Screen-Free Entertainment: 8 Best Toddler & Preschooler Board Games

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Listed below are some of our favourite games, split by age into toddler friendly games, and preschooler board games.

We have tried to keep screen usage in our home to a minimum, especially before the age of three. To maintain this, we end up playing lots of games together as a family, especially on the weekends.

Toddler and preschooler board game recommendations.

TODDLERS

Ravensburger Roll & Play

Roll & Play was the first proper game we got for Ryaan and it was such a hit! It comes with a big multicoloured plush cube and six sets of cards in the corresponding colours. The child needs to roll the cube, then select a card with the matching colour. Each card has a different action on it, such as ‘Make a happy face’ or ‘Roar like a lion’ that the child needs to act out. Roll and Play is a great family-bonding game for a toddler, with endless opportunities for learning numbers, colours, language and gross motor skills.

Bug Bingo

Ryaan was gifted this game and I didn’t think he would like it as much as he did. Bug Bingo is a compact, portable mini game featuring a variety of bugs and insects. It is a great introduction to Bingo for toddlers, due to its small size and few pictures to identify. The first player to fill their board and shout ‘Bingo’ wins.

This game helps develop matching, memory and language skills. It would be a great game to introduce when a toddler shows an interest in matching and sorting work.

Bird Bingo

Once familiar with the concept of playing Bingo, Ryaan loved moving on to Bird Bingo. This is a beautifully illustrated game featuring 64 species of birds from around the world.

To begin with, we actually used this as a matching game. I would get him to match a smaller selection (up to 10 at a time) of tokens to the master board by looking at their pictures. Soon enough, Ryaan was able to identify the birds so well that he’d know which bird we were referring to without even looking at is picture.

If your child loves this game, then there are a few more in the Series - Ocean Bingo, Monkey Bingo, Dinosaur Bingo, Dog Bingo, Bug Bingo and Cat Bingo.

PRESCHOOLERS

Bus Stop Game

This is a fantastic game for introducing addition and subtraction to preschoolers. Ryaan has always been interested in numbers, and went through a phase when he was counting and adding literally everything. We got him this game, and he still loves it. It also helps that it is a game featuring several buses, as Ryaan is a vehicle lover.

Each player is the driver of a bus, and has to race to the bus station, picking up and dropping off passengers as they go. Players throw the dice to move their bus around the board, either landing on a plus or minus square. Players spin the spinner to determine the number of passengers to pick up or drop off their bus. The winner is the player with the most passengers when their bus arrives at the bus station.

Paddington SIghtseeing Adventure

Ryaan has been reading the Paddington Bear books for some time now, so when he received this board game as a birthday present, he was thrilled. The Paddington Sightseeing Adventure will see players take Paddington Bear on his travels through London, visiting some of London's famous landmarks and taking selfies for his scrapbook. The objective of the game is to collect four selfies and get Paddington Bear home in time for tea. It is a fun game for the family to play together.

Outfoxed

This game is aimed at children aged 5 and above, so we weren't expecting Ryaan to be able to play it when he was 4, but he caught on to it pretty well. It is like a simplified version of Cluedo, in my opinion. Mrs. Plumpert’s prized pot pie has gone missing and the objective is to move around the board to gather clues and then use the special evidence scanner to rule out suspects. This game is cooperative and requires deduction. Children learn some valuable skills such as estimating probability and paying attention to details, as well as the important role that collaboration plays towards problem-solving.

I would recommend getting this game after your child gets more familiar with the simpler board games listed above.

Code & Go Robot Mouse

Code & Go is screen-free programmable mouse designed to introduce children to the concept of coding. By building a maze and using the directional arrows to programme Colby to reach his cheese, children learn early step-by-step coding, and develop logic, problem-solving and critical thinking skills. The colourful arrow buttons correspond to the colour coordinated arrows on the coding cards and help children plan out routes to solve STEM challenges.

Ryaan can do some of the easier challenges on his own, but still needs some direction for the more advanced coding challenges. He loves creating his own mazes and programming Colby to reach the cheese.

Rush Hour Jr

Another game that is excellent for car lovers, Rush Hour Jr is a game that develops analytical and strategic skills. It comes with a series of cards in four levels - easy, medium, hard and very hard.

The child follows the setup shown on the card, placing cars in rows and columns according to the picture. Then, they need to figure out how to get the ice cream van out, while keeping all the other cars in their lanes.

The age recommendation on this game is 5+ but Ryaan has been doing the Easy and Medium levels since before he turned four. This is definitely high up on our favourites list, and is a great gift for a four or five year old.