Rainy days are hard with a Preschooler. Check out this list of fun board games to play with preschoolers. These preschool games will be great for creating a summer routine, breaking up the day on vacation, or keeping sanity on rainy days when you are stuck inside with little kids.
Even though I stay at home with my preschooler, I still feel the spring vibe that teachers experience. Everyone is ready for a little summer break! But, toddlers and preschoolers need routine and it doesn’t matter the time of year to them, they want something new every day.
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Moods have been high at my house and while I’ve tried to have some “school” lessons on all these rainy days back to back, we are all tired of being cooped up. So, I tried something. After “school time” we added “game time”. And it’s helped break up the morning and give my little some control to our day, which is really what his personality needs the most!
12 Great Board Games for Preschoolers
- Bears and Bowls
- Daniel Tiger Welcome to Main Street Game
- Move and Groove
- Uno Moo Card Game
- Matching – pick their favorite topic or find a travel game, these can even be printed off the internet
- Bingo
- Count Your Chickens board game
- Detective Looking Chart – really any “i spy” type game begins to be really fun at this stage
- Jr Popper Game – like Trouble, but for kids and any theme they love really works
- Peek a Doodle Doo!
- Pancake Pileup
- Brownie Match
Game time Free Play with Preschoolers
Here’s how our game time goes. I let him pick the game and if the rules are not obvious, I let him direct how we are going to play. For example, there are a lot of options and flexibility with bears and bowls. Usually, we dump them out, then sort by color, sometimes it’s a race and sometimes not. Next, we find a card and make a design or stand them up and make a pattern. Usually, we dump them back in the bucket and shake them. But he is the leader and sets the order.
If the rules of the game are obvious, I try and remind him “how” we play the game and sometimes accommodations or modifications are set in place. But, I feel like this is a time in his life where he can learn there are sometimes rules we have to play by, whether we like them or not, and we just have to follow rules. I’m a rule follower in general and while I don’t always agree or like them, its part of life and we have to learn that lesson sometime!
Once he is done with game time and ready to do something else, he has to clean up the mess fully. If he needs help, he doesn’t get to boss me around, he has to ask for help, “mommy will you please help me?” I find giving closure to the playtime helps him see that we are done and our time is closed by cleaning up our mess and putting it away.
During game time I usually turn off the TV and play kids’ music. “Cedarmont Kids” is the Alexa station we listen to, but sometimes “kids party music” is a better station on Prime Music. I want to remove distractions and turn it into fun-focused time. You could set a timer for an hour or whatever time allotment you need, but for us, it rarely lasts more than an hour. This focused time with him is hard for me sometimes but I find it is often my “win” of the day when I look back and reflect in the evening.
I often have something else on my agenda but after looking at all these graduation pictures over the last few weeks, I know right here at my kitchen counter is the best place to be!
What games does your family play?
