Best Kids Board Games iMore 2020

While you're working from home and your kids are home from school, you may be looking for ways to engage them and keep them learning while having fun, and board games are a great way to do that. Games can teach kids teamwork, strategy, help with basic math skills, and even give their critical thinking skills a good test. Plus, board games are fun as heck, so here's a list of our favorite games you can play with your kids!

Resource collecting made simple: My First Stone Age

Based on the popular game Stone Age, My First Stone Age takes the complex ideas and gameplay of its original and makes them super simple. Players flip tiles to reveal where they will move on the board. Once a player has moved, they can take resources that are available on that board space (if any). Players will spend resources to build huts, and the first person to build three huts wins the game.

Then it all falls down: Jenga

There isn't much to say about Jenga — it's just fun. Grab the blocks and stack them on top of each other, and if you knock over the tower, you lose. It's simple, inexpensive, and provides a good amount of entertainment when the tower falls down.

Connect the routes: Ticket To Ride: First Journey

The kid's version of Ticket to Ride pretty much works the same as the regular version. Collect trains of different colors to connect the cities via the train routes. The routes are very straightforward, and the longest route is only four trains long, making it a much quicker and simpler version for kids to enjoy.

Find the toy: I Spy: Dig In

All the fun of the I Spy books in a game! Fill the bowl with all sorts of little plastic figures, then flip over a card with a picture on it—the first one to find the figurine that matches the card wins. Plus, when you're not playing the game, you can use the little plastic figurines as toys!

Roll the dice and battle giant monstrs: King of Tokyo

You're all giant monsters fighting to be the king of Tokyo and see who can cause the most destruction. Roll the dice and collect the symbols to damage your opponents, or regain health. You score points based on how long you can stay inside the city cause destruction—a super fun and fast dice-rolling game that goes over well with kids and adults alike.

A kid-friendly dungeon crawler: Stuffed Fables

Get ready to dive into this fantastic kid-friendly dungeon crawler where you play as stuffed animals that have come to life to protect the little girl that owns them. You'll roll dice, encounter friends and foe, pick up items, and finish an epic quest all in this cute and cuddly world displayed in the adventure book.

Board games aren't just for adults

Board games sometimes get a bad rap for being boring, stuffy, and mostly enjoyed by adults, but there are a ton of board games that are great kids. Whether you have pre-teens or pre-schoolers, you can find a game that will entertain your children and hopefully leave them wanting to play more.

If you or your family members are pretty fond of board gaming, and you're hoping to turn your little ones onto the hobby, My First Stone Age is a wonderful place to start. It will help your kids understand strategy and decision making without being frustrating or boring.

If you have smaller children, I Spy: Dig In is a great little game that is super simple. The small figurines are just fun to look at, and getting them to dive into the bowl frantically looking for a specific piece is pretty fun. Just be careful around really small children or babies; the little plastic parts are a choking hazard.

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