Simple Toddler Games

You pull out Candy Land to play with your child who is old enough to understand and properly play. You get it all set up, and then your two year old toddler swings in and wants to play too. Their idea of playing involves throwing the pieces around looking at all the cards. Moving the players off of their spaces and making a general mess of the game. By the end, you either didn’t play, or you are extremely exhausted from keeping the little one out of the game that it wasn’t fun at all for you.

Trying to play any board game with a young toddler is usually a struggle. They don’t understand that you need to take turns and that you can’t just move pieces wherever you want on the board. On the other hand, you want to teach them how to play games so that as they grow older they’ll be able to play with you properly. You’re going to have to wait on most board games that require taking turns though as a toddler won’t really have the patience for it.

Instead of turned based board games, you are better off looking for games that you can play simultaneously together, or games that it doesn’t matter where the pieces are at. Usually games that make some type of noise are also good as toddlers generally like the noise or music that comes with such games. Yes, loud toys can sometimes be annoying, but if you’re playing with them then it’s less of an issue.

Below are a few of our favorite games for toddlers under 4 years old that are fun for the whole family to play. Sure, they are not strategic in nature, but they will allow everyone to play together and have a good time without having to worry about keeping things in proper order all of the time.

• Let’s Go Fishin’ - This is a classic game where the goal is to try to catch as many fish as you can. The little plastic fish open their mouths and then close them and you must get your magnetic string into the mouth to pull the fish off of the board. If you’ve never played this game before, you might be surprised how much fun it actually is. Toddlers can struggle a little bit with it, but they’ll pick it up pretty quickly. Buy Now!
• Whack a Frog - This is similar to the whack-a-mole games that you find at the arcade just on a smaller scale. Basically, there are little frogs that light up and you must hit as many of them as you can. This game has a lot of different modes on it as well so your child can play alone or you can play with a couple of people. This is perfect for helping your child to learn some motor skills on their own, and because it lights up they can become quite enamored with it. Buy Now!
• Gator Golf - This is a simple game that teaches kids how to hit a ball in a basic direction. You are trying to hit the golf ball into the gator’s mouth. He’ll then spit it back to you to hit it again. This game has the idea of taking turns, but it’s moving quite fast so it should be fine for most toddlers. It’s also an active game in that you’re standing and moving around which helps to burn off a little more energy of the little one. Buy Now!

Finding games for toddlers doesn’t have to be hard, and they can actually be a lot of fun for everyone involved (at least the first few times - by the hundredth time of playing you may be sick of it). Look for games that allow multiple people to play at once, make some type of sound, and don’t require a lot of complicated or complex rules to be able to play.

Buy games now!