There are so many great board games for children, so finding a great one for your 5 year old can sometimes be challenging. The types of games children aged 5 enjoy vary a lot, as there are so many to choose from. Here, we have some tips and advice to help parents find a game their child is sure to love, and have also reviewed 9 of the best games for 5 year old boys and girls. We have included educational games and cooperative games, so there is a great selection to appeal to all tastes.
9 Fantastic Board Games for 5 Year Olds
In this section, you will find our picks of 9 of the best board games for kids aged 5. There is sure to be something the whole family will enjoy playing as part of a games night!
1. HedBanz Junior Game
The Hedbanz game is great for groups of friends to enjoy together, and children will be able to play it without adult help. The game involves each player picking a card, then without looking they must place it on their headband. The player must then ask questions, to which the others answer yes or no, until the player figures out what their card shows. This junior version is animal-themed, making it slightly easier for kids to guess what they are.
Headbandz is great for parties, but it is also great for helping kids learn and practice valuable social skills. They will be interacting with others and waiting their turn, and also practicing problem solving and deduction skills. There are clue cards to help narrow down the choice, so kids can also practice their reading skills. However, there are also pictures to help out for kids who are not able to read yet.
2. Junior Monopoly Board Game
Monopoly Junior is a great game for 5 year olds to play with mom and dad. The game is similar to the standard Monopoly game, but it has been simplified and made easier for children. The properties are fun places which mean more to kids, such as a skate park and a burger joint – they are sure to want to buy them all! The tokens are colorful and larger than those in the original, so they are easy for kids to use.
Monopoly Jr comes with $1 bills, so kids can easily count out how much they need to buy a property. There is only one die too, which makes moving around the board a bit easier than with two dice. The gameplay is a lot shorter than standard Monopoly, which can often go on for hours. After learning the rules, kids will be able to play the game with friends without assistance from mom and dad, although parents will enjoy playing the game too!
3. Shopping List Game by Orchard Toys
This board game is great for improving memory. The Shopping List game is fun for children and parents to play together, and after learning the rules kids will enjoy playing with their friends too. The game is great for helping children learn to recognize words and match words to pictures. Kids can also practice their personal and social skills whilst playing this game, which involves taking turns and sharing.
Orchard games are great for young children, as they are educational and fun, and made from high quality materials which will last for many years. The games are tested in both homes and schools, so you can be sure they are approved by kids, parents and teachers. This game uses some UK terms, which do vary slightly from US terms.
4. Eye Found It Game by Disney
This hidden picture game is great for promoting teamwork and cooperation between players. It’s great for improving concentration skills, as well as helping with object identification and matching. The game is designed for 2 – 6 players, and the 6 foot long game board is perfect for the whole family to sit around and enjoy. Unlike some other games for younger children, this one will also keep the older kids amused – it is the perfect addition to a family games night.
Disney Eye Found It is great for young Disney fans, who will love to find hidden objects in scenes from their favorite movies. There are over 1000 hidden pictures to find, so the game can be played over and over again without getting too boring or easy.
5. Latice Family Board Game
The new Latice board game is a great, easy to learn but challenging to master game for the whole family to enjoy. The game involves matching tiles either by design, color or both – on your turn you must place a tile which matches the color or design of one of the tiles next to it. Players receive a bonus if they manage to match more than one tile on their turn.
Latice is a fun family board game which is challenging enough for older kids and even adults to enjoy. There are many different strategies which can be used to master the game, so kids can learn and develop their technique the more they play. The different colored items also have slightly different patterns according to their color, so even those who are color blind can enjoy playing!
6. Guess Who Game
Guess Who is a classic game for children of all ages – it has been enjoyed for years by both parents and children alike. The game is great for developing speech skills, as well the power of deduction. The Guess Who board game is ideal for helping children practice communicating effectively with their friends, as well as listening to what others are saying. Therefore, the game is great for children who might have difficulty socializing, as they can practice their social skills in a fun game.
Hasbro Guess Who features 24 different faces for each player, so game play lasts just long enough for children aged 5, without dragging on for too long. Children are sure to love the fun and silly illustrations – they will want to play this game over and over again!
7. Outfoxed! Cooperative Kids Game
The Outfoxed board game is a cooperative whodunnit game for 5 year olds. The game lasts between 20 – 30 minutes, which is the perfect length of time for children this age. It is for 2 – 4 players, so perfect for one on one time with mom or dad, or for the whole family to enjoy together.
The game is somewhat similar to Clue, but in a simplified format. However, parents will still enjoy playing along with their kids, as it is much more interesting than some other preschool board games. The Outfoxed game comes with a ‘clue decoder’ which the game cards are inserted into, to show whether or not your thief has a particular object with them. The game is ideal for teaching young children important critical thinking skills, which are sure to help them later in life.
8. Orchard Game
The HABA Orchard game is an award winning toy which is great for children between the ages of 3 – 6 years old. The cooperative game is great for encouraging teamwork and communication between players, and is ideal for children who still struggle with losing gracefully! The game board has four different trees, each of which is filled with 10 pieces of corresponding fruit.
Game play involves taking turns to roll a die, and picking a piece of fruit which matches the color shown. Roll a basket and you can take any two pieces of fruit. But be careful, by rolling the raven you have to add a piece to the raven jigsaw puzzle in the middle. If the puzzle is complete before all the fruit is picked, everyone loses and the raven wins. But if all the fruit is picked before the puzzle is complete, all players win!
9. Cluedo Junior Game by Hasbro
Clue Jr is a great game for young detectives to play with mom and dad or older siblings, and the whole family will love getting involved. The game is a simplified version of the classic Clue game, in which players must solve the mystery of the missing cake. Gameplay is similar to Clue, in that players must try to deduce who stole the cake, what they drank with it and when it was taken.
The Clue Jr game includes all the classic characters, but in more kid-friendly tokens. The detective cards have pictures as well as words, so it is not crucial that kids are able to read to be able to play the game. A game lasts around half an hour, which is a good length of time to keep 5 year olds occupied without them losing focus. The educational game is great for helping children develop valuable skills such as critical thinking, drawing conclusions and using a strategy.
Reasons we Picked These Board Games for Kids
There are a lot of great games for kids, so finding the best isn’t easy. We looked at a variety of factors including educational benefits, age-appropriateness, as well as how fun the game is.
Every game can help your child learn different skills, so we have tried to include a range of different styles of game to be sure your child can learn or practice their skills as they play. Some games are good for counting and math, others are good for language development and others still are great for helping cognitive development such as logical thinking and reasoning.
Age-appropriateness is also important when finding the ideal game for a child. That’s why we have not included games which are very complex or have lots of different rules. However, we have found some games here which parents and older siblings will enjoy playing with younger children. These games are challenging enough to keep older players interested, yet still allow younger players a chance to win. We have picked games which are suitable for the typical 5 year old’s level of development.
Of course, there is no point in having a game if it’s not really fun to play too! Not all children will enjoy all games, but you should be able to have a good idea of the type of game they will enjoy based on their likes and dislikes. Think about the skills they have, those they need to work on and the kind of games they enjoyed as a toddler, and this should help you find something they will love.
How Can These Board Games Benefit Children?
Games offer a range of benefits for children. By playing games with friends or family, children can learn and practice important social skills such as waiting their turn and communicating with their teammates. And as mentioned above, games can really help with cognitive development. Children will have so much fun when playing, they won’t even realize they are actually learning at the same time. Kids can really develop their critical thinking skills when playing certain games, and they will learn to develop strategies to win!
Best Board Game for 5 Year Olds – Top Pick
Monopoly Junior is one of the best games for 5 year olds, because it is fun and educational, and enjoyable for the whole family to play. The game is much like a simplified version of the classic Monopoly game, so it is easier for younger children to learn. There are less properties, and the bills come only in $1 denominations, making it easier to count how much you need. The properties are fun for younger children, and there are still all the classic rules such as going to jail and taking a Chance card. This game would make a great addition to a family games night!
Other Board Game Considerations by Age and Type
Our Sources
- Importance of Play for Children
- Behavioural Development and 5 Year old Milestones
- Fun Indoor Ideas for Kids to Practice Indoor Play Together
