15 Best Kids' Board Games 2020 | The Sun UK

YOU’LL want to amass a decent collection of entertaining kids’ board games (that you enjoy playing as well), whether you’re trying to get your kids away from their screens or are looking for a fun and relaxed family activity.

The best kids’ board games are just as much fun when you play them the 137th time as they were the first.

We’ve selected the best kids’ boards games for kids of all ages, from all-time classics to newer games.

Our picks are based on our own favourites to play with our families and the best kids’ board games, according to other parents.

Play is super-important in childhood development, and the best kids’ board games can help teach kids cooperative play as well as improving fine motor skills, memory and information processing.
Children can start to enjoy board games before they can read or write: games like Snakes & Ladders encourage early counting skills, while Orchard Toys’ vast selection of toddler and school-age kid games improve memory and get kids thinking about strategy.
As kids get older, family games get even more enjoyable – and more competitive. You start to create your own rules for games you regularly play – like always getting £500 when you land on Go! In Monopoly. What, just us?
The best kids’ board games are easy to learn and involve some luck as well as some strategic thinking; pretending to lose time and time again quickly gets boring, as parents will soon find out.
Time to blow on those dice – these are the best kids’ board games to add to the toy cupboard.

1. Best for toddlers: Orchard Toys Shopping List Game

• Orchard Toys Shopping List game, £7 at Amazon – buy here

You can start playing this game with your two-year-old since it touches on their basic vocabulary of food and shopping list items: milk, bread, apples, oranges, etc.

It's a straightforward memory game that involves picking up all of the items you need from your shopping list; it provides lots of fun because once you've finished one round, you can just pick up the next shopping list for a new selection of buys.

If you're really keen, there are add-on packs with clothes and fruit and veg to keep the game going as your little one gets older.

2. Best timeless kids' board game: Monopoly

• Monopoly, £16.95 at Amazon – buy here

Yes, Monopoly takes ages (and yes, it also usually ends with a screaming match or cheating scandal), but isn't that part of its charm?

Monopoly is a great way to bond the family and an ice-breaker with more distant relatives or friends.

We also love how much it reveals about our children's personalities: are they buyers, investors, builders? Or cheaters?

Themed Monopolies, from London Underground to Horrible Histories editions, exist aplenty, but nothing beats the classic (the latest version has some new counters, but still includes your favourite location names).

3. Best board game to introduce a classic: Monopoly Junior

• Monopoly Junior Game, £10 at Amazon – buy here

Same brilliant Monopoly, easier set-up, kid-friendly properties and less time-consuming. What's not to love?

Parents like that it captures the "essence" of the original but makes it quicker-paced for younger players to enjoy.

4. Best for bashing: Hungry Hungry Hippos

• Hungry Hungry Hippos £10 at Amazon – buy here

This is a fun game for entertaining the three-and four-year-old crew who wildly bash their hippos to swallow their marbles with abandon. The quicker you move, the more you get.

5. Best early strategy board game: Cheeky Monkeys

• Cheeky Monkeys, £6.90 at Amazon – buy here

This fun game where you hang monkeys from a tree helps to develop counting skills and encourage strategic thinking: you spin the wheel, try to collect the most bananas and hope no one tries to steal yours.

It encourages observational, social and number skills development and has picked up numerous awards and five-star reviews from satisfied parents.

6. Best "twist on a classic": Duez Snakes and Ladders

• Deuz Super Snakes and Ladders, £20.99 at Trouva – buy here

This wonderfully portable version of Snakes & Ladders is printed on organic cotton and rolls up into its own bag.

Play it on any surface, time and time again.

7. Best for developing fine motor skills: Operation

• Operation, £19.99 at Amazon – buy here

Operation works well as a family game or for solo play, and picking out the afflicted body parts with the tweezers is great for strengthening kids' hand muscles (the ones they'll be writing with) and helping them develop fine motor skills.

Most importantly, it's a lot of fun.

8. Best kids' card game: Sleeping Queens

• Sleeping Queens, £11.49 at Amazon – buy here

We suspect one of the reasons this award-winning card game where you wake the sleeping queens to win is so appealing is because it was created by someone who knows exactly how kids think: a six-year-old.
Each game sesh lasts about 20 minutes and it requires quick-thinking, strategy and good ol' luck. Recommended for kids aged 8 and up.

9. Best portable kids' game: Bananagrams

• Bananagrams word game, £11.99 at Amazon – buy here

Perfect for travelling, this game has elbowed out Scrabble as the beloved family word game (it's less restrictive and fans describe it as more fun) – Bananagrams encourages creativity and doesn't require a board.

Which means it can distract kids while on a train or waiting for their burgers in a restaurant.

10. Best tricky kids' board game: FReNeTiC

• FReNeTiC Board Game, £22.99 at Amazon – buy here

This game combines science, spelling and maths as players race against the clock to complete words using symbols from the periodic table (you score by adding together the atomic numbers of the elements you've used).

Fun, educational and great for older kids to get that grey matter going.

11. Best for a giggle: Hamster Race

• Hamster Race, £9.50 at Amazon – buy here

This fun game of luck for younger kids is a racing game where your hamsters hurry around the track collecting their cheese and then see if they can stay on the big hamster wheel without getting thrown off. Silly and unusual.

12. Best action game: Charades For Kids

• Charades for Kids, £10.94 at Amazon – buy here

This game of role play works well for players across all ages – there are picture cards for younger players, and word cards for proficient readers.

Also, it's great to have a board game that gets the kids moving.

13. Best modern-day pick up sticks: Yeti In My Spaghetti

• Yeti in My Spaghetti Game, £11.89 at Amazon – buy here

Similar to Kerplunk, this fun and silly game combines two things kids love: spaghetti and monsters.

It's good for fine motor development as kids remove the pasta from beneath the yeti without letting him fall in. Who says you can't play with your food?

14. Best game for siblings: Guess Who?

• Guess Who?, £14.99 at Amazon – buy here

Siblings love this game and after a couple of goes with mum and dad, can easily play it independently to while away the post-school afternoon hours.

Perfect for getting them to ask questions, it will also teach younger kids all kinds of facial-related vocabulary.

15. Best building game: Make 'N' Break

• Make 'N' Break, £17.23 at Amazon – buy here

This award-winning game has opponents racing against the clock to replicate the colourful wooden structures on the card they've drawn. Requires skill, concentration and a competitive edge.

We’re all about helping you find the best products at the best prices, so follow the link if you want to check out more of Sun Selects’ recommendations.

Enjoyed our roundup of the best board games for kids? We've got a whole parenting section for you to browse.

Should your children want a bit of outdoor fun in to break up the games, we've rounded up the best trampolines worth buying for the kids and the family.

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