20 Fun & Educational Board Games for Kids and Families

Looking for fun board games for kids and adults that can be enjoyed by the whole family? These family board games will keep everyone entertained for hours on end! What is more, we have included some fantastic educational board games for kids to help them learn life skills. Find below our top picks of the best board games for kids.

Fun board games for kids that are also educational

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Educational board games for kids are one of the greatest ways to get children involved in conversation. Now a days there are numerous games that tailor to a variety of different skills.

There are various educational board games for kids that focus on math, geography, spelling, reading, talking and much more, all the while having to use skills such as communication, memory, strategy and critical thinking, the list goes on! 

The best part is children do not even know they are using all those skills because fun board games make it an entertaining way of learning!

Weather children are using board games by themselves, with their friends or the entire family, board games are a fun and interactive way that will grow children’s learning and expand thought process as well as their language skills.

Parents, mentors and tutors can use board games to help children gain confidence and better communication skills in so many areas!

Below is a list of 20 of fun and educational board games for kids, all different in age groups that will be beneficial for children to strengthen and practice their English language skills. We have broken the list into the following:

• Fun board games for kids under 7 years old
• Educational board games for kids over 7 years old
• Other Family Games

Fun board games for Kids (under 8yrs)

Fun board games for kids to play together or together with parents or teachers.

1. Guess Who

Ages: 5 years +
Description: Guess who is the one of the best board games for kids for using conversations to ask questions! Played with 2 players, children will pick a card with a person on it which their opponent then needs to “guess”. players will ask each other questions about characteristic traits (does your person have red hair? Ect.)
As the questions are answered, players put their people down until they are confident that they can guess who their opponent has as the person on their card. A fun board game for kids of any age.
FIND IT HERE

2. Connect 4

Ages: 6 years +
Description: A game of strategy, connect 4 will help your children count and use their thinking cap to try and get 4 in a row. This educational board game for kids and families is sure to start conversation because it is intense, and everyone wants to win. Connect 4 is geared for 2 players only, so let the fun begin and start connecting!
FIND IT HERE

3. Feed The Woozle 

Ages: 3 years +
Description: Feed the Woozle is a hilarious fun board game for young children who will practice their language skills using silly food words. There are 3 different game levels, so the fun grows as your child does. Players work together to feed the Woozle by using the spinner to find out which foods they need to feed Woozle, players will use a spoon to feed Woozle his snacks before all the snacks are gone.
FIND IT HERE

4. Bingo

Ages: 5 years +
Description: The perfect board game for kids to get children talking about numbers! Bingo can be played with children and adults. This educational board game offers a fun advanced playing wheel, once it turns a number is dropped and that number is the one you have to look for on your bingo board. Boards come with 25 squares, each time a ball is dropped you will have to look for the number on the ball on your bingo card and cover it. Once you have 5 in a row you can call out Bingo!
FIND IT HERE

5. Zingo

Ages: 4 years +
Description: Zingo is a fun board game for kids played like bingo but with a twist! In this game players will be practicing their sight words. Zingo zings out sight words and players need to find the matches on their board and quick as possible, the first player to fill up their entire card yells Zingo! This children’s board game is great for young learners to practice using English by recognizing the words and pictures.
FIND IT HERE

6. Sequence for Kids

Ages: 3 years +
Description: Sequence is a fun board game for kids that has been around for decades and can be played in all different ways. Sequence for kids is geared towards children and helping them learn matching with animals. Players have number of cards, they will use a card from their hand and place a chip on the corresponding character once they have found them on the game board.  Whichever player has 4 in a row first wins. Sequence for kids will allow children to practice using language with pictures and will make conversations the entire family will enjoy.
FIND IT HERE

7. Explore The World

Ages: 6 years +
Description: Learning facts about the world never felt so fun with this educational board game for kids! Using 2-6 players, children will have to cross the world on their board game by reading and answering questions. In the deck there are flag cards of flags around the world that children can learn and guess to move up spaces. Travel cards are used for players to move forward and backwards in their journey. Children will be able to practice their language skills in geography using reading and listening skills. Explore the world is a fun and fun board game for all of the family.
FIND IT HERE

Fun Board Games for Kids (8yrs+)

Fun board games for kids who can read and spell. These are some of the most popular family board games.

8. Monopoly

Ages: 10 years + (Junior version from 3 years +)
Description: Perhaps one of the best family board games that has been created, Monopoly is perfect for striking conversation throughout the entire game as well as practicing working with money. Geared towards older children, players will have to buy and sell property from one another. Each player will roll the dice and work their way around the board using fake money to pay for property, hotels and homes. Players will also have to pay other players rent when they land on their squares! To win you must bankrupt you opponents and win all the money.
Due to its popularity, Monopoly also have a junior version which is perfect for younger kids.
FIND IT HERE and the JUNIOR VERSION HERE

9. Scrabble

Ages: 8 years +
Description: One of the best educational board games for kids to practice spelling! There are many different ways to play this game and instructions to all inside the box.
The most common way to play Scrabble uses 4 players. Each player gets 7 letters and has to spell off one another for points, the game board is labeled with double letter, double word and triple letter squares that advance your points when making words. The player with the most points wins.
Scrabble can be played with only 2 players and is challenging all the while exciting when you get an awesome word for a lot of points! The perfect family board game to get everyone talking.
FIND IT HERE

10. Upwords

Ages: 8 years +
Description: This fun board game for kids is similar to Scrabble but in this version on the game you are allowed to stack letters. Upwords is an educational board game that makes practicing spelling and creating words exciting and amusing! If a word is already on the board, players can stack to change the word for more points.
FIND IT HERE

11. Scattergories

Ages: 8 years +
Description: This fun board game for families can be played with up to 6 players. Scattergories uses quick thinking skills to come up with words, and hopefully they are spelled right! Players roll the letter dice, flip the sand timer and race against the clock to write down as many words for the categories on the category list as you can. Players earn points by writing down words other players didn’t. A great board game for families to enjoy together.
FIND IT HERE

12. The Socially Speaking Game 

Ages: 8 years +
Description: The Socially Speaking Game for kids will not only help your child with conversational English but also social skills and how to act in certain situations. This game targets 6 areas that children struggle with, they are Morals, Manners, Empathy, Friendship, Showing Emotions, and Managing Emotions. Players will have to discuss together solutions on what they would do in a social setting and work their way around the board by rolling the dice and using the cards to read sentences and questions.
FIND IT HERE

13. Perfection

Ages: 5 – 10 years
Description: Perfection is a fun board game for kids played against the clock! Children will use their language skills regarding shape recognition as well as working on hand eye coordination. They will talk about how fast they can put the pieces in before they die with laughter when it pops!
Players have to put all the shapes into the correct places before the time runs out, once the timer goes off all the pieces pop out so think quick and get all the pieces in before losing them all. 
FIND IT HERE

14. Catch Phrase

Ages: 12 years +

Description:
This fast pace game is one the whole family will want to continue playing. Players will get a phrase or clue and will have to give clues to the other players to guess what that person’s word or phrase was before the timer runs out. Catch Phrase is great for having children think quickly on their feet as well as using reading and describing words to help their team win.
FIND IT HERE

Other Fun Family Games to help conversation skills

While these don’t necessarily have a board, they are fun and educational family games that everyone can play so we decided to add them to the list!

15. Uno

Ages: 3 – 7 years
Description: While not exactly a board game, we thought to include this game because it is highly popular for families! The objective is to use all the cards in your hands by matching cards on top of a deck by color and number. The game uses fun cards like skips, reverses, draw twos and color-changing wild cards to make the game more amusing. Just remember when you have one card left in your hands you have to call out UNO! An educational board game for kids, children will enjoy talking about colors and numbers all the while playing.
FIND IT HERE

16. Story Cubes

Ages: 8 years +
Description: Story Cubes is everything parents need to get their children talking! Having to use your imagination, each story cube has 6 sides with a picture on each. Players roll all 9 cubes then will have to start their story with “once upon a time…” and use all of the pictures to create a funny story. Story Cubes is excellent for any environment and will surely have your children laughing all the while practicing their English.
FIND IT HERE

17. Thumball

Ages: 8 years +
Description: Thumball is an educational game for kids and adults that you can make yourself or one you can buy. Using a ball covered with questions. Players throw the ball to one another, whichever question your right thumb lands on is the one players have to read and answer! This game can be made with silly questions or series ones, which ever you decided it is a great way to practice reading and engage in conversational English.
FIND IT HERE

18. Letz Talk

Ages: Teens
Description: This conversational game is a great way to get teens talking. It can be played at home in a family setting or at parties with friends. The more players the better, that way children will grow their English skills while also growing in self-esteem and conversational feedback to other players. Letz Talk will also allow children to practice their reading skills. This game is very basic, and the object is to get to talking! Players will pull cards, read them, answer them and then players can have a conversation about what was on the card.
FIND IT HERE

19. I spy

Ages: 4 years +
Description: I spy is a great car game for kids but you can also buy the board game version. I spy use riddles and rhymes to help children use their brains. I spy can be played in a variety of ways but the most common is using it as a memory game. Players will try to remember where each card is and those that collect the most matching pairs is the winner. I spy will help your children practice reading as well as recognizing pictures and using conversation to talk about what they see on each card.
FIND IT HERE

20. Apples to Apples (and Junior)

Ages: 9 years +
Description: Apples to Apples is the laugh out loud game of the decade. Players will have 7 cards in their hands, one player will have a speaking card where they will read what is on the card, all the other players must look at the cards they have and try and guess which card would fit best with the phrase that was said.
The player with the phrase card reads all the cards that could match the phrase card and whoever had the best card gets to keep the phrase card. The player with the most phrase cards at the end of the game wins.
Apples to apples will help children read, talk and think using conversations together all the while laughing.
FIND IT HERE or the JUNIOR VERSION HERE

Fun Board Games for Kids which are Educational

We hope you enjoy this list of fun board games for kids! If you have a favorite family board game that isn’t on the list, please let us know!

While you are here, take a look at our posts on:
Fun Word Games for Kids
Fun Car Games or Kids
Fun Reading Games for Kids
Or see our page of Learn English for Kids resources!