smaller one – but since you can also move your pieces, you’ll need to remember if you covered your own piece or your opponent’s! This is a perfect way to introduce tactical thinking without changing the basic rules of tic-tac-toe, making it something that most kids can play.

Find Gobblet Gobblers on Amazon.

But Wait! – Unexpected Games

Many four year olds can play some games that are typically more “adult”. Three that had great success in our family are:

Kingdomino – Slightly different from Dragomino and more challenging. Kingdomino will begin to teach multiplication skills, and last your family a long time.

Mountains – Anitra was really surprised how well this worked for a young kid who was willing to be a little patient (it takes about 30-40 minutes). It’s one part press-your-luck, one part deduction, and two parts memory, with a semi-cooperative theme and no reading. A word of warning: there’s a stamp and an inkpad, so don’t play this on a carpet or a tablecloth with young kids!

Drop It – we started playing this game when our youngest kid was four, and discovered that it’s easy for little kids to understand the basics of how the game works (don’t let the piece touch the same color or same shape) while adults help them keep score. There are also “joker” tiles that can be used to let players score a few times even when they mess up.

Now get out there and play games with your kids!

* List of skills appropriate to a four year old compiled with resources from the CHOC and CDC.

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