Educational Board Games for 6 years Old
Today's children don't play board games anymore; everyone just taps away at gadgets... Personally, I see more kids playing board games than messing with gadgets, but let's see what they enjoy playing around the transition from kindergarten to school.
Written by
Máté Lencse
Educator, game designer,
founder of PlayWise
Why listen to him?
Máté has been regularly playing modern board games and classic abstract board games since 2013. He plays because he loves to. He plays because as an educator, it is his most important motivational and developmental tool. He plays because as a father, it is one of the highest quality times spent with his daughter. He plays because it adds to his marriage. He plays to get to know games and as a game designer, to be able to create new ones. Thus, it's not surprising that he often plays through 15-20 games weekly. Learn more about him and his background on his author page or follow him on social media:
Of course, no two 6-year-olds are alike, whether in terms of knowledge, motivation, or gaming culture, but there are still some general considerations when choosing games for children of this age.
I believe that short rules and short playtimes can work well. The advantage of games that are quick to understand is that not much time passes between sitting down at the table and starting to play. The short playtime is beneficial because if the game doesn't work out, we haven’t invested much time; if they lose but liked it, we can quickly play again where they might win; and if they love it, they can frequently experience the joy it brings.
For younger children, the game components are as important as they are for a seasoned collector with a serious gaming passion. It should fit into the child's everyday world, be truly toy-like, of good quality, and preferably with large, cute game elements.
As parents or educators choosing a game, we immediately think of developmental opportunities, but this should be secondary or cleverly integrated into the game, as our primary goal is to make them want to play, and the rest will follow naturally.
Three essential skills that board games can enhance in 6-year-olds include:
Now onto specific games for 6-year-olds:
Magic Maze Kids
This is an engaging cooperative game adapted from the famous Magic Maze game but designed specifically for children. The aim is for players to guide the Prince and Princess to collect various items missing from their treasure chests and safely return to their castle.
To play the game, the team members each get an action pawn that lets them perform specific actions like moving in certain directions or initiating specific tasks. The twist is that the game is played in silence with children puzzling through a cooperative challenge, taking turns but all playing at the same time.
The pros of Magic Maze Kids are its emphasis on cooperation over competition and its simplicity for young children to grasp.
To play Magic Maze Kids, you'll need the game set, which includes the game board, action pawns, character pawns, and treasure chest tiles. The game can be played by 2-4 players.
Magic Maze Kids nicely improves fine motor skills as kids have to manipulate character pawns across the game board. The silent aspect of the game is designed to promote group interaction as it forces children, to nonverbally communicate, cooperate, and use visual cues to accomplish their tasks.
Animal Upon Animal
Animal Upon Animal is a delightful balancing game that calls for players to balance different wooden animals on top of one another. The objective of the game is to be the first to place all of your animals onto the pile without any falling off.
To play the game, each player rolls the dice to determine how many animals they can stack, which animal they have to give another player to stack or whether they can add any animals at all. The game can be quite tricky as the animal pile becomes increasingly unstable as more are added.
One of the pros of Animal Upon Animal is that it encourages players to hone their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It also teaches children about balance, gravity, and spatial relations.
For playing Animal Upon Animal, you'll need the game set which includes various wooden animal pieces and a dice. The game can be enjoyed by 2 to 4 players, making it a great family or group game.
Animal Upon Animal is excellent for developing fine motor skills, as carefully stacking the animal pieces requires subtlety of movement and precise hand-eye coordination. It also involves group interaction as the players take turns and support each other's efforts.
Bugs in the Kitchen
Bugs in the Kitchen is a dynamic board game featuring a small, vibrating hexbug that players must guide into their traps by creatively turning cutleries set up in a maze. The aim is to catch the bug in your trap before it skitters into another player's.
Playing the game involves rolling the die, which determines which kind of cutlery you can rotate (knife, fork, or spoon). By manipulating the cutlery and thereby changing the pathway of the maze, you attempt to guide the bug into your trap.
Bugs in the Kitchen is awesome for teaching children problem-solving and strategy development. It's easy to setup, and its real, moving pieces bring a dynamic element that keeps children engaged.
To play Bugs in the Kitchen, you'll need the game set which includes the game board, a hexbug nano, 24 movable utensils, 4 traps, and a dice. It is well-suited for 2 to 4 players.
Bugs in the Kitchen notably enhances fine motor skills as players need precision to rotate the tiny game pieces without knocking others over. It definitely strengthens group interaction as players collectively react to the unpredictable movement of the bug and take turns to steer it.
Hoot Owl Hoot
A cooperative colour-coded board game where players work together to help the owls fly back to their nest before the sun comes up. The game fosters teamwork and group strategy instead of competition, promoting a positive, shared decision-making experience.
The game involves drawing from a deck of colour cards and flying an owl to the next space of that colour on the board. If a sun card is drawn, the sun moves one space along its track. The goal is to get all owls home before the sun reaches sunrise.
The pros of Hoot Owl Hoot include encouraging cooperation and shared decision-making among the players, boosting their cognitive skills through color recognition, and simple rules for young players to grasp.
To play Hoot Owl Hoot, the game set comprising of a game board, a deck of cards, and owl tokens is needed. The game is great for 2 to 4 players.
In terms of skill development, Hoot Owl Hoot significantly enhances fine motor skills as kids have to pick up tiny owl tokens and place them on correct spots on the board. It also encourages group interaction, teaching its players the value of teamwork as everyone operates together to ensure all the owls make it home safely.
Outfoxed!
This is a cooperative deduction board game where players work together to discover which fox stole Mrs Plumpert’s prized pot pie. It's essentially a whodunit game for kids with an aim to gather clues, rule out suspects, and solve the mystery before the guilty fox escapes.
Playing Outfoxed! involves deciding on each turn whether to search for clues or reveal suspects. As you uncover clues, you eliminate the innocent suspect cards. If you deduce the thief before it escapes off the board, the players win.
The pros of Outfoxed! are its engaging premise, easy comprehension, and the cooperative nature that encourages teamwork.
You will need an Outfoxed! board game set, which includes a game board, 16 suspect cards, 16 thief cards, 3 clue markers, 4 detective hat pawns, and a special evidence scanner. The game is best played with 2 to 4 players.
Outfoxed! helps in the development of fine motor skills as players need to maneuver small game pieces and cards. It encourages group interaction as the cooperative nature of the game requires players to work together and make collective decisions. The game consists of logical reasoning and deduction, specifically associating clues with the relevant suspects.
Dragomino
Dragomino is an enchanting, kid-friendly adaptation of the popular game Kingdomino. Players become dragon parents who explore different lands to look for matching, colorful eggs, aiming to find and hatch the most baby dragons.
Playing Dragomino involves drawing domino-like tiles and connecting them together by matching terrain types, similar to a domino. Depending on how the tiles are placed, players can discover a dragon egg, which they get to hatch and add to their collection.
The pros of Dragomino are its easy-to-understand rules, delightful artwork, and the excitement of hatching dragon eggs.
For playing Dragomino, you will need the game set, including the tiles, dragon eggs, and baby dragon tokens. Dragomino is best suited for 2 to 4 players.
In terms of skill development, Dragomino enhances fine motor skills as players connect the tiles and handle the small dragon tokens. It also fosters group interaction as players take turns and share the excitement of discovering new dragon eggs. Dragomino helps with basic pattern recognition and matching skills.
Loopin' Louie
Loopin’ Louie is a fast-paced and energetic board game that requires players to protect their chicken chips from Louie’s swooping and loop-de-looping airplane. Players control levers that can bump Louie’s plane back into the air when he swoops low over their chicken chips.
To play the game, each player uses their paddle to knock Louie’s airplane up and away from their own chicken chips and hopefully towards their opponents'. The aim is to protect your chickens while trying to knock out others', and the last player with at least one chicken left wins the game.
Pros of Loopin’ Louie include its fun and simple concept which is easy to understand and exciting for children. It also enhances players' hand-eye coordination.
For playing Loopin’ Louie, you'll need the game set, including a game base, which requires assembly, 4 paddle arms, 4 paddle units, 1 airplane arm on center cone, 12 tokens, 1 airplane and 2 propellers. The game is suitable for 2-4 players.
Loopin’ Louie helps enhance fine motor skills as it requires controlled movements to operate the paddles, as well as helping with hand-eye coordination as players aim to protect their chickens. It also encourages group interaction as players compete against each other and react to Louie’s unpredictable movements.