Looking for Suggestions! Fun Board Games for Kids Ages 3-9?

My niece loves the Littlest Pet Shop game. It's for 4 and up, I think, but super easy. My niece is 8.

My kids love Trouble. They are 12,7,4. We have been playing it since the oldest was 3! Another fun one is UNO. It teaches them colors and numbers.

Hi-ho cherrio is a really fun game for that age range.it practices counting (for the three year olds)and addition and subtraction for the older children. Lucky ducks is also fun.it might still be important for you to play the games with them several times before they play by themselves...

Mexican Train Domino's. My nephews who are 7&9 love it. YOu can get it at Target, sometimes hard to find. Cheap like $12 and lots of fun for adults too!

Apples to Apples makes a kid version and a jr. version (not sure of the difference, maybe it's appropriate ages?). Anyway my kids love it and play it with the neighbors, so it's good for a wide variety of ages, and there's no "right" or "wrong" answer.

Try Balloon Lagoon by Cadoo, my daughter received it for her 5th birthday and it is fun for the whole family. It is a board game made of a series of minature carnival games that are educational; easy enough for a three year old and interesting at the same time for older children and adults (there is an element of chance to win the game, i.e. it is not all skll-based). My sisters, husband and I play it with her all the time and do not get bored as sometimes happens with Candyland type games.

I would suggest either Candy Land, Yahtzee, Connect Four, Operation, Memory, Chutes and Ladders, Hanging Monkeys or Hungry Hippos. Being a stay at home mom of three myself (all girls ages 1&1/2, 3&1/2, and 7) these games seem to keep them busy.

Try Blokus. No reading and it teaches strategy. My kids love it (they were 6 and 3 1/2 when we got it)

Shut the Box is another fun one that all ages can play.

Ugly Doll is a fun matching game where you get to yell 'Ugly, ugly, ugly' when you get a match.

Space Faces is very cool.

Yatzee is wonderful! It helps with their math skills.

Clue Jr is great also.

Hello, My daughter loves board games! Her favorite game is called" You to the rescue", it is based on "Horton hears a who" by Dr Suess. This game is so cute and sends you on a search for clovers with a elephant (Horton) head piece. Some of her other favorites are "Dont break the ice", "The very hungry caterpillar","Hi ho cherry o","chutes and ladders", "Barrel of monkeys" and memory match games. Have fun!!!

My children are 4, 8, and 9 (all girls). They love to play 'Sorry' and 'Uno.' I have to help remind my 4 year old in 'Sorry' what the options are on some cards and help her think through the best move, but she's learning, and loves it! After about 3 games of 'Uno,' she was able to get those rules down. They also all like the game of 'Life.' My 4 year old cannot read the squares, but loves adding people and getting the money for just spinning around the board. She buys anything she can (not really understanding). The 8 and 9 year olds love reading the squares and making the decisions. Another fun game is 'Connect Four.' This will take some extra help for the 3 year olds in the beginning, but within a month or two, they should be fine on their own.

I think Candyland is a great game for all ages. The rules of moving to the appropriate colored square may be a little too much for the 3-year-olds, but it teaches matching, and maybe, with help from the older kids, the younger ones can learn to play cooperatively. Memory is also a great matching game, and it's so simple that you can really just make your own game using stickers and index cards. If you live in the Columbus Area, there will be a game convention June 25-29 called Origins Game Fair. On that Saturday and Sunday, it's $3 a person or $10 for a family of four per day to just explore the Exhibition Room. Game companies set up booths to showcase their latest games. It's a great way to learn new games, because many of the companies provide free demonstrations. Also, you can find games there that you'd never find in retail stores. I know that several game companies are trying to make games geared toward young children, so it might be worth checking out! For more info, go to http://www.originsgamefair.com/

Go fish, war, candyland, chutes and ladders, operation, dvd bingo, memory, these are all things we started playing with our kids at age 3, and still play them. They're now 4 and 5.

A couple of games that my kis like to play together.(Ages 4 and 6) going on 5 and 7/ Scrabble Jr. One side of the board has words already done on the board they just have to put their letters over the ones already there to make the word. My 4 year old usually wins at this, so it may still be okay for your 3 year old if they can match letters. Also Monopoly JR is fun and appropriate for them all. Of course Elefun but that isn't a board game. Hope this helped some.

Have you tried any card games? How about Go Fish, Crazy Eights, or Uno? One of the great things about card games is that you can take them with you to appointments, etc.

Mancala is also a game that my kids picked up and enjoyed very young. And the game Guess Who is one that they can learn to play on their own without much help. The older ones might like Dominos. Trouble and Connect Four are also easy. You might try teaching them the game of jacks or pick up sticks. My mother still plays these with my kids and my oldest is in high school!

I bought the game disney scene it a few yrs ago for my kids and they love it. You put in a DVD and it will ask you questions about a clip. There are also cards with the game for adult(you could also have your older kis use them) and child. So some questions are easier than others. I think they also have a nickelodeon scene it too. L.

A few that might be of interest... Five little monkeys, comes from five little monkeys jumping on the bed. My kids raning from ages 7-2 love it. I believe you can find it at toys r us. Finding something a 3 year old versus a 9 year old that will hold thier attention might be rough! My kids love connect four, somewhat easy enough for younger ones.Good luck!

When I was younger I was always a big fan of twister.

You can customize an easy board game (like Candyland) to make it appeal to your older kids. B/c the boards are relatively cheap, you can even have a few different kinds. Here's what you do...

On empty spaces of the game, write in something silly for the kids to do (cluck like a chicken, do 10 jumping jacks, sing the alphabet song, find something hidden in the room, etc). You can have certain spaces with new directions only for the olders. If you don't want to mark on the board you could make a separate set of cards that the olders draw from after they land or before they move and write the silly stuff on those cards.

I used to be a 6th grade teacher and we'd play a board game to review for tests. I drew the board on the board and the kids LOVED the silly stuff. I gave the person whose turn it was the option of doing the silly thing on their own, picking someone from their team to do it, or having the whole team do it together.

Also, you could let the olders play board games that appeal to them but are too complicated for the youngers and then have the youngers be the spinner/ card person and in charge of moving the playing pieces on the board. A younger can participate in ways other than actually playing the game so depending on what game you have, their role is as "assistant" or "judge" or whatever.

HTH-
J.

My son loves Pizza Pile Up and Sequence for Kids- age appropriate for 4-9.

Hi J. E.,
Have you tried Trouble? It's the game with the pop-a-matic bubble in the center of the board. It is easy enough for everyone to play and tons of fun. My family loves it!
My daughter started playing this game when she was three. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Ants in the pants and Don't spill the beans are always foavorites with my kids (they are also 3 - 9)

My kids loved those matching/memory game ... especially when reading was too hard or troublesome! We love "Discovery Toys", as they categorize their games/toys by ages and stages. Check them out! :-D

Hi,
My kids are 4,9,14 and the younger two like to play with Candyland and they do puzzles (ones with the United States are great because they learn the states and capitols), the 4 year old just got a matching game for her birthday and they LOVE to play with that. All three like to play Trouble, Sorry and Operation.

Candy Land, Chutes & Ladders, Connect Four, Matching Games, Go Fish, Old Maid and there is a Strawberry Shortcake game that would all be great for the small ones.

Parcheese, Twister, Uno, and even Boggle for the older ones. There is also a game called PIT that is FUN, easy (you have to get all the same cards) but it can get loud. FUN!!!

My older kids are only 2 and 5 (baby is only 9 months so she doesn't count yet!) and they often play board games with their older cousins (ages 7, 9 and 12). The games they all like to play together are Candyland, Guess Who, Connect Four, Bingo, Chutes and Ladders and Rummikub. The 2 year old needs help with Rummikub (they play teams) but she does pretty good with it (great for teaching colors and counting!) and is a pro at the other games already. They also like the 'classics' like Sorry and Trouble. We just bought the traditional Monopoly game a few weeks ago and it's a hit with everyone except the 2 year old. They also enjoy checkers and othello -- my 5 year old started those games when he was 3. Actually he started most of the games I mentioned when he was 2 or 3.

You could also do puzzles. My kids love doing the 100 peice ones on their own or the ###-###-#### piece ones with me. We always have a large puzzle on the dining room table going. We'll work on it hear or there for a couple weeks until it's done and then start the next one.

My boys love "dont break the ice" they are 5 & 10 and have played it for years- not much skill involved just lots of fun!!

Monopoly Junior might work