Updated for 2026!
Six year olds are fast moving out of the little kid stage and feeling more and more like big kids every day. Usually in first grade, 6 year olds hit all sorts of developmental milestones:
- Learning to read
- Solving simple mathematical problems
- Increased focus and attention span
- A larger need for independence
- Moving towards abstract thinking
Kids learn so much through play, and finding the right games to meet them at this stage is one of the best things you can do to help them grow. Below are my personal favorite board games for 6 year olds. These are fun for the whole family and hold up well beyond age 6!
Be sure to check out our other age based recommendations:
Age 2 — Age 3 — Age 4 — Age 5 — Age 6 — Age 7 — Age 8-10 — Teens
Quickly shop our age based game recommendations on our Amazon Storefront!
Our Quick Picks
Before we get into the full list, here’s a quick cheat sheet to help you find the right game fast.
Best Strategy Game: Karuba – A path-building adventure where kids learn to plan ahead and think a few steps out.
Best for Family Game Night: Ziggurat – A cooperative legacy game that grows with your family. Real teamwork, real stakes, all ages.
Best Intro Game: Stomp the Plank – The box turns into a pirate ship. The magnetic plank folds over the edge. Six year olds lose their minds over this one.
Best Memory Game: Foxy – Push-your-luck memory with charming art and just enough tension to keep everyone on their toes.
Best On the Go: Similo – A compact cooperative card game with multiple themes to mix and match. Easy to throw in a bag.
Best Co-op: Mmm! – Mice sneaking cheese past a cat. Press your luck together and root for each other every roll.
Shop all of these games on my Amazon Storefront
Note: All kids are different and these games may work well for kids who are younger than 6 while other kids may not be ready for some or all of them until they are older than 6.
Best Board Games for 6 Year Olds
Foxy
Foxy is a push-your-luck memory game that sneaks a surprising amount of thinking into a very approachable package. Each round, players quietly count the animals they spot, then decide how many they have seen so far in the round. Guess right and score big or guess too many and lose it all — six year olds handle that tension really well, and the artwork is charming enough to pull everyone to the table.
You can play along at home, a game of Foxy with us
Splendor Kids
A simplified spin on the classic Splendor, but don’t let “kids” in the name fool you — this one plays great for the whole family. Players collect gems and spend them to build a path toward the Queen’s Palace on the modular board. It introduces real resource management in a way that feels intuitive, and the chunky gems are genuinely satisfying to handle.
Dr. Eureka
Pure speed-puzzle fun. Players race to move colorful balls between test tubes — without ever touching them with their hands — to match a challenge card. It sounds simple until you’re halfway through and realize you’ve trapped yourself. Six year olds are often better at this than adults, which makes it even more fun for everyone.
Ziggurat
A cooperative legacy game from Matt Leacock and Rob Daviau — the designers behind Pandemic and Risk Legacy — scaled perfectly for young kids. Players work through six chapters, unlocking new content and earning stickers as they go. The stakes feel real, the teamwork is genuine, and it grows with your family. One of our all-time favorites.
Collect!
Collect! is a fast jungle card game where players race to line up four matching animals in a row. The twist is that every animal has a special ability — Monkeys swap cards, Crocodiles chomp them away, and Chameleons become whatever they want. It plays in about 15 minutes and has just enough chaos to keep everyone laughing. Some reading is required, but six year olds handle it without trouble once they learn each animal power.
Mantis
Only two rules: Steal or Score. That’s it. Mantis, from the creators of Exploding Kittens, is a colorful matching card game where every turn you decide whether to grab cards from an opponent or lock your own set into your score pile — and the backs of the cards give you color clues to help predict your odds. Kids often beat adults at this one, which they absolutely love.
Stomp the Plank
The box itself flips open to become a pirate ship, and the magnetic plank folds out over the edge — that alone is enough to get six year olds excited. Players take turns flipping treasure cards, hoping to avoid duplicates, while slowly pushing one another’s elephant pirates closer to the edge. It’s silly, tense, and completely delightful.
Mmm!
A cooperative press-your-luck dice game where a team of mice tries to sneak cheese past a cat. Players push their luck together, deciding as a group when to stop rolling and bank their progress. The double-sided board means you can adjust difficulty on the fly, and the shared decision-making makes it surprisingly engaging even for adults. One of the best co-ops we’ve found for this age.
Sliding Bears
From Space Cow, this cooperative puzzle has players guiding polar bear cubs across melting ice by sliding tiles and rolling dice. Six scenarios ramp up in difficulty as you go, and the mechanics introduce early spatial reasoning in a way that feels like pure play. Works great solo or with up to four players, and it’s simple enough for six year old to play independently.
Ghost Fighting Treasure Hunters
A cooperative classic, and one of the best kids games ever made — we’ve played it more times than we can count. Players work together to collect all eight jewels from a haunted house before the ghosts take over. Ghosts multiply every round, hauntings require teamwork to defeat, and the tension builds beautifully. The components are incredible — little ghost meeples, jewels that actually fit in tiny backpacks — and the advanced rules make it just right for six year olds who are ready for a real challenge.
Karuba
Karuba is an excellent path building game for the whole family. One of our collection staples. Kids will learn to plan ahead, wait patiently for better tiles, and learn to leave themselves multiple options open in case plan A doesn’t work out.
Drop It
A fun dexterity game! Drop shapes into the vertical game board to earn points. Scoring restrictions make this more than a toy. Players need to put thought into which shapes they select and how they best use them to both block their opponents and land on bonus circles for themselves.
Incan Gold
Push your luck to head into the temple, grab gems and artifacts, then dash out before too many hazards come out and you lose your loot! I love the math involved in Incan Gold. Kids will work on dividing the gems evenly amongst players and make risk assessments.
Similo
Guess the correct character in this cooperative card game. Players will need to think critically about the similarities and differences between characters to give clues that help their teammates eliminate the right cards to find the secret character. We love that there are many different versions of Similo, each great on their own or able to be mixed and matched. Fables, Wild Animals, and Harry Potter are the best choices for this age.
Gnoming A Round
Inspired by the classic card game Golf, Gnoming Around is both fun and educational. Kids will swap out cards to try to lessen their score, or create 3 of a kind to flip their score. The game is beautifully illustrated and a fun game to play with all ages.
If ordering from Grandpa Beck’s Games directly, use my code KELSEY15 for 15% off your whole order.
Sushi Go Party!
Sushi Go is easy to teach and a great game for an intro to drafting. Sushi Go Party is an expanded version of the game that adds a bunch of new cards and customizable difficulty. I like that kids must choose which card to keep from their hand, knowing that what they give to the next player, they may not get back. It’s a great combination of known and unknown information for this age to learn to work with.
7 Wonders Architects
Baby’s First Civilization Game? We love how easy to learn 7 Wonders Architects is for this age. Kids love the challenge of building their Wonder while learning to make choices from a few options. It distills the fun of 7 Wonders into a highly family friendly version.
Match Madness
I always love a good speed challenge. Players race to assemble their blocks to match the pattern on the card. It’s a great challenge for increasing those processing skills! This is also a great option for a solo game. Our kids are just as happy playing together as they are on their own with this one! Read our full review.
Snip Snap
If you’re looking for something small and on the go, Snip Snap is a great fit. This speed processing dice game can be tough in seconds, played quickly, and all fits into a little mesh bag perfect to throw in a purse or bag for whenever you might need it.
Inspector Mouse
Having a selection of great memory games is a must for these early ages. Inspector Mouse is fun, challenging, and scalable so it works for a wide range of ages and abilities.
Read our full review.
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