We’re sharing the best board games for five year olds! Updated for 2026.
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Five is truly an exciting year for children developmentally. Preparing to enter school, five year olds are leaving behind their toddler years and feeling more and more like “big kids” every day.
Playing board games can be a valuable tool for a child’s holistic development. Kids will be able to improve their concentration and focus — prepping their attention spans for the fast approaching school years, increase their fine motor skills as they manipulate game pieces, grow in their social skills by practicing good sportsmanship, cooperation, and turn taking, as well as enhance their language skills through an increased vocabulary and better communication strategies.
And of course, most importantly, playing games together as a family will strengthen the family bond.
What to Look for in the Best Board Games for Five Year Olds
- Games with slightly more complex rules: As kids near age five, they’re growing in their confidence to follow multiple steps. Games are a great way to nurture that ever growing independence. Look for games that require kids to think one, maybe two steps ahead. We still want games with relatively streamlined rules, but we’re also looking to challenge those growing minds.
- Decision Making: You want games that help kids learn to strategize. That means looking for games where they have to make a decision between various options throughout the game and avoiding games where there are no choices to be made, rather cards are flipped and dice are rolled and that’s that. Games with these early level strategy decisions will help kids develop critical thinking skills.
- 20 minute play times: As a general rules, a child’s attention span equals about 2-3 minutes for every year they are. At five, children can on average handle fully focusing on a game for about 15-20 minutes. So you’ll want to seek out games that match this timespan.
- Engaging Themes: By age five, kids really have a solid grasp on their likes and interests. If your child has a favorite theme, lean into that and find games that feature whatever it is that excites them! The more they’re interested in the theme, the longer they’ll tend to focus on the game.
- Quality Components: Choosing a quality, well made game will help it see your child (and any siblings too) through their younger years while holding up to the sometimes rough play that kids can engage in.
- Educational Value: Games provide a great opportunity to learn some of the budding educational skills five year olds are working on. We look for games that help five year olds with foundational mathematical concepts, cognitive development through problem solving, and lots of opportunities to nurture their rapidly developing language skills.
A Quick Note on Age Recommendations
Age recommendations are just that: recommendations.
Five is merely a suggested starting age. Many of these games can and will be enjoyed by kids older than five or perhaps even younger than five as well. These are all great options for siblings to play together!
Because of the variability in ages, abilities, and interests, there can be a lot of overlap in game compatibility for children. We recommend you check out the age posts for at least one year younger and one year older than your children’s current age.
While these games are intended for five year olds (meaning that they are games five year olds should be able to play without modifications) It is also not a cause for alarm if your five year old is not ready for these games yet. If you try one and they don’t seem interested or it’s a touch too challenging, give them some time and try again in a few weeks or months. Kids grow quickly and they’ll be playing before you know it!
Best Board Games for 5 Year Olds
My First Carcassonne
A great first step into the world of Carcassonne. In My First Carcassonne, kids will enjoy the core game design of the original without any tricky scoring elements. You’ll add tiles to build the city and every time you close off a street with at least one child dressed in your player color, you get to place pawns on the board. It’s simple, quick, and the perfect paired down version of the original that let’s kids begin thinking of those early strategy elements without any of the overwhelm. It’s one of our kids’ favorite games to play together and is fun well beyond the earliest years you can play it.
Ticket to Ride First Journey
Get them trained up for this ultimate classic with the junior version Ticket to Ride First Journey has a larger map with icons at each city to help developing readers play independently. The game is scaled down for a quicker experience while it still features all the elements found in the original. Kids will collect cards to place trains on the map to claim routes that connect cities and complete their tickets for points. We especially love the Halloween version which is our family’s favorite to pull out in October!
Dixit Kids
I was pleasantly surprised by just how delightful Dixit Kids is to play. Dixit Kids is a cooperative adaptation of the party game favorite Dixit. This game allows kids to explore moods and emotions as everyone works together to guess the mood of the bunnies by playing cards that match that emotion. Like all Dixit games, the cards included in Dixit Kids are fully compatible with other Dixit games and can be combined and played with any Dixit game in your collection.
Mooki Island
This two player game is full of simple choices with a touch of memory. Kids will choose between cute creatures to add to their pile. Points are awarded to the player who has the majority of creatures in each animal type. This means that during the game kids will work on remembering how many of each type they’ve collected to know if they need more or if they should focus on another type. Our four and five year old kids absolutely love this one and it’s perfect for siblings to play together.
Mr. Postmouse’s Picnic
A simple, cooperative tile placement game all about delivering your friends invitations to a picnic. Kids will practice strategic path building, learn how to anticipate issues to protect their progress, and work together while doing so. Once you’ve got a good handle on the base game, you can up the difficulty for more challenge.
Monster Chase
Memory games are great for kids, especially as they are getting ready to enter their school years. Monster chase is a fun cooperative memory game where you’ll try to scare the monsters by remembering which toys in the room scares the monsters away. Cute and quick with a slight Monster’s Inc vibe to it.
Eye Found It!
Few things are more fun than a seek and find game at this age. (okay, for adults too. Or is that just me?) The Eye Found It series is a fantastic option for kids beginning around age 5. This is a cooperative game with a huge board you can lay out on the floor (or table) to play together. You’ll work together to find hidden items. There are a few different themes in the series as well as a travel friendly card version. If your child loves this style of game/activity, it’s definitely worth it to have both!
Oh My Socks
It’s always fun finding games that are intended for perhaps a slightly older starting age that work well for younger kids and Oh My Socks is a great one! Simple choices see you choosing between two socks; one to keep and one to pass in the direction the arrow on the card is pointing. You’re trying to create even sets of socks. The more socks you get, the more you’ll score, but if you have an odd numbered set, you’ll lose all your points for those socks. Simple, fun, and quick to play making it a great family game your five year old can play on their own!
That’s Pretty Clever Kids
Our kids LOVED this game! Something about it really spoke to them which is always so fun to see. That’s Pretty Clever Kids features gameplay similar to That’s Pretty Clever but this time with kids in mind. Players will roll dice and choose what they want to use with everyone else getting to select something from what they don’t. Kids will learn how to strategically mark off items on their player sheet to earn bonuses and increase their score. The player sheets are nice and colorful for an inviting look.
Gobblet Gobblers
A simple twist on Tic Tac Toe that increases the strategy and will help develop early critical thinking skills. Games play quickly so they’re perfect for playing multiple games in a row. This is one of my top recommendations to play with kids who may struggle with losing. For tips on that, check out this post.
Quacks and Co Quedlinburg Dash
One of our absolute favorite kids games! Quacks and Co: Quedlinburg Dash is perfect for kids as young as 5 and can scale up in difficulty as they grow and become more experienced. Based off of the Quacks of Quedlinburg, players will learn the fundamentals of bag building as they reach their opponents to the end of the track! I love playing it as much as the kids do!
Tucano
A simple set collection game for kids and adults alike! Your goal is to harvest the best fruits while avoiding spoiled fruit. We love this game too because it’s really easy to include younger players. Tucano is also a great game to practice foundational math skills like addition and subtraction.
Spot it
This game is a must have. You can take and play it almost anywhere. It’s easy to throw in a bag, play at a restaurant, doctor’s office, or at the kitchen island while cooking dinner. My kids are also 10x better at it than I am and that makes them love it all the more.
Outfoxed
As kids near age 5, it’s the perfect time to introduce Outfoxed! This is a collection must in our opinion. Players will work together to figure out which fox stole the pie by moving around the board, gathering clues, and making deductions from the information. It’s a wonderful way to help develop critical thinking skills.
Sheep Hop
Sheep Hop is a fun cooperative or solo option. You’re working to get all of the sheep into the sheepfold before the wolves eat them. You’ll move the pieces like checkers, hopping over those on the board to get to your destination quicker. It’s a fun game with a puzzle vibe. While kids may not be ready for true solo play at age 5, this is a great one begin with!
Stamp Farm
This is a roll and write game that uses stamps instead of pencils! The use of the stamps is so clever! Kids will love using them and you’ll love how fast they speed up the writing portion of this roll and write! It also comes with many unique scoring tiles so you can customize your game to match the level of your players. You can make the game as easy or as challenging (for kids) as you’d like!
Animal Upon Animal
I think a dexterity game is always a nice choice for growing kids. Animal Upon Animal is a classic that we still absolutely love. It combines the fun of building and knocking things down that so many kids gravitate towards, while channeling that interest and energy towards more finer movements.
Monza
For the kids who love racing cards, Monza is a great choice. I love the classic feel of this game. It really feels like something you could have found in your grandma’s games cupboard from her childhood. Players will race their cars around the track by taking turns rolling dice. Each side of the die shows a different color that their car can advance forward onto the race track according to the colors they rolled. Think tactically to move your car forward as quickly as you can.
Dragon’s Breath
This game always draws the kids in! Players will try to gather gems from the center by choosing a color, removing a ring, and gathering all the gems of that color that fall. It’s a simple game about probability and observation.
Katamino Family
This is a go-to for us for both solo and family play. Katamino is a wonderful option to engage the more puzzle minded gamer. Katamino family gives you the best of both worlds because you can play it as a solo puzzle or you can enjoy one of the many multiplayer games included in the rules! Our kids’ favorite are the Katamino races!
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