Board games are an excellent alternative to give away at any time of the year. In addition to entertaining, they offer educational and pedagogical values.
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The offer of educational board games continues to grow without stopping, offering more and more interesting options from the pedagogical point of view and enjoyment in the classroom or with the family.
Of course yes. You may know some of them, they may sound familiar to you or they may have told you about them. We have previously collected board games to educate in values and today we discover up to 60 educational board games that should be in all classes and also at home. Help us keep expanding this list!
With the help of this game, young students between 2 and 6 years old can identify and express their emotions and moods in order to learn to manage them. It is indicated for family play and its operation is very simple: it has 6 capsules that represent basic emotions (joy, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise), in which players have to put objects that are related with that emotion, in addition to explaining the reason. In this way, students verbalize their feelings and teachers can empathize with their emotions.
The ‘Herstóricas’ project aims to show girls the historical contribution of women in different aspects of society. Together with the collective ‘Comic authors’ they have launched a card game that shows 30 female personalities unknown until now through illustrations. In this way, it will be possible to meet from childhood and through gamification some of the women who have been making way in many areas of life and to which history has not given a voice.
It is one of the most famous war titles in history. It evokes the Napoleonic Wars through a simple and abstract strategy in which the main protagonists are the different territories of the world geography, as well as the logistics of extensive campaigns. Before starting to play, you have to divide the five continents and the main countries among all the players. It may be a good opportunity to start getting to know them.
Visual acuity is the skill that is worked on in this board game. It includes eight different boards and in each of them several dozen objects are shown: the mechanics is to quickly find the objects of a certain category randomly using a roulette wheel. The player who manages to get the most objects correctly during the whole game, will be the winner. Furthermore, it is possible to adapt the level of difficulty for each educational level.
In this selection we could not fail to include a classic. Operation is a board game with which children of various generations have been enjoying themselves. Its character is more playful than educational, but it also serves to identify and locate the parts of the human body. It consists of extracting with a pair of tweezers, and in turn, different hidden objects. If doing so touches the edge of the hole where they are placed, a beep sounds and the “patient” has his nose light up. We must try to successfully exit the operation!
To play between two or more, Penkamino is a title that encourages students to learn and memorize multiplication tables. It does so through some chips that are reminiscent of the classic domino only, in this case, they must be placed according to the results of the multiplications that are carried out. There are two types of cards: those that are square have several numbers that are the result of the multiplications to be completed and those that are in the form of a cross have a different number in each corner. What it is about is to fit chips with each other with their respective multiplication.
For students from 10 years old, their box contains the following elements: 8 character cards, 20 from reality and 40 from fantasy. The purpose is for the kids to be able to build their own history, made up of 6 chapters, for which they must resort to the ones mentioned. This will allow them to work and develop their language skills as well as the ability to narrate, as they will have to come up with ideas, suggest where the story they have to focus on is focused …
It is part of the cooperative board games and its mechanics are suitable for children four years old and up. There are 20 cards of drawings that must be turned face down without looking at them and what it is about (in a first phase) is to find out what is hidden behind each one, but explaining in words what it is used for or used for. In a second phase, you will have to use mimicry to explain each of the cards. Of course, it must be done in the shortest possible time because the hourglass runs against it.
Endorsed by different prizes, it is a cooperative title that takes place on a mysterious island where its protagonists will join a group of adventurers to get four treasures. To reach the goal, all participants will have to agree. From 10 years.
It introduces kids to the world of programming, but without using the computer, and at the same time it helps them improve their skills and abilities when solving a problem or working on sequential reasoning. There is an avatar that moves through an imaginary world in search of crystals with power and to collect each one of them -and reach the goal- it is necessary to correctly complete a series of actions and sequences.
Who has never played to put the name of a known person on the forehead and guess who it is. In this line, HedBanz works, playing with objects and animals known and belonging to everyday life, and whose objective is for young children (ages 5 and up) to investigate, identify and learn about their surroundings, while strengthening their fluency and verbal expression by asking the rest of the group.
An ogre wants to take the treasure and we must avoid it. Race to the Treasure! It shares a lot in common with other classic board games like the goose, but adding a dose of strategy, collaboration and cooperation that participants must bring to achieve the common goal. They will have to build a path together, and if they can prevent the ogre from achieving his mission … everyone will win. Designed for between 2 and 4 players from 5 years old and up.
Some cards with illustrations and a board with those same drawings. Each player will draw a card each turn, and mark them; if he gets four in a row, he wins. But of course, the key to Sequence for Kids is that you can also remove your opponent’s tokens, and there are even wildcards that allow you to place them wherever you want. Sounds easy, right? Its game mechanism allows logical reasoning to be worked out and advanced thinking and strategy to be elaborated.
A pigeon can drive a bus … but we can’t afford it. In Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Game, based on the book of the same name, we will have to avoid precisely what the name indicates, putting them first through strategy and anticipation, moving their respective buses or the pigeon, as indicated. a roulette. For between 2 and 4 players and ideal for children from 3 years.
One of those didactic logic games through pieces with strange figures, in which the objective is to combine them in the best way. To do this, Qwirkle will require a dose of patience and strategy, as well as strengthening knowledge about shapes, colors, mathematics and problem solving. Its 108 tiles, made of wood, offer a number of possibilities such that they will provide fun for hours. Designed for between 2 and 4 players from 6 years old and up.
With a dynamic based on the rock-paper-scissors that we all know, Elements is a logic and strategy game for two players that takes three basic elements – fire, wood and water – that you will have to combine and use to beat your opponent. Made of wood, it is one of the most successful board game Kickstarter projects in recent years.
A fast, very fast card game that rewards visual acuity and speed of reflexes. On Spot It! (in Spain known as Dobble) we will have to discard the cards one by one and detect which of the figures shown is also in our hand; at that time we earn one point. Very simple and focused on improving the mental agility of the players. For between 2 and 8 players, there are different versions for camping, traveling, etc.
For artistic minds and one of those games where the good time is guaranteed. In Telestrations each player will manage a small white board on which they should draw something related to a certain word; then, the player next door must guess the word. They will learn vocabulary and know how to express themselves and give importance to the meaning of things.
One of the most successful card games in recent years is Sushi Go !, as simple as it is fun and entertaining. Designed for 2 to 5 players ages 8 and up, it reinforces mathematical concepts, visual speed, and the wonderful world of strategy and logic. Also, the illustrations are tremendously fun and there is a table version for up to 8 players.
From 3 years old, in Count your chickens! Players will have to collaborate and cooperate with a lot of teamwork and a single goal: that all the chickens get to the farm correctly. It does not require reading skills and it does require rapport and collaboration, ideal to learn at these ages.
A classic of board games, more specifically in the card category: UNO is a memory and strategy game, in which players must pay attention to the cards that are taken each turn, relating them to the ones they have. in the hand. A very simple mechanic that is aimed at up to 10 players from the age of 7, with some digital versions available on mobile platforms.
Aiming to promote skills like logic and problem solving, Mastermind Towers is made up of two players, each with a tower with small animal cards (there are also other themes, like Disney, SpongeBob or Looney Tunes) in a certain order. One player must guess the order of the other’s cards, and vice versa, from simple questions with yes / no answers about their positions.
A classic that has been feeding the agility of players of all ages around the world for decades: Jenga is made up of 54 wooden blocks that initially form a tower and that players, in their respective turns, must extract one by one placing them in the higher. Let the tower not collapse! Great for Primary, to develop certain motor skills.
Aimed at different ages depending on the version we are looking at, with a “junior” from 9 years old, Apples to Apples is a card game born in 1999 that allows you to expand the vocabulary of all players based on making crazy linguistic comparisons according to the card that is drawn at all times. The mechanics are tremendously simple and the potential is brutal, something that has helped this game to be awarded different prizes throughout its history.
Also known as Snakes and Ladders, a thousand and one different versions of this board game classic have been made with a twist of chance. The players will have to advance through a board in which there are squares that will allow us to get ahead, and others that will delay us. Especially interesting to use in Infant and Primary, when they begin to learn to count to secure numbers. Being a classic of board games, there are multiple thematic versions (including one from Dora the Explorer!) As well as on digital platforms, in the form of an app for iOS or Android.
We could say that IQ Fit is a kind of modern Tangram: it consists of a series of pieces that we must fit in a certain way to achieve certain shapes. In total, it has 120 challenges divided into 5 levels according to their complexity, which promises a few hours of entertainment in order to train our logical and spatial capabilities.
A very simple game as well as unknown, designed for kids from 5 years. In I never forget a face we will have a series of letters representing 24 children from different countries, with disparate features; Our objective will be to identify pairs of kids, something that will improve both concentration and memory. The drawings are also ideal illustrations to use with young people, which will make them pay full attention in this game.
One of the most fun games is Zingo, which by its name you can guess what another game looks like. Yes, but with the difference of having images and words instead of just numbers. This will make kids, from the age of 4, promote vocabulary recognition, memory and concentration. Of course, note that there are multiple versions in English, as well as a bilingual Spanish-English.
Aimed at a more adult audience (from 10 years old), Catán is a board game in which each player must master a series of resources necessary to build certain materials, which are a requirement to reach the points necessary to win the departure. A touch of randomness and a lot of strategy for a game that is among the most recognized, and that can be very interesting to have in High School classes. For those who prefer an electronic modality, it is also available on various platforms.
One of those tremendously entertaining board games, in which we will have to pick up pieces at random to form a puzzle of cities, roads, abbeys and walls, which will give us points as we do it. Carcassonne’s objective is to get the more the better, for which we will have to have a strategy when it comes to placing our pieces. Those who want more complexity will then have to choose one of its multiple expansions to expand horizons and add new difficulty to the game.
Like chess or go, Mancala is a series of traditional African board games. There are several types, as they describe in Wikipedia, of which Kalah is the most common in the West, and although the game is quite complex – especially to start it – there is much material to learn. For example, this online Mancala that even includes a tutorial to take your first steps.
A priori it seems like a simple game: in Rush Hour we will have to remove a car that is parked next to others, moving them as we see fit … but only in horizontal or vertical movements. Easy, right? It ends up being one of those extraordinary puzzles, with which you can not stop passing levels, and more levels … until one of them blocks you. The board game costs about 25 euros and we can try it online for example on the website of its main manufacturer, although there are numerous distributors.
Card games have evolved to such an extent that they even allow us to learn about inventions and inventors, for example with TimeLine Inventions. A very simple small deck of cards that we must study, combining several cards with each other in order to beat your playmates. And by the way, there are also other themes such as science and discoveries, historical events or music and cinema, all with the same game mechanism.
With an exceptional aesthetic, it is a game for the little ones (from 4 years old) in which they must cooperate with one goal: for the owls to return to their nests before the sun goes down. It does not seek competitiveness among players and its mechanism is tremendously simple as well as fun, based on colors and positions within a board. A perfect introduction as a first board game for many little ones, fun and educational at the same time.
A classic among the classics that we have all played at some time, Tangram is a game of Chinese origin that consists of a puzzle in which we will start from a series of pieces, and we will have to make different constructions and shapes based on opaque planes in those who do not see which pieces we should use, only the final form to be achieved. If you don’t want to buy one for around 10 euros (they cost less than that), an excellent option is to create your own with cardboard or wood.
In recent years, Story Cubes have positioned themselves as a tremendously simple but fun and entertaining game for young and not so young. They are 6-sided dice that instead of numbers there are small illustrations; the idea: throw away some of them and invent a story with the results, and thus strengthen the creativity of each one of them. There are many ways to use them and also many models available for about 10 euros each pack, which includes 9 dice.
Defined as one of the first games of mental calculation, Math Dice Jr. is ideal for kids from the age of 6 to start thinking mentally about all those mathematical operations that will be essential during the following years of their educational life. For between 2 and 8 players and with the possibility of adding complexity when they need to go to the next level of difficulty. It costs about 13 euros and it also has multiple versions available.
We talked about him the other day, and from your comments he is one of the best known. Dixit is a tremendously simple and brutally fun game that will allow us to improve verbal intelligence, creativity and imagination, and also collaboration with our classmates. Each of the cards that make up this game will make us think of dozens of possibilities, words, phrases and much more. Its price is about 30 euros, approximately, with many extensions available.
There are many logic games to squeeze the brain, such as IQ Splash. Starting from some initial pieces – and irregular ones -, we will have to combine them according to the rules of a series of cards, and whose difficulty is increasing as if they were levels that we must beat. For a single player, it is designed for ages from 6 years and includes a total of 111 challenges, all in a small format and easy to save and carry around if necessary.
Aiming to teach kids the basics of programming from the age of 3, Robot Turtles is one of those board games born on the Kickstarter platform that have been very successful among the educational community around the world. Its operation is based on characters and cards with orders that we will have to use and combine effectively to satisfy missions and objectives.
One of those games in which each card is a letter, and we will have to compose several words. It is not as competitive as other board games like the better known Scrabble, and in fact Bananagrams also has several different packs including some for parties or even one for “your first words”, aimed at early readers of Infnatil and Primary. In favor of Bananagrams, in addition, that it is economic and that there is also an option in Spanish that includes eñes and elles.
To work on aspects of language such as vocabulary, it is a simple but interesting card game in which the letters of a word are enunciated, and the first one to guess is the one who wins that round. There is a Spanish version that includes 100 letters with 300 words, so fun is guaranteed for hours; You can also play create your own cards and add them to, for example, create thematic challenges that you may want to take to the classroom.
By the time we come across a board with figures and colors, we are most likely facing a game to promote logic and spatial reasoning. Well, indeed, this is Swish, which through its transparent letters will allow kids 8 years and older to elaborate what are the best ways to order and place each card, with the aim of putting together several of them in a certain way. Designed for both young and old.
A traditional goose game that aims to teach chess principles. Ocachess is one of those ‘made in Spain’ fun and entertaining, as well as instructive, which will allow kids to know the chess pieces and their elemental movements, as well as discover more advanced concepts to become familiar with this discipline, since it has two levels game: basic and advanced. It consists of a board and 84 game cards that also propose a series of mathematical challenges, so that in addition to chess it will also serve to promote the entire mathematical part of our children. Designed for children from 6 years.
Another Spanish game, specifically developed by the author of board games Manu Sánchez Montero, is Monster Kit. Here they provide us with a series of cards with different parts of a monster’s little body, which we must combine to make fun little animals and monsters with different colors, various types and numbers of eyes, mouths like that or asao … and much more. The game is now in its second edition and allows creativity, sociability and aspects such as colors and shapes, numbers or letters, among much more. In Orientación Andújar they dedicate an article with an interview to the author, and in which they specify many more details.
Everyone knows the story of The Three Little Pigs and their attempts to build their sturdy houses to protect them from the Wolf. Following this story, in this game the participants roll the dice to try to land on a pile of straw, sticks or bricks. Designed for children between 2 and 4 years old, its objective is to collect the necessary pieces for each type of house until they have a complete house.
A creative geometry-focused family board game. It will make children learn more about shapes and their properties thanks to the three sticks with different lengths that it contains. For each figure they create they will earn points and advance on the board.
It contains several mini-games whose objective is to be the fastest, since all the players play at the same time. A skill game designed for children between 2 and 8 years old in which players will improve their observation skills and reflexes.
This game helps children ages 4 to 8 improve their basic math skills. They will have to roll the dice to move the bus across the board and raise passengers. With this dynamic, they will learn simple addition and subtraction skills while having fun.
Help improve your multiplication table learning with your 10-digit table. A good way for kids of learning age to have fun while improving their math level.
The classic among classics. A game that combines skills considered adults such as strategic vision, the use of resources or the analysis of rival tactics is really instructive for children who practice it a lot at an early age. Such are its mental benefits that it is considering to implement it officially in the classrooms.
This game tries to tell own experiences that involve an emotion with the aim of promoting communication and creating an environment of trust that enhances the emotional intelligence of children in Primary. There are no winners or losers, just stories, fun and learning.
Designed for children aged 3 years and over and proposed as a kind of ‘treasure hunt’, it is an exercise that intersperses physical activity with mental activity, making players move around the house or classroom in search of ‘clues’ that lead them to the final surprise. All this while they are stimulated by the relationship of concepts.
Nicknamed the ‘new concept of playing cards’, it is a simple card game but it requires a series of skills to master it such as logic, memory, cunning and tactics. That makes it a smart game suitable for students’ cognitive development.
It is not a single game as such, but it groups together a series of historical-themed decks in Spain: the Families of the Five Kingdoms, the seven Royal Families of Spain, the Royal Couples… A method for Primary students to learn more about the history of your country.
It is a cooperative game so at least two people will be necessary to run it. Its duration revolves around 20 minutes and the recommended age is from 4 years. It contains several cards and an hourglass that will measure the time of each round, which are two in total. In the first, you have to describe what the card indicates, but without mentioning it, and you cannot go on to the next until some player guesses it. In the second round you cannot speak, you have to resort to mimicry to describe the content of the letter and everything, again, against the clock.
Composed of 90 cards (74 Test cards, 6 Touch Challenge cards, 10 raised tactile cards) and 6 puzzle-brains (24 pieces), this game tests participants’ memory, visual agility, coordination and reasoning. . Some of the cards have a sensory component, so it stimulates practically all the senses. It is indicated for students from eight years old, the estimated time for each game is 15 minutes and a maximum of six people can participate. The game dynamics are as follows: the cards are piled up and turned face down, this way you will see what the test consists of; if it is correct, a piece of brain is received of the corresponding color. Whoever gets the four pieces that make up the whole brain image first wins!
It tests visual acuity, memory, and hand-eye coordination. To play you have to assemble a circular board that contains images of different everyday objects. They all have a square individual token so that players know what to look for. Each member chooses three tiles at random and must find them in the shortest time possible by marking each one with a colored rounded tile.
Learning how to classify garbage correctly will instill in the students respect for the environment, as well as providing them with a fundamental skill for their day to day at home. It contains 100 cards with images of products that are normally discarded and four recycling bins that can be separated. The game is to find out which elements can be recycled and to which cube to throw them. The one who has guessed the most will win. As the regulations and the colors of the cubes may vary depending on the locality in which it is inhabited, it is recommended to first study the local rules and play based on them.
Ideal for reviewing and reinforcing the vocabulary and cultural knowledge of boys and girls from the age of six. The game consists of 60 double-sided letters: on the one hand, one of the word categories is shown in a certain color, and on the other, three letters, each with a different tone. Find words that fit the following classes: animal, city, country, famous person, profession, object, plant / tree, food, TV series / movie, or proper name. Whats the game about? The deck is placed with the face of the letters up and turns to one side, this way we will see a category and three letters to play with. You have to find a word that begins with the letter that shares the same color as the category with which it is played. Each hit is signaled by possession of the played card.
Designed for children between 0 to 3 years old. With it, colors, animals, textures or shapes will be studied through images. It contains various pictures on which there is a question. To choose the correct answer, a ‘magic pencil’ is used to rest on the selected image. If it is a success, this device will light up and emit a melody, making it a self-correcting game, in which students immediately know if they have given the correct answer. Although it is designed for a single person, it can be played in a group, keeping track of each participant’s hits.
Very useful to introduce the vocabulary of animals, both in the classroom and at home. It contains 50 illustrated letters with different animals and with their names written in 5 different languages: Spanish, German, English, Italian and French. It is intended for children from 1 to 3 years old and can be used by showing them to the group and clearly pronouncing the name for them to learn. Once memorized, they can be used as memory cards for players to guess each animal’s name.
Board game to work on reading and writing. Through illustrated cards, each player must enter the letters that will form the word that describes the image in the correct order. The cards are self-correcting, that is, each word is made up of cards that have a certain shape, so you only have to look for those that fit this space. With Form Words you can study vocabulary related to animals, professions, positions, actions, instruments, food, transportation, and feelings and sensations. There is the possibility of playing alone or in a group. If there is only one player, the tiles to work with will be chosen, the letters that make up the words will be taken out and mixed to recompose them again. In this case, degrees of difficulty are established according to the age and faculties of each one. For example, the initials of each word are left and the participant must search for the rest of them. And from here the difficulty will be increased as desired, reaching the point of not having any letter card on the card. In addition, it can be used as a group game by dealing one card per player and shuffling all the letters face down. In turn, each one will turn over a letter, if it fits on his token he will use it, if not he will return it to its initial position. Here comes into play the memory of each member who must pay close attention to take the appropriate tile on their turn. The one who first completes his words will win. reaching the point of not having any letter card on the card. In addition, it can be used as a group game by dealing one card per player and shuffling all the letters face down. In turn, each one will turn over a letter, if it fits on his token he will use it, if not he will return it to its initial position. Here comes into play the memory of each member who must pay close attention to take the appropriate tile on their turn. The one who first completes his words will win. reaching the point of not having any letter card on the card. In addition, it can be used as a group game by dealing one card per player and shuffling all the letters face down. In turn, each one will turn over a letter, if it fits on his token he will use it, if not he will return it to its initial position. Here comes into play the memory of each member who must pay close attention to take the appropriate tile on their turn. The one who first completes his words will win.
Who knows the most about the class or the house? The solution to the question is achieved after a game of this well-known trivia game. In its family edition, 1200 questions are included, suitable for children and the same number for adults, so everyone can participate. The dynamics are simple: the dice are thrown and the chip is moved towards the theme that it touched on. The question is thrown at the player and, if he answers it, he receives a cheese of the corresponding color. The player who first gets all the wedges and completes his chip will win!
Here strategy prevails, but also luck. Unfolding the board reveals a map of Europe that connects different cities with train lines in different colors. Each player receives three tickets to different destinations and the objective is to travel from the cities of origin to the destination. To unite the two, players will draw different cards from a common deck that shows different types of trains. When the necessary cards are gathered to start the line, the player will leave the chips of his color on top, to mark it. What to do if another player closes a line that another needs? Train stations can be created to take advantage of the work of the opponents and use their railway lines for their own benefit.
