Classic Fun and Educational Games for Kids

Hey Parents!! How are we holding up? Having all that energy your kids bring around the house all day long with no physical outlet for it must be draining – tried games for kids yet? Kids love to play and there are a lot of games for young children. These games could be board games, card games, puzzles, mobile or video games, and never-before-seen games (we have 4 of these down below).

        <h2>Board Games for Children</h2>       
    <p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;">Board games have been around for a long while now. These games are classic games that know how to get players hooked. Below, is a list of board games young children can play:</p>      
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            <a data-elementor-open-lightbox="yes" data-elementor-lightbox-slideshow="5e28e38" data-elementor-lightbox-title="snakes and ladders" href='https://kidsnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/snakes-and-ladders.jpg'><img width="150" height="150" src="https://kidsnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/snakes-and-ladders-150x150.jpg" alt="snakes and ladder" /></a>
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            <a data-elementor-open-lightbox="yes" data-elementor-lightbox-slideshow="5e28e38" data-elementor-lightbox-title="scrabble" href='https://kidsnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/text-on-shelf-256417-scaled.jpg'><img width="150" height="150" src="https://kidsnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/text-on-shelf-256417-150x150.jpg" alt="" /></a>
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            <a data-elementor-open-lightbox="yes" data-elementor-lightbox-slideshow="5e28e38" data-elementor-lightbox-title="chess" href='https://kidsnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/black-white-and-brown-chess-board-game-139392-scaled.jpg'><img width="150" height="150" src="https://kidsnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/black-white-and-brown-chess-board-game-139392-150x150.jpg" alt="chess" /></a>
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        <h3>Snakes and Ladders</h3>     
    <p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;">Who remembers the game on the pack of Yale or Oxford cabin biscuit? Yeah, the game we had to cut out from the biscuit paper pack, roll a makeshift die and race to be the first to reach the “house”! That’s snakes and ladders. The game has many variations and over the years, we’ve seen cabin biscuit packs without the game – this was heartbreaking. Why? Because some of us bought the biscuit then because of the game, we didn’t care so much for the biscuits. </p><p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;">The game is played by two or more players with each player represented by a game piece. The aim of the game is to get your game piece to the finish line using the results from a die roll while navigating around the traps, tricks and rewards.</p><p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;">Variations of this game change the tricks and traps, and also introduces other animals, not just snakes. Chutes and ladders is a popular variation of this game. For every variation, the rules are usually the same, but the game design is not.</p>        
        <h3>Scrabble</h3>       
    <p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;">If your kids are yet to play scrabble, oh well, that’s just unfair. Scrabble is a good word game for young children to play, it’s <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335087500_Neuroscientific_evidence_support_that_chess_improves_academic_performance_in_school">one of the brain-boosting games </a>available. The 15 by 15 squares grid game is a multiplayer game (2 to 4 persons) that helps young children get a good grasp on their spelling and word association skills. The game is available in different languages and has a global tournament.</p>     
        <h3>Ludo</h3>       
    <p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;">No board game list should be deemed complete without Ludo. The colourful board game though dependent on luck also requires you to have a good strategy and counting skills. The game can be played with a single die or two dice. Young children from the age of 4 can play this game. It’s fun and if your child becomes a fan, then (s)he is certainly improving their counting/calculation and strategy skill.</p><p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><strong>Quick fact</strong>: The games, snakes and ladders and Ludo have their origin in India. Also, the word Ludo is Latin and it means “I play”. </p>       
        <h3>Monopoly</h3>       
    Many persons believe that young children might not find the game entertaining enough and that’s not true. Granted, not every child will love the game – all adults do not as well. But quite a good number of kids love the game. My 7-year-old cousin absolutely loves the game but sadly, his teen brothers would rather play with their peers so he doesn’t get much playing time.

It is a multiplayer game that reflects the financial reality of our real-time world. There’s tax, real estate, mortgage, bankruptcy and there’s a jail as well. As a bonus. It’s a fine way to help your child understand the basics of finance and business.

Chess

Been waiting for this? Here it is. Unlike others so far, chess is a two-player checkered 8×8 grid board game. The game has been around for centuries and is believed to have originated from Asia. Both players have 16 game pieces each and these pieces fight and capture the opponent’s pieces. The pieces move differently and include 1 king, 1 queen (most powerful), 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops and 8 pawns (least powerful). 

The game is known to be a brain-boosting exercise for both young children and adults since it heightens spatial intelligence and strategy skill. Worried that your child might not like the game? Don’t be, let your child try his hand on it first.

It is a multiplayer game that reflects the financial reality of our real-time world. There’s tax, real estate, mortgage, bankruptcy and there’s a jail as well. As a bonus. It’s a fine way to help your child understand the basics of finance and business.

Tired of Board Games for Young Children? Then Try These Games

Board games are certainly not for everyone. Thankfully, there are a good number of other games available that young children can play. 

Whot

A shedding game is a game whose objective is to be the first player to discard all cards at hand, and that’s what the popular version of Whot is all about. The card game consists of cards with 5 different shapes – stars, circles, triangles, squares and crosses. Before playing this game with children, we strongly recommend that you draw up a fixed set of rules. This is one game whose rules vary not just regionally but also from one community to another– let your rules be clear and straightforward.

There are so many ways to use the Whot card, these many variations offer more fun ways to keep your kids engaged. One set of cards, yet many plays.

Eguruse (Ayo)

My mother made it her personal duty to trash us, her children, at this game while we were younger. She was the undisputed champion, well, until we grew better at the game and got our pound of sweet old vengeance. The game is a multiplayer game consisting of 12 houses with 4 seeds, the aim of the game is to own all of your opponent’s houses.

There are so many ways to use the Whot card, these many variations offer more fun ways to keep your kids engaged. One set of cards, yet many plays.

Eguruse improves your thinking ability and makes you try to predict as many plausible future moves – spatial intelligence. The rules of the game are easy and children absolutely love this game.

Name, place, thing, animal (and food) AKA Name It!

Get a sheet of paper and pen for everyone – there’s no limit as to how many children can play this game. A game of speed, memory and spellings. Think of it as the advanced form of A for Apple, the tabular game involves creating a space for each category: name, place, thing, animal and food, and filling up the categories when a letter is called.

Players take turns to call a letter and usually, the person who calls the letter says stop and scores everyone’s work. Incorrect spellings are penalized, also, if you write the same word with another player, you’re penalized.

There are so many ways to use the Whot card, these many variations offer more fun ways to keep your kids engaged. One set of cards, yet many plays.

Eguruse improves your thinking ability and makes you try to predict as many plausible future moves – spatial intelligence. The rules of the game are easy and children absolutely love this game.

Noughts and crosses

A two-player strategy game that can be easily recreated with sheets of paper or a cardboard 3×3 square grid paper. The objective of the game is to have your game pieces form matching pieces (a row of three) either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. This game is also known as tic-tac-toe.

Our Specials: The never-before-seen games for young children

We get how easy it is for kids to get tired of a particular game, especially if they were never really into the game. If your kids are tired of the usual hide and seek, hopscotch and board games they’ve always played, and you’re looking for different, never-before-seen games for them to play, you’re in luck. We’ve compiled 4 awesome games kids can play at home, easily modified to suit your kids. 

1.      Capture The Flag

The first one up is capture the flag. This game is great for a large number of kids, but beware, you will have a messy living room when it’s done. Divide the kids into two teams with their own colors. The goal is to capture the flag of the other team without being seen and thrown into ‘jail’ or ‘shot’. The team that gets the flag wins. 

2.      Scavenger Hunt

Then we have the scavenger hunt. This is my absolute favorite. So, what you do is write a list of items around the house and then send the kids all over the house looking for those items. If your kids have messy rooms, this is a great way to get them to clean up. Just add ‘gather up all the dolls’ to your list and watch the magic that unfolds. 

3.      Tape Shape Game

Next is the tape shape game. This game is totally flexible and can be as diverse as your imagination. All you need are low stick tapes and willing kids. Draw different shapes, numbers and letters with the tapes on the floor and give the kids tasks like ‘hop to the triangle’ or ‘crawl like a baby to the letter Z’. This game is fun and helps younger kids learn their numbers, letters and shapes. 

Still using tapes, you can create super cool car tracks and cities that your kids can play in with their homemade matchbox cars and cardboard houses. They’ll have fun building their own cities and playing in them. 

4.      Obstacle Course

The last on the list is the obstacle course. Kids like to play and act as their favorite superheroes so why not let them? Mummies and daddies, create obstacles using stuffed animals to roll over, blankets over chairs, tables to crawl under, plastics, line of tapes to walk on etc. Set all these down and have the kids take on each obstacle like true superheroes to ‘save the city’ at the end of the obstacle. 

        <h4>Conclusion</h4>     
    <p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;">Need more of these ideas? Then <a href="https://whatmomslove.com/kids/active-indoor-games-activities-for-kids-to-burn-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">click here</a>. With this list of totally fun games, kids can play at home, your kids will never be bored again! And to make things more intriguing and suspenseful, set up your very own tournament.</p><p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;">