Board gamers who are parents usually cannot wait to share their hobby with their young ones. Today, we take a look at the best board games for kids that will allow you to start playing with your kids who are as young as 4. We have listed a number of fun board games that are popular and will even help you improve your children’s numerical literacy and education – and instill a love for the hobby in them from the youngest age.
There are even some fantastic concepts introduced through CoraQuest, which takes on the dungeon crawler genre and makes it completely accessible for 6-year-olds. There are a lot of great board games for kids on this list, so have a look around and see which ones you like best.
List of Best Board Games for Kids
- Catan (Catan Junior)
- Ticket to Ride: First Journey
- My Little Scythe
- Takenoko
- Sushi Go
- Dixit
- King of Tokyo
- Cascadia
- CoraQuest
- Zombie Kidz
- Disney Villainous
- L.L.A.M.A.
- Risk Junior
- My First Carcassonne
- Quacks & Co
- Bohnanza
1. Catan Junior
- Designers: Klaus Teuber
- Players: 2-4
- Play Time: 30 Min
- Age: 6+
- Complexity: 1.50/5
Catan Junior was released in 2011 by Catan GmbH and designer Klaus Teuber to expand the game’s family and introduce the system to younger players. The Catan Junior version is a simplified take on the 1999 classic and its many expansions set in a Caribbean atmosphere. It’s definitely one of the best board games for kids on our list to try right now. Kids will play across a ring of islands and build hideouts as they also encounter the mysterious Spooky Island and its notorious Ghost Captain. Each island will generate a specific resource, which is then used in shipbuilding, or helping out Coco the Parrot. This version of the timeless classic is fit for ages 6+ and plays for 2-4 players in 30 minutes.
Buy Catan on Amazon US / Amazon UK
2. Ticket to Ride First Journey
- Designers: Alan R. Moon
- Players: 2-4
- Play Time: 15-30 Min
- Age: 6+
- Complexity: 1.42/5
Days of Wonders has reimagined the popular euro board game Ticket to Ride to be more accessible to children in First Journey. The complexity of the game has been reduced to 1.42/5 and Alan R. Moon’s design is now suitable for players aged 6 or older, opening up the world of train games to an even wider audience. Although a new entry into the kids’ board game category, this is definitely one of the most fun board games for kids on our list. Players will once again collect train cards, claim routes on the map, and try to connect as many cities as they can to score the most points. Illustrated by Cyrille Daujean, and Jean-Baptiste Reynaud, the First Journey is a great way to teach your kids a bit of maths and geography from an early age.
Buy Ticket to Ride on Amazon US / Amazon UK
3. My Little Scythe
- Designers: Hoby Chou, Vienna Chou
- Players: 1-6
- Play Time: 45-60 Min
- Age: 8+
- Complexity: 2/5
Stonemaier Games’ acclaimed Scythe has been reintroduced to younger audiences in My Little Scythe by designers Hoby Chou and Vienna Chou, and it’s already one of the best kids board games to try. 1-6 players will collect fruits and gems, encounter various events, or start friendships – or pie fights, as the publisher puts it. It’s still a competitive, but family-friendly game where kids will try to earn four out of eight possible trophies and make actions Move, Seek, or Make. The game was originally a fan-made expansion that caught the eye of the publisher and transformed into a fully-fledged game. It’s definitely one of the most popular board games for kids these days, topping selling lists and bringing a rewarding experience to the tabletop.
Buy My Little Scythe on Amazon US / Amazon UK
4. Takenoko
- Designers: Antoine Bauza
- Players: 2-4
- Play Time: 45 Min
- Age: 8+
- Complexity: 1.98/5
The Emperor of China has gifted the Emperor of Japan a panda who now lives in the royal court, as part of a newly-built garden. This is where players come in as they will need to tend to the garden and ensure that the panda’s bamboo needs are well-met. Players will have to choose from different species of bamboo, assisted by a Royal Gardener, and score the most points. Takenoko has nice components and visuals, making it an immediate fixture for the imagination, and one of the best board games for kids on the list. Suited for ages 8+ and 2-4 players, Takenoko plays in 45 minutes, it’s light, fun, and quick to teach and pick.
Buy Takenoko on Amazon US / Amazon UK
5. Sushi Go
- Designers: Phil Walker-Harding
- Players: 2-5
- Play Time: 15 Min
- Age: 8+
- Complexity: 1.16/5
Sushi Go will immediately feel interesting to young players and old board gamers, as it borrows from games such as Fairy Tale and 7 Wonders when it comes to its card drafting where players pick from various dishes of sushi and add it to their table while passing the rest around. It’s admittedly one of the kids board games on this list aimed at slightly older children, but the ease of rules still makes it an easily approachable and great game to try!
In the game, you will also want to try and figure out what sushi would benefit your opponents as you don’t want to give them too much leeway with Sushi Go proving a fun board game for kids right from the start. You get extra points for things such as dipping your favorite nigiri in wasabi to triple its value. Players will try to form a strategy from the start and focus on select types of sushi, avoiding conflict with other players who have been tempted by the same delectable morsel. A fun, easy, and light game, Sushi Go can be played in 15 minutes by players aged 8+.
Buy Sushi Go on Amazon US / Amazon UK
6. Dixit
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Spur the imagination of your kids with Dixit and its immersive storytelling where each player plays a card the right abstract image card for points, satisfaction, and adding a bit of joy to their day. Dixit is a game for 3-8 players, so you can never have to worry about running out of slots, and it plays in 30 minutes. The game is fit for ages 8+ and stimulates creative thinking and imagination. The player who plays a card in a round, called a storyteller, is going to say a sentence or a word out loud and place a card face down.
Other players also forward one card each. The cards are shuffled and presented for everyone to vote on a card. If everyone guesses the storyteller’s card, or no one does, the storyteller gets 0 points. If at least one player guesses the storyteller’s card, the storyteller gets 3 points – and 1 more point for a vote their card had received. The rest of the bunch are trying to play cards that can confuse the rest and capture some of the votes for themselves and thus acquire more points! It may sound a bit complicated right now, but this is definitely one of the easiest and best board games for kids to add to your collection!
Buy Dixit on Amazon US / Amazon UK
7. King of Tokyo
- Designers: Richard Garfield
- Players: 2-6
- Play Time: 30 Min
- Age: 8+
- Complexity: 1.38/5
Mutant monsters rage across Tokyo, trying to prove to everyone that they are the biggest, meanest game in town. King of Tokyo is a fun brawler in which each of the players manages a giant monster, from a Space Penguin to Cyber Kitten to Pumpkin Jack, and many others. Each has a unique ability and vies for the area of control, which is usually a place in the city that, when occupied, allows the player to generate points and attack the monsters outside the area at the same time. The downside? Everyone gangs up against you and tries to tear you down, eventually forcing you to leave. This said this is probably our personal best board game for kids on the list.
Buy King of Tokyo on Amazon US / Amazon UK
8. Cascadia
- Designers: Randy Flynn
- Players: 1-4
- Play Time: 30-45 Min
- Age: 10+
- Complexity: 1.83/5
Cascadia is a beautiful tile and token-placement board game in which you will draft both terrain pieces and the various animals that you can place on each so-called habitat. Each player has a starter’s tile which they will add to by drafting more tiles and wildlife species, such as salmon, elk, brown bear, fox, and more.
You will build patterns based on five cards that are set out at the start of the game. Players get bonuses for forming specific animal patterns, just like you would in Calico, but also for building the biggest of a total of five unique habitats. This board game for kids is loved by all, with the recommended age of 10+ because of the pattern recognition that is required to play it. Cascadia is still light and easy to get into, fast to play, and even easier to tear down when you are done – a perfect addition to your collection!
Buy Cascadia on Amazon US / Amazon UK
9. CoraQuest
- Designers: Dan Hughes, Cora Hughes
- Players: 1-4
- Play Time: 45-60 Min
- Age: 6+
- Complexity: 2.03/5
I know, you have heard this already, but CoraQuest is one of the best board games for kids you can add to your collection. Designed by Dan Hughes and his daughter, Cora Hughes, CoraQuest is an ambitious entry into the magical world of dungeon crawlers and cooperative kids board games. The game is accessible and ambitious in its design, bringing one of the more difficult aspects of gaming into a game that kids 6+ can understand and very much enjoy. Kids and grownups will team together to defeat monsters, share the loot, and create their own stories. The art used in the game is often based on drawings that are contributed by members of the CoraQuest community from all over the world.
CoraQuest is not available on Amazon US / Amazon UK
10. Zombie Kidz Evolution
- Designers: Annick Lobet
- Players: 2-4
- Play Time: 5-15 Min
- Age: 7+
- Complexity: 1.40/5
The Kids of a school have to band together and stop the zombie infestation from tearing the whole school apart. In this no violence-game, 2-4 players at the age of 7+ set out to block the zombies’ advance throughout the school and compete a variety of missions, as they track their personal progress. Various achievements and their completion grant players access to new pieces and parts of the game, enriching the world of Zombie Kidz Evolution as they go along, as well as the opportunity to explore new powers. Zombie Kidz features a lot of cool mechanics such as variable player powers, a legacy element, dice rolling, area movement, and more.
Buy Zombie Kidz on Amazon US / Amazon UK
11. Disney Villainous
- Designers: Prospero Hall
- Players: 2-6
- Play Time: 46-120 Min
- Age: 10+
- Complexity: 2.49/5
Disney Villainous is one of the most successful games in the entire series. In the popular game system, players are offered a chance to play as the villains of the story and fulfil their own nefarious designs. Disney Villainous is geared towards a slightly older age group than our previous card board games for kids on the list, and ideally, the 2-6 players need to be 10+. This is where the fun starts with kids stepping in the shoes of Ursula, Captain Hook, Maleficent, Shere Khan, and many others. Only this time around, you really want the bad guys to succeed, specifically – your bad guy. Each villain is assigned a unique deck of cards featuring items, allies, effects, and conditions all in the single pursuit of securing the final villainous goal.
Buy Villainous on Amazon US / Amazon UK
12. L.L.A.M.A.
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L.L.A.M.A. by Reiner Knizia is one of the best maths board games for kids, and a quick way to teach numerical literacy to children. In the game of L.L.A.M.A., there can be only one loser or they are the person who ends up with 40 points first. You are assigned cards of different values and need to empty your hand by either matching the card that is already played or playing one value higher.
Players may play as long as there is one other person trying to empty their hands. Sometimes, players call a pass and out strategically, because they suspect that they will score fewer points than their opponents, and remember – scoring points in this game is actually bad! L.L.A.M.A. is not just one of the best educational board games for kids, it’s also one of the most worthwhile small-sized board games you can take with you on a family trip!
Buy L.L.A.M.A on Amazon US / Amazon UK
13. Risk Junior
- Designers: Hasbro
- Players: 2-4
- Play Time: 15-60 Min
- Age: 5+
- Complexity: 1/5
If you want your kids to get a taste of war gaming, Risk Junior is one of the best ways to introduce them. Now, this said, Junior Risk is not a particularly aggressive game, and the design has been streamlined so that children 5+ can play it. The gameplay is easy to teach and the vivid and colorful look makes it easier for kids to get acquainted with the game, tell different pieces apart, and generally enjoy it. Players will control pirate ships, launch raids, and defend their territories, as the tug-of-war continues over 15-60 minutes. Much a faithful iteration to the original, Risk Junior is actually a great way to introduce your kids to this particular genre, which is why we think it makes for an awesome addition to the list of top board games for kids.
Buy Risk Junior on Amazon US / Amazon UK
14. My First Carcassonne
- Designers: Marco Teubner
- Players: 2-4
- Play Time: 10-20 Min
- Age: 4+
- Complexity: 1.13/5
Carcassonne was already accessible to the youngest crowd, but Hans im Glück has decided to streamline the game a little further. The age has been dropped to players 4+ making it one of the most accessible and fun board games for kids we have on our list today. The setting is a little different with the July 14 National Holiday in France taking a humorous turn with chickens, cows and sheep released in the town of Carcassonne and children scurrying after them to collect them. Players will have to always match the tiles with players finishing roads and placing their matching meeple on the appropriate iconography. Conflict is clearly taken out of the game, and this is a great way to introduce your youngest to tile placement mechanics, and later to the somewhat more sophisticated version of the game.
Buy My First Carcassonne on Amazon US / Amazon UK
15. Quacks & Co.
- Designers: Wolfgang Warsch
- Players: 2-4 Players
- Play Time: 25 Min
- Age: 6+
- Complexity: 1.27/5
Quacks & Co is the reimagined version of The Quacks of Quedlinburg and one of the best board games for kids that features a bag-building mechanic (you read this correctly). In Quacks & Co players aged 6+ will race mounts to victory by first building a bag of different tokens that represent feed for the steeds. Once the race is on, players will need to use these tokens to make sure that their mounts make it all the way to the end. You will find a double-sided player board to set the length of the race and ask of the kids to adapt to the changing environment of the game. Illustrated by Michael Menzel and designed by Wolfgang Warsch, this is a title worth adding to your library.
Buy Quacks & Co. on Amazon US / Amazon UK
16. Bohnanza
- Designers: Uwe Rosenberg
- Players: 2-7
- Play Time: 45 Min
- Age: 12+
- Complexity: 1.67/5
One of Uwe Rosenberg’s oldest designs, Bohnanza is an accessible, fun, and educational board game for kids who are a bit older – 12+. Although not necessarily a very complex game, Bohnanza requires a bit more abstract thinking and calculation that may not come readily to younger audiences. You will be planting beans and produce, trying to score points, and even denying your opponents the right cards, as you will be able to trade (as you must) to free space for better cards that you may need. The game asks you to harvest beans so that you can receive the coins illustrated, and whoever has won the most coins – wins. It’s a simple game that definitely will help with numerical literacy and may be worth getting for your children. Outside of that, Bohnanza is easily one of the best board game designs we have ever had in the hobby.