Inside: Finding the best board games for 2-year-olds is quite the feat, but don’t worry, we’ve got all of the best games for 2-year-olds in this guide, along with pictures and direct links to each game, pros and cons of games, as well as toddler board games for all ages that will help with fine motor skills, gross motor skills and of course: make for a successful family game night!
Board Games for Two-Year-Olds
According to WebMD, the biggest and most common milestones that kids have at age two include standing on tiptoes, kicking a ball, running, climbing on and off furniture, climbing up and down stairs and carrying toys. Because of all of these large milestones, it’s super fun if you can also get your two year old going on some board games so they learn a love for activities using their brains, and hands, too. But knowing which games are appropriate for this age group can be tough. Let’s break down games for 2-year-olds at home! In this post are the 20 best family board games on the market right now! Don’t miss: Best Gifts for 2 Year Old Girls and Best Gifts for 2 Year Old Boys!
Games to Learn Taking Turns
Cooperative Games are fun in that kids can learn how to cooperate and win, or lose in a game setting. Cooperative games always include everyone playing in the game.
One of our favorite cooperative games to play with the little kiddos is Shut the Box. It’s not fancy at all, but sometimes, that’s what adds to the fun of it! Shut the Box gives families a timeout from blue screens, smartphones and laptops once in a while! The rules are simple enough for young clever minds yet challenging enough for advanced players of all ages. Players exercise their brains and cognitive alertness with every point they score. Shut the Box reinforces pattern and number recognition. The best part, in my opinion, is that they’re having fun AND learning math/numbers at the same time.
2. Candy Land
Candy Land is another must-have for any family. Players encounter all kinds of “delicious” surprises as they move their cute gingerbread man pawn around the path in a race to the castle. It’s a game that kids of any age can play, and players can jump in to play at anytime making it the perfect “coffee table” game as well.
3. Sunny & Stormy Day
Let’s hear it for a book, game amd activity all in one package! That’s exactly what the Sunny & Stormy Day is made up of Kids and adults alike will love this matching and sharing game that has three difficulty levels adaptable to your child’s age. Kids and parents will read the book together and then use their memory skills to find the “sunny” and “stormy” matches before the moon comes up. Players will use the sun, cloud and rainbow tokens to share the highs and lows of your own day as a family. This is one of my personal favorite games, as talking about feelings in an age-appropriate way can nurture emotional health and encourage confidence, compassion and kindness. Sunny Stormy game and book help kick-off important conversations between kids and parents. Number of players:
4. Coogam Wooden Magnetic Fishing Game
This simple and adorable fishing game offers hours of fun for children, along them to also learn how to take turns. It comes with 2 Wooden Magnetic Fishing Pole for play and is also great for learning the alphabet, and color recognition! Kids will find the fish that matches the color and letter, use the wooden fishing pole, they will pick up the fish. There are two poles so that kids can take turns catching fish, compete with friends to see who gets more, or just create their own unique challenges.
5. Hasbro Hi Ho Cherry-O Board Game
Kids ages 3 and up can have a blast picking pretend fruit from the trees on the game board, and filling their buckets. The spinner lets them know the number of pieces to pick — or put back. Players take turns picking pretend cherries, blueberries, apples, and oranges from their trees to fill their baskets. The first to fill their basket wins. And, Hasbro has been on the game scene for eons, so this is for sure considered yet another classic board game for kids.
6. Chutes and Ladders Board Game
Chutes and Ladders is simple and easy to play with no reading required. When your kiddo is the first to land on the 100 spot, they win the game! Best part? They can land on good deed and climb ladders toward the winning spot. On the flipside, they can land on bad deed and ride the chutes back down. Am I hearing … teach them that doing chores early is a good idea? I think so! Chutes and Ladders has been around since the 1970’s – a for sure classic! Games Focusing on Color Recognition
7. First Orchard
These classic toddler games have been enjoyed by families for over 30 years, and focus on developing social skills such as taking turns and following directions while reinforcing color recognition, quantities and counting by ones with these best-selling preschool games. Players will work together as a team to roll the dice and pick the matching fruit from the orchard before the raven makes it down the path to steal it all. If the players harvest all the fruit before the raven reaches the orchard, they win together! If the raven gets there first, they lose together. Repetitive play helps teach winning and losing (an important life skill!)
8. Jumbo Lacing Beads For Toddlers and Nuts & Bolts
The jumbo nuts and bolts with stringing beads allow children to focus their attention on the movement and placement of the bead lacing as well as the included twistable educational toys. These toys help develop fine motor skills through play and are fun for toddlers to hold on to, play with and carry. There are 25 pieces in this set, so it’s a great value as well.
9. Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game
The sneaky, snacky squirrel game is celebrating its tenth year! Your child will spin the spinner and use their Squirrel Squeezer to pick up the matching acorn and place it on their log. When your child gets to five acorns first, they win! This game reinforces color learning, matching skills, hand-eye coordination, strategic thinking, fine motor skills and more!
10. Hoot Owl Hoot
Play a color card and fly to that space. Draw a sun card and you’re one step closer to daylight! Help all of the owls get home before the sun rises and everyone wins! If all the owls make it to the nest before the Sun Token reaches the end of the track you win! Don’t let any owls fall too far behind. It’s hard to catch up with the other owls! By playing Hoot Owl Hoot, kids will gain social development skills, learn about simple strategy, and have fun without any reading required!
11. Crazy Cereal
Two players race to scoop up cereal to match blinking, color-changing spoons. This is the perfect game if you only have a few minutes to play – it’s a speedy, fun game that takes less than 5 minutes to play—once you’re done, battle again! How fun!
12. Feed the Woozle
In this highly rated game, kids and adults try to help feed the Woozle his 12 crazy treats (think hairy pickles and fuzzy donuts) before all the snacks are gone! There’s no reading required in this game, so kids of all ages can participate. Kids will learn dexterity, fine motor skills, body awareness, and counting all while having fun and cooperating. Kids learn about taking turns and develop valuable social skills. The game play is approximately 15 minutes.
13. Skoolzy Rainbow Counting Bears
Skoolzy Rainbow Counting Bears with Matching Sorting Cups is one of the best, most highly rated games for little ones looking to learn their colors. This popular game also help kids learn sorting, patterning and teamwork as well. Cons to this game include lots of small pieces that can be a pain while it’s cleanup time as well as a hazard if your little one is left alone with the game pieces. If you can handle those two things, this is a great first board game option for two year olds.
14. Bunny Hop
Bunnies are eating all of the carrots in this game to teach color recognition and enhance memory skills. Bunny Hop invites players to think fast and strategize to collect all 4 bunny colors first. This encourages children to recognize colors and remember which of their bunnies pop up and which stay put. In Bunny Hop, players take turns rolling the die, pushing down a matching colored bunny, and collecting the bunny if it hops into the air. The first player to collect one hopping bunny of each color wins.
15. Bimi Boo Number Puzzle
A multifunctional toy which allows babies and toddlers to learn pre-math skills by practicing basic arithmetic skills, matching numbers, as well as visual-spatial perception. Your kiddo and you will stack the rings to the right number and color in matching these on the tiles or match the right number on the tiles to the corresponding dots count on the base. There are multiple ways to learn and play at the same time with this fun, highly rated game.
16. Pengoloo
Roll two colored dice and lift two penguins to search for colored eggs that match the dice. Collect six penguins on your iceberg to win! To play, kids will roll two colored dice and lift two penguins to search for colored eggs that match the dice. Collect six penguins on your iceberg to win! Pengoloo makes the perfect first board game with easy-to-follow instructions for children and parents alike. Reinforce color learning, help develop matching skills, strategic thinking, turn-taking, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills with this fun, fast board game for kids. This game is for 2-4 players, perfect for working on several skills.
17. Monkey Around Game
In Monkey Around, children learn gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, imitation, vocabulary and social-emotional skills through play with 40 cards that prompt players to do movements together – from hugs to high fives to simple gross motor skills like balancing, hopping and marching. Fun!!!
Unique Memory Game Options
18. Disney Classic Characters Matching Game
You can’t help but notice the 24K+ amazing reviews on this super popular matching game! Kids will for sure enjoy fun pictures of all of their favorite classic Disney characters, including Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Dumbo, The Incredibles, Donald Duck, Goofy, Timon and Pumba, Tinkerbell, Buzz Lightyear and many more! Thie first person to get the most matches collected wins! Matching not only offers great solo play opportunities for your toddler, but is also a great game for adults to join in on the fun. It takes just 15 minutes to play, less than 5 minutes to teach, and makes a fantastic gift for toddlers!
Games Working on Hand/Eye Coordination
19. Extreme Egg Toss
The stuffed animal has over 50 egg-mazing phrases, sounds, and music, functioning similar to the Hot Potato game. Pass the soft plush bird around but catch it softly. The egg will recognize and respond when you catch it too hard and “crack” the egg. Take a step back when you get an “Egg-Mazing Catch”. This kids game can be used indoor and outdoor making it a great gift year round and awesome to work on your kids hand eye coordination, moving all of their body parts and working on showing their emotions, in a good way.
20. Top Bright Mama Bird
First, find the worms hidden in the tree hole, use the mama bird’s pointed mouth to grab the worm out of the tree hole. Finally, kids will feed the caught worm into the baby bird’s mouth. Similar to the popular magnetic fishing game, but with birds and worms instead – how cute!
What board games are good for 2 year olds?
All of the board games here are great for 2 year olds! They will of course need an adult to play with them as they’ll need direction and there are small pieces with every game. But the learning opportunities here are endless!
What are some fun games to play while talking on Skype?
You can play most of these board games over Skype pretty easily! Just have someone who is present “play” the turn of the person(s) on Skype or Zoom!
Which is a safe site to download games?
If you are looking for an electronic game or a game that a child can play on the computer, tablet or phone, I highly recommend ABCMouse. ABCMouse has accolades from all over the learning community singing it’s praises and is highly regarded by moms all over the world for helping with core subjects alongside preschool learning. PLUS, you can get a free trial of ABCMouse here.
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