In the first part to this, however many parts it ends up, series I’ll show you a handful of our favorite games…that my kids outgrew. These are great for Preschool or Kindergarten age or beginner level gamers. Basically if your kids are learning their letters, numbers, letter sounds and motor skills these are perfect!

We homeschool and we use games as part of our learning. Games themselves are teaching your kids something whether they (or you) realize it or not. Sometimes it’s obvious like working on letters or colors or even counting but sometimes it isn’t as obvious.

Most games teach about taking turns, that losing is ok too, sportsmanship (saying good game afterwards whether you win or lose) and following rules. Some, however teach strategy, problem solving, deductive and even inductive reasoning. You might not notice these until a year or more later…but kids who game learn these things. And it all starts with learning basic games while learning your ABC’s…or colors and so on.

There are TONS of games to look into but here are a few that we have loved. I’m posting a link to a review (if I have done one) and a link to purchase the game on Amazon. (This will be an affiliate link, so thanks in advance if you purchase.) I know when I find a game I like to know more about it or where to buy it so I include these things.

Pengaloo – From Blue Orange Games

Purchase  $19.99  My Review
Skills: Memory | Color Identification | Fine Motor | Strategy

Pengoloo takes the Memory game to a whole new level of fun. Roll the dice and peek under the Penguins to see if you have a match to their eggs. Capture 6 Penguins this way to win! This game is easy to learn and fun to play (over and over and over again) and doesn’t get old or drive you crazy! Perfect for preschoolers! This all wooden memory game is sustainably made.

Hoot Owl Hoot – From Peaceable Kingdom

Purchase $15.99 My Review
Skills: Color matching | Simple strategy | Following directions | Social development | Cooperation

Players help the owls fly back to their nest before the sun comes up. Play a color card and fly to that space. Draw a sun card, and you’re one step closer to the daylight. Help all the owls get home before the sun rises and everyone wins! The basic game is easy enough for first time game players and the game can be made infinitely more challenging simply by adding more owl tokens into the game. This allows the game to age with the child or for older kids (or adults!) to play with younger kids.

Spot It! Alphabet – From Asmodee

Purchase $9.99 My Review (on Spot it Animals Jr)
Skills: Matching | Letter Identification | Observation

One of many educational variants, Spot It! Alphabet is a fun and exciting way to help young children practice finding, reading, and saying the letters of the alphabet. Featuring all twenty-six letters of the alphabet in upper case and a few simple symbol in bold, bright colors, Spot It! Alphabet is sure to keep the whole family engaged and entertained for many game nights to come.

My First Orchard – From HABA

Purchase $25.99
Skills: Social Skills | Develop Color Recognition Skills | Teach counting by ones

Your child will love playing the My Very First Games – My First Orchard game from HABA! A specially designed version of our classic Orchard game, this is a great “first” game for ages 2 years and up! The fruit pieces are large, designed for smaller hands, and included is one sturdy basket for children to share for a cooperative game. This set can be used as both a game (with game boards and die) and also as a pretend play set of solid, wooden fruit.

Zimbbos! – From Blue Orange Games

Purchase $24.99 My Review
Skills: Counting | Manual Dexterity | Balance | Color Recognition

Help the circus troupe in their star attraction but don’t let them fall! Taking turns, roll the die to find out how many elephants you must stack on to the pyramid. The player who manages to place the last elephant on the pyramid wins. The perfect first game, Zimbbos teaches color recognition, counting, and develops dexterity and balance awareness. This all wooden building game is sustainably made.

Q’s Race to the Top – From EQtainment

Purchase $29.99 My Review
Skills: Promote Feeling Identification | Verbalization | Manners | Social Skills | Creative Thinking | Balance | Coordination

Meet Q, the genius monkey with A LOT to learn about life. “Q’s Race to the Top,” is an interactive board game for ages 3+ where children can help Q race to the top of his tree house by answering questions and performing fun actions. EQtainment is on a mission to improve emotional intelligence globally by creating fun and simple tools for practicing social skills and better behavior.

Diggity Dogs – From Educational Insights

Purchase $14.99 My Review
Skills: Develops matching skills | Practices counting skills | Encourages social skills, turn-taking, and good sportsmanship

Have some furry, four-legged fun! Hot dog! It’s a game of furry, four-legged fun! Draw from the stack or “go fish” from another player’s hand to collect cards that match the all of the pet necessities and accessories of the dog you want to adopt. Collect everything that dog needs and adopt it! Adopt the most dogs and you win this preschool matching game.

Fun Farm – From iello

Purchase $29.99 My Review
Skills: Observation | Matching | Dice Identification | Motor Skills

The farm animals have escaped! It’s your job to round them all up, but you are in luck, because all of your neighbors are trying to gather them up too! You’ll need fast hands and sharp eyes to grab the most animals and win the game! In this fast-grabbing game, players compete to spot and catch the animal shown on the revealed cards before their opponents.

Super Genius Alphabet – From Blue Orange Games

Purchase $12.99 My Review
Skills: Visual perception | Focus and attention | Speech and language | Processing speed

This matching game will propel your child into ABC fun as they sound out the letters while matching them with familiar and vibrant illustrations. Developed hand-in-hand with learning professionals, this Super Genius game was specifically created with early learners in mind. The concept is brilliant! There is always one — and only one — match between any two cards. Pick a cooperative rule or race to find the match.

Coconuts – From MayDay Games

Purchase $35.95 My Review
Skills: Manual Dexterity | Motor Skills

Long ago the Monkey King left his peaceful kingdom in the care of his children while he took a great journey. The journey took him far and wide, keeping him away longer than he had intended, and he finally returned to find his children fighting and his beautiful kingdom in chaos. The wise old king sighed and gathered his children. “I have seen much, and learned that successful rulers keep one eye on the present, and the other on the future. I have decided that the first Monkey to collect supplies for the winter will replace me as ruler.”

Feed the Kitty – From GameWright Games

Purchase $13.99 My Review
Skills: Visual Discrimination | Counting

Feed the Kitty is as simple as a cat’s life. Mice are on the menu, and as they move from place to place, it’s anyone’s guess who will end up hungry and who will get to have a full belly. Will you be caught catnapping or will you pounce into the lead? The answer is all in the roll of the dice!

Frida’s Fruit Fiesta – From Educational Insights

Purchase $14.99 My Review
Skills: Teaches letters and the alphabet | Develops fine motor skills | Develops strategic thinking skills | Encourages social skills and turn-taking

Learn letters with Frida! It’s lunchtime in the rain forest and Frida is collecting letters for her little ones. Spin, find, squeeze, and set four letters in a row first to win this fruity preschool letter game. For 2-4 players.

Mermaid Island – From Peaceable Kingdom

Purchase $14.99 My Review
Skills: Simple strategy | Following directions | Social development | Shared Decision Making | Creative Problem Solving

You have to work together (so everyone can be any mermaid) to make it to Mermaid Island but be careful to avoid the Sea Witch! Mermaid Island is a quick, easy to learn and fun to play game for kids around age 3 – 8. The game ends when either all 3 Mermaids or the Sea Witch gets to Mermaid Island and either you all win or you all lose.

Reef Route – From Brain Games

Purchase $24.99
Skills: Develops strategic thinking skills | Encourages social skills and turn-taking | Color Identification or reinforcement

Help your fish make it to the safety of the reef and try to avoid the sharks! Younger ones can learn or reinforce their colors, learn to take turns and that sometimes you have to play what you roll and not what you want. Older kids will learn how to strategically think in order to keep their fish safe. You can put other players fish in the path of the sharks so you could always adjust that if you want to. For 2-4 players.

Needless to say there are a LOT to choose from. These were the ones that we used during our first year of homeschooling and as extra learning/fun for preschool. A few I discovered later and would have used them if we had them at the time. We adjusted game-play to make them more challenging as the kids got older but eventually they outgrew these wonderful games. However, these games did last a good while and were well loved and played…a lot.

If you are looking for games for your little one I would recommend starting with one…or all…of these. I added reviews where I could so you can get an idea of how the game plays, what materials it is made out of and any other information I put in there…which might be a bit. I am pretty thorough. Also links to check out the company’s other games and an amazon link in case you want to purchase it. (Yes it is an affiliate link)

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“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”
~ Fred Rogers