One of my fondest childhood memories is sitting around the kitchen table with my parents and siblings (six total) and having family game night. Until my siblings all headed off to college it was a weekly tradition of ours.  I was thrilled when I learned that Scott’s family shares a love for games just like mine. – We were meant to be! 🙂

Things have changed a little bit since I was a teenager, mainly we have to wait until the kids go to bed before we whip out the snacks, and stack of board games. However, “game time” always a highlight of our family get togethers, on both sides of our families. Many times you’ll hear us saying “Oh-My— we have to go to bed, the kids will be up in only XX hours!” But then we remember we are at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, and we can just send them in their room to be looked after in the morning. 🙂

Once Greyson reached an age where he could actually play games with us (3 years old-ish), I have tried to capitalize on it. We are a game family. I would rather play Zingo 45 times in a day, versus driving matchbox cars around the house for hours….and thankfully Greyson loves playing games just as much as we do!

So I have rounded up over 25 of either our favorite games that we play with Greyson, OR games that are on his Birthday / Christmas list.

Games to play with your Preschooler

To make it a little easier to follow, I’ve divided them up into 3 sets of 9 groupings.

* Alphabet Go Fish Matching Card Game-  Master the alphabet while playing the classic game of Go Fish!

* Bug Trails- Bug Trails is a 6-legged color matching domino game.

* Busy Town, Eye Found It- Encourages teamwork and promotes attention to detail.

* HiHo! Cherry-O Game– Helps kids practice counting and numbers

* Candy Land- This is the classic “child’s first game”, and preschoolers will love it. No Reading Required

* Connect 4- Greyson does not fully grasp this game yet, but he really enjoys making patterns with the two colors. I think that within a few months 4 – 4.5 months old he will “get” it.

* Count Your Chickens- Players work together to help Mother Hen collect her chicks and bring them back to the coop; if they are successful everyone wins!

* Find It- This is the PERFECT game to keep or take in the car with you!! Easily contained, and a lot of fun.

* Let’s Go Fishin’- Greyson and his cousin love playing this game together! They will play this multiple times a day when they are together. It is not really educational, but they have a lot of fun; and at that is just as important.

 
* Go Fish! – Greyson loves playing Go Fish. We’ve always just played with a regular deck of cards, but this will be in his Christmas stocking this year! I know he will just love this special deck of cards. They also have a few other versions, you can see a color version HERE. TIP: When playing cards with a preschooler, use a large chip clip to place their cards in. It help them hold their cards!

* Disney Jr Guess WhoGame – Honestly, this game could be a little frustrating to play with a 4 year old, but would be a lot of fun with my neice who is a bit older.

* Hungry Hungry Hippos- I am pretty sure we played this game 1.567 million times yesterday. Seriously, though!

* Hoot Owl Hoot!- An award winning color-coded cooperative matching game with two play levels so it will grow with your child.

* Don’t Break the Ice-  Greyson received this game for his 3rd birthday. It has definitely taught him to be cautious, gentle, and deliberate with his actions. Plus it is fun to hammer things!

* The Ladybug Game- This game was invented by a 3rd grader!! How awesome is that? No Reading Required AND it has a wide age range 3-8 years!

* Curious George Matching- This game promotes turn taking and patience. It also fosters memory skills.

* Doc McStuffins Operation- Greyson enjoys this game. It works with his fine motor skills, which has been great for him.

* Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus- Do you know a child that is obsessed with the Mo Williams books? I do, his name is Greyson! 🙂 This game promotes social skills. I think that Grey would just get a huge kick out of it.

* Roll and Play- Greyson’s first ever game! And still quite possibly my all time favorite. It fosters SO SO SO many skills, gets kids active, and is just fun. I cannot recommend this game enough! Best.Ever.

* Scrabble Junior- letter-matching fun for your little one. The game board can be flipped over for older children- so they can make their own words. This is an awesome game for the families that have children a few years apart. *coughuscough*

* Sequence Letters- Players sound out the letter on their card, match it to the beginning sound of the picture on the game board

* The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel- Develops matching, sorting, strategic thinking, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and pre-handwriting skills. BOOM!

* Zingo! Sight Words- Teaches sight recognition of essential words!!

* Stack Up!- Children learn color matching and hand-eye coordination with no reading required

* ZINGO!- This is Greyson’s favorite game! Teaches image and vocabulary recognition, matching, memory, concentration, and social interaction

* Sequence for Kids- A sequence game just for kids

* Snail’s Pace Race- Improves color recognition, number conceptualizing, task completion, turn taking, and social skills playing

I am having a hard time narrowing down which games Greyson will get for the upcoming holidays. So many of them would be so awesome for him / us!!

I would love to know what your child’s favorite game is, or if I have missed an awesome one!

Enjoy!

P.S. Here is a great article about why it is so important to play games with your children!

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