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The 10 Best Educational Games to Add to Your Christmas List

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Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and founder of Steady Mom

Have you finished your holiday shopping? When looking for gifts for my three little ones, I always try to ensure that what we buy is not only a gift, but is also something that fits with our family culture and educational goals.

Games are therefore a perfect choice–they’re fun, kids love them, and they make for around-the-clock learning as well. I’m always on the lookout for new game recommendations for my 8-, 7-, and 6-year-olds.

Our family has had an Amazon prime membership for years, which means we get free two day shipping year-round (on top of other benefits like instant videos). We use it often for books, grocery items in bulk, and more.

There’s still plenty of time to order before Christmas, and if you need some ideas–here are my top picks this holiday season for games your children will love.

1. Leapfrog ABC’s Write-on Floor Puzzle

For those looking to encourage handwriting in young writers, this puzzle, once put together, provides plenty of space to do just that. It’s ideal for the 5-7 age range, but my eight-year-old daughter still loves it.

2. Sum Swamp

I bought this game when I was looking for a way to playfully introduce my kiddos to addition and subtraction. It is a frequently requested game in our home!

For 2-4 players, it gives practice in adding and subtracting up to quantities of twelve.

3. The Uncle Wiggly Game

If your family has read Uncle Wiggly’s Story Book, chances are you’ll enjoy this game. For the 5-8 age range, it provides help in both counting up to 100 and developing reading skills.

My older two can read the rhyme cards themselves, and I read them aloud for my youngest.

4. Wildcraft

Wildcraft is a cooperative game for ages 5-8 (yay! no fighting or meltdowns about who wins), which means that all players work together for a common goal–in this case getting back to Grandma’s before sundown. Along the way, they learn about herbs and medicinal plants.

A side note: You will have noticed that winning or losing is a big deal in the minds of children in the 5-8 age range. This is developmentally normal and not to be worried over. In my house we reduce the number of upsets by making all games cooperative as much as possible–not emphasizing the “winner,” but letting everyone have a chance to make it to the finish line.

5. MightyMind

More of a puzzle than traditional game, MightyMind contains design cards and plastic tiles that encourage kids to create specialized patterns.

Good for ages four and up, these increase in complexity as they help kids develop visual and spatial understanding.

6. I Never Forget a Face Memory Game

This takeoff from the traditional memory game combines both recognition and geography.

It has 24 pairs of children’s faces from different countries for players to match and remember.

7. Rory’s Story Cubes

A great choice for slightly older kids (ages eight and up), Rory’s Story Cubes brings out the creative storytelling ability in your child.

Roll the dice and create a story based on the pictures you see.

8. Candyland

No list of early board games would be complete without Candyland!

This game, based on colors and requiring no reading, is perfect as a child’s first game for ages 4-6.

9. A Little Golden Book Go Fish Card Game

If you’ve read many little golden books with your young children, you’ll love this go fish card game.

One of our family’s favorites, it is a good first game choice for preschoolers.

10. Money Bags

Looking for a way to teach your children money value and how to make change? Throughout this game players collect, count and exchange money on their way to the finish line.

Happy holidays and happy gaming!

Tell us which learning games are favorites in your home!

This post originally published on December 12, 2011.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

About Jamie C. Martin

Jamie is an introverted mom of three, who loves books, tea, and people (not always in that order), and avoids answering the phone when possible. She co-founded SimpleHomeschool.net in 2010 and began IntrovertedMoms.com in 2020.

Jamie is the author of four books, including Give Your Child the World (reached #9 on Amazon's Top 100 Best Sellers list), and her latest release, Introverted Mom (an ECPA bestseller). Her work has been featured by LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow, the Washington Post, Parents, Today Parenting, and Psychology Today.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  5. Rana

    Thanks for the list of games. Our family is always looking for new board games too. We just got WildCraft and we all like to play that game.

    Reply

  7. Jennifer C.

    We love Muggins found here http://www.mugginsmath.com/

    You could make your own if you were good at that sort of thing, and the game is expensive but solid wood and fun for young (simple addition and subtraction) or more advanced – (multiplication and division). My husband and I played and bought the game before we had kids!

    Reply

  12. Caroline Starr Rose

    We love Be the Expert (which uses images from museums to quiz players), Animal Trivia, and plain old cribbage, which my boys learned really early on.

    Cribbage has been a phenomenal way for them to learn addition as players count cards to 31 and must create hands that equal 15. It’s a game I learned as a girl and later shared with my husband. Now that my boys play, we love playing grown ups vs. kids, and our boys regularly “skunk” or even “double skunk” us — beat us terribly.
    Caroline Starr Rose’s latest post: Four Pieces of String

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  15. Sarah M

    These are great ideas—a number of them I had on my wishlist for future use for games! My son is very into games (me? not so much) I have realized as a homeschooler that this is such a fun way for him to learn basic concepts! I bought him one for his Christmas gift this year and told the grandparents which ones he also might enjoy if they’re so inclined. My daughter loves candy-land and it has really helped her learn about colors and even how to take turns in a game.
    An individual game I would HIGHLY recommend for anyone 3-8yo is the game Imaginets from Mindware company. It is such an open-ended game that can be played the way it comes (similar to the puzzle you have above) with cards and the pieces (colors, different shapes, sizes, etc.) to ‘build and match’ and every piece is a magnet, so if someone bumps it or you take it in the car–no big deal. I bought it at a home-schooling conference last year for my son’s birthday and they play with it all the time. It has even helped my littlest one with shape/color recognition, and it can also be used to build whatever you want–free imagination! http://www.amazon.com/MindWare-44204W-Imaginets/dp/B0037Z8DEK/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1323723788&sr=1-1

    Sarah M
    Sarah M’s latest post: DPP//11

    Reply

  18. Penny

    My girls love “Sleeping Queens”. A fun game that can also strengthen math skills….plus really cute King and Queen pictures.

    Reply

  19. Catherine

    A favorite in our household is USA Bingo. I recently bought Brain Quest, and was able to play it with all four kids (10,9, 6 and 3, although the 3 year old was more interested in collecting purple tokens than really playing!). I love Trivial Pursuit-type games, and the beauty of Brain Quest is that the questions are grade-level based (1st – 6th grade).

    Reply

    • Kika

      My kids have all enjoyed Brainquest too and I like Uno. By around 10ys they tend to like oldies like Scrabble, Monopoly and Chess (they each have other personal favorites but these tend to work regardless of gender or other personality differences). I have to say that I was disappointed with Wildcraft! I thought it would be more educational than it is but it is an easy game for my girls to play together despite their age gap (6 and 11 years). My kids and their friends have also enjoyed Professor Noggin’s games – inexpensive and you can buy whichever one’s relate to a child’s area of study or personal interest (ex. space, geography, human body…)

      Reply

  21. Keely

    Enjoyed this post. I recently decided on a new label to add to our eclectic homeschooling/self-directed learning selves: Gameschoolers 🙂

    Reply

  23. Caroline Starr Rose

    We love cribbage and taught our boys young. It’s a great way to teach adding (players add cards up to 31 and group them in sets that add to 15). We recently re-discovered the old seventies staple, Mastermind, during a game night. Great for deduction and lateral thinking. I’ve ordered our family a set for Christmas.
    Caroline Starr Rose’s latest post: Albuquerque’s Twinkle Light Parade

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  24. Jamie E.

    Our 4yo loves to play Sorry!, Monopoly Jr., Labyrinth and Catan Jr. with us. He also enjoys playing a somewhat simplified version of Life with us.

    Reply

  25. Brittney

    Great list! Some of these are favorites, and some are on my wishlist! We like Boggle Jr., Sequence for Kids, and Monopoly Jr. Games like Dominoes, Uno, Go Fish and other card games make good stocking stuffers. My kids also LOVE the little peg games from Dollar Tree…the traditional triangle game, the racing games, Tic Tac Toe. I buy the seasonal ones too just for fun as well.
    Brittney’s latest post: It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas

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  30. Christie

    We have several of these. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Monopoly Junior – my 4yr old has picked up basic addition and doubling from that game. My kids love plain old Go Fish – has helped the young ones with number recognition. We also have Word Pirates and Number Ninjas which they love. Oh and Zingo.
    Christie’s latest post: How Much Is Enough?

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  31. Sarah M

    We have a lot of these games, too, and love them. I have had Sum Swamp and Wildcraft on my amazon wish list for the kids for years. I think it’s time that I go ahead and use some Christmas money to get them those after the new year. I know they’d be used in our house!
    PS-Two other fun games are Qwirkle and Imaginets. Kind of a long explanation for Qwirkle (it won an award not too long ago!) but Imaginets is a case that is magnetized on both sides, and inside the case are shapes with magnets, and cards with pictures. Similar to tangrams (but not square, triangle, ect.), it’s a singular game that is great in the car–magnets! Nothing falls out of the case. My kids have found a lot of them challenging, and fun to do during quiet time. Sometimes they just forfeit the cards and make their own pictures. 🙂
    Sarah M
    Sarah M’s latest post: DPP // 2

    Reply

    • Kristi

      I was going to mention Qwirkle, too! I love how it’s challenging for adults but my 5 yo can play and enjoy it too — no reading required, just matching shapes and colors. It’s my favorite of our family’s games — my kids know they can always sidetrack me by suggesting a round.

      Reply

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