The Favorites: Games For 3 Year Olds

Experts recommend a healthy mix of physically and intellectually stimulating games for 3 year olds. They recommend exposing our kids to games and activities that foster fine motor development, promotes hand-eye coordination, lots of physical movement, and thinking. Games and activities keep our little one learning and engaged.

In the list of games for 3 year olds below, there are only games that are marked by the manufacturer, for 3 year olds and older.

You might also be interested in: Top 10 Outrageously Fun & Parent Approved Board Games For Toddlers

Elefun Game

This is is an extremely popular and oh-so-fun game for the little ones.

The Elefun game as a 3-foot trunk which is used to blow little butterflies in the air. Players must catch them in a net – to the tune of lively music.

The Elefun game is really quick and easy to set up. When it starts, the elephant’s 3-foot trunk sends butterflies into the air, and kids race around trying to catch butterflies in their nets.

Warning! This is a laugh-out-loud, giggling game. Your toddler will be encouraged to get up and run around after the butterflies.

The game includes:

3 butterfly nets,

a motorized Elefun game body with the trunk and 2 ears,

3 butterfly nets with 3 plastic handles and rims,

Butterflies: 5 orange, 5 green, 5 blue and 5 yellow. (This is a great toddler game for learning colors)

A game guide

The Elefun Game will accommodate 1- 3 players.

Lucky Ducks Game

The Lucky Ducks game is a non-traditional game where your kiddo will learn the following:

memory and matching game

shape recognition and colors – notice in the image above – there is a different color and shape under each duck.

taking turns

After you switch on the Lucky ducks game, the ducks start swimming in the circular pond. (It needs 2 AA batteries, which are not included.)

Players take turns picking up a duck and looking at the color and shape. If the duck matches their color and shape, they keep the duck. If it doesn’t match theirs, they put it back. The lucky ducks keep swimming, which makes this toddler game more challenging than a traditional memory game.

The Lucky ducks game includes:

motorized “pond,”

12 ducks,

complete instructions.

The Lucky Ducks Game will accommodate 2- 4 players at a time.

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Toddler Game

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel is a great game for pre-schoolers. It is really popular because it’s fun for toddlers. Bonus – it’s educational too! Your toddler will learn about colors and matching, taking turns, AND have fun while doing it. When they’re playing, they’ll also be developing fine motor skills and hand-eye-coordination!

The game is easy to understand, and no reading skills are required. The game also teaches strategic thinking.

The sneaky snacky squirrel game works like this: the forest animals are hungry and they need your toddler to help them find acorns. Your little one will spin the spinner and pick up the matching acorn with the squirrel squeezer. The acorns are then placed in the log. The first person to collect 5 acorns on their log, wins!

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel comes with:

1 s quirrel squeezer,

20 colored acorns,

1 game spinner,

4 logs, and

Toddler board game

Candyland

Candyland is a colorful, fun, and educational board game for toddlers.

The game is specifically designed for your non-reader, and it’s filled with colorful illustrations, a lollipop palace, peppermint forests, and a licorice lagoon. It also has symbols and tokens and a few pitfalls! If you land on the wrong square, you might get stuck in a molasses swamp!

The goal of the game is to save King Kandy. This is how the magical journey begins with kiddos eager to find the king. They move their little gingerbread pawns along the rainbow path – through a land of candy characters. Sweet!

Candyland is a simple two to four-player board game wherein each player races to the end. Players draw cards and move their pieces to the corresponding picture or color.

The game comes with:

game board,

the card deck,

4 pawns, and

instructions

Chutes and Ladders

Chutes and ladders is a classic, and it’s as popular as ever – even with toddlers.

The goal is to scramble to the top of the gameboard without slip-sliding down, up the ladders and down the chutes!

Your little one spins the spinner (all the while developing fine motor skills) to see how many spots they’ll move (thereby learning and developing counting skills). If a player lands on a good deed, they go up a ladder. If they land on the wrong spot, they’ll slip down a chute!

The game includes:

a game-board,

spinner with arrow,

4 pawns with plastic stands and;

instructions

Hi Ho Cherry O Game

Hi Ho Cherry O is a wonderful game for developing and practicing basic math skills for your little one. Your kiddo will have a fun time picking fruit from the trees and filling their buckets.

This is a fun educational game, where your child will practice numbers and counting.

At the start of the game, each player chooses their own tree. They put 10 pieces of fruit on the tree they selected, to start the game. The goal of the game is to pick fruits off their trees and put them in their baskets. The first person to pick all the fruit from their tree, wins.

Hi Ho Cherry O includes

2 gameboard pieces,

10 cherries, 10 blueberries, 10 apples

3 character moves (Mickey, Goofy and Donald),

spinner with plastic arrow and;

cardboard base

instructions.

Hi Ho Cherry O will accommodate up to 3 players.

Busytown

This is a 6 FEET LONG game! It’s is a fun game that encourages healthy competition and teamwork. The busy town game is engaging and promotes key preschool learning skills.

How Busytown works is that the little characters race around Busytown, searching for several hidden objects. Your toddler and his/her friends drive through colorful city streets, a bustling harbor full of boats, an activity-filled farm, and a busy airport too. Collaboration is important in this game because the faster they find the hidden objects, the faster they get to Picnic Island.

This is not a competitive game. Rather, it’s a collaborative game where players work together to make it to “Picnic Island” before “Pig Will” and “Pig Won’t” eat up all the food. In cooperative games like this, “play” is emphasized, rather than competition. It is non-stressful. Children work together and help one another. There is shared decision making and a sense of community. Toddler games like Busytown develop a positive self-esteem and playfulness.

Busytown includes the following:

1 Game Board in three sections,

4 Movers with 4 Mover Bases,

1 Spinner,

1 Ferry Tile,

10 Magnifying Glass Tokens,

6 Food Tiles,

30 Goldbug Cards,

1 Sand Timer,

1 Game Rules Manual.

Richard Scarry Busytown will accommodate 2-4 players.

Don’t Break The Ice Game

“Don’t break the ice” is a fun toddler game of strategy.

The goal of the game is that players need to tap out ice blocks one by one, without letting Phillip the Penguin fall. The person who can manage to keep the penguin on top, wins.

“Don’t break the ice” comes with:

2 mallets,

an ice tray frame,

4 ice tray legs,

1 large ice block,

32 small ice blocks,

Phillip the Penguin figure, and instructions

Cooties Game

The Cootie Game is a game where each player slowly gets to build their bug. The first person to finish creating their bug, wins.

Your kiddos can be creative while mixing and matching the pieces to make their critters. They also learn to take turns, as each player gets to roll the dice. They hope that it lands on a Cootie bug part that they need for their bug.

The Cootie Game will accommodate 2-4 players.

Snug As A Bug In A Rug Game

The Snug as a bug in a rug game is a game of matching bugs. The game requires no reading skills and teaches toddlers about colors, counting, numbers and shape recognition.

How it works is – players work together to find matching bugs. They slip the bugs under the rug before the 3 stink bugs arrive.

There are 3 levels of play, to add a bit of challenge.

The Snug as a bug in a rug game will accommodate 2-4 players.

Red Light Green Light Game

Red Light Green Light is a classic and an active game that you can play indoors or outdoors. No game board required here!

Here’s how it works:

One person will be the traffic light. They stand in the middle in front of everyone, with the rest of the kids lined up. When they say GREEN, everyone runs forward towards them. But, as soon as they yell RED, everyone has to STOP immediately… or else they have to take two steps back. This game is fun because everyone has to run, but not too fast because they need to be able to stop immediately. The first person to reach and touch the traffic light becomes the new traffic light.

Red light green light is an old favorite. It’s a game that fosters healthy physical and socio-emotional development and promotes cognitive flexibility.

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