When buying a board game for your children, the goal is twofold. The game must please the child. Otherwise, your toddler will have no desire to play it. But it must also be a hit with the parents, otherwise it risks becoming a chore for the adult, which is not the goal. Playing a board game is a royal opportunity to spend quality time with your little angels. Choosing a game is therefore crucial for the playful magic to work.
Mysterium Kids Captain Boo’s Treasure
Mysterium Kids is a cooperative game in which you play as the captain and the treasure hunters spending the night in an old mansion that contains a treasure. The ghost Boo will help you find it thanks to noises that you will have to identify to find the loot. The game won the very prestigious Kinderspiel des Jahres in 2023—special mention for the game material and its surprising tambourine.
Roll Stamp
Sally, the farmer, asks you to help her build animal fences to keep her farm tidy. She wants to herd the animals so that each type of animal has enough space. Can you help her tidy the animals up so that they are all happy? In Roll the Dice, players take turns rolling the dice, then use one of the animal stamps designated by the results on their farm sheet.
Syllabus
In the Syllabus, players aim to collect as many stars as possible by playing with words. Images form a large game board where each image corresponds to a square. To move, you will have to find words with the right number of syllables, linked to the images: a player needs to move four squares to reach this car, so he will say “au-to-mo-bile”. Syllabus is a perfect educational tool for learning oral syllables and stimulating our children’s vocabulary.
Peep Peep
By publishing this formidable game on the theme of the chicken coop, Djeco offers young players the chance to discover certain concepts such as confrontation, the thirst for victory, and in some cases, defeat. Yes, that’s part of the game. Piou Piou has fun and simple rules that will get players hooked from the first game. Cunning and strategy will be necessary to head straight for victory. The box indicates that the game is for ages 6 and up, but it may be accessible to younger children if they are already familiar with games.
Dragomino
Named “Children’s Game” of the Year at the Spiel des Jahres and the As d’Or in 2021, Dragomino is a pure delight for children. In this adaptation of the no less famous Kingdomino, your little blond heads will set off to explore the dragon island and try to discover as many baby dragons as possible in the different landscapes they cross. This game is also perfect for allowing them to discover the delights of the placement game simply and intuitively. All in a fantasy universe with castles and dragons!
Cabbage, are you there?
In Chou’s vegetable garden, are you there? The gardeners desperately search for the rabbits that are nibbling on their precious cabbages, while the latter try to enjoy a stealthy feast. In this asymmetrical game, the action is fast, and the setup is simple, but the subtle strategy and the growing tension ensure you have a fun time playing. Playable with two players, but the real fun lies in games with four, promoting moments of complicity between teams. Discover this deduction game ideal for young and old!
Kraken Attack
Kraken Attack is a wonderful cooperative game in which children and parents must coordinate their actions to defend their boat against a Kraken attack. Keep an eye out for the fearsome segments of the animal that arrive both on the port and starboard sides! Use the cutlasses to repel the closest tentacles and the cannons for those that are further away. Colorful and exciting, the game also has an evolutionary dimension, offering different levels of difficulty.
Name of a fox
A fox steals a golden egg from chickens, who are determined to get it back. From the henhouse to the den, valiant detective chickens lead the investigation to get their hands on their “precious”. Nom du Renard is a cooperative deduction game in which 2 to 4 players unite to find the suspect. The game was awarded at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the As d’Or for Children’s Game of the Year.
The Mouse House
Charming little mice are making your life difficult. They don’t hesitate to steal your things as soon as your back is turned. Take advantage of their absence to get back what belongs to you. In The Mouse House, your children will have to use their memory and their sense of observation to win the game. In this game, there will be no losers. Players win a little more or a little less. We will also note the great originality of the box which transforms into the game’s decor.
Monster Hunting
Why should it always be up to children to be afraid of monsters and for monsters to hide under the bed to scare innocent toddlers? In La Chasse aux Monstres, Antoine Bauza, the father of 7 Wonders, invites you to swap roles by scaring these big creatures that are usually so scary. Each monster is afraid of a toy. Players will then have to find the toy that will scare the monster(s) around the bed. The game revisits memory with a touch of fun that will appeal to young and old alike.