Board Games teach our kids so many important life lessons through play.
Board games help children build patience, take turns, make decisions, and learn to win and lose with confidence - all in a safe space. It's screen-free, hands-on fun.
Plus... Families that play board games together, stay together!
So, are you ready to move beyond Monopoly and Uno? These are our top family game picks, ranked from easiest to hardest, bringing excitement, friendly competition, and fun for the whole family.
Start with simple games and see their skills grow!
Five Minute Read
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1. My First Carcassonne
2-4 Players I Age 4+ I 20 mins
This tile-laying game creates a different landscape of winding roads every time you play! It's a spinoff of the best-selling board game Carcassonne.
Players take turns choosing and placing a tile, carefully matching roads across the shared board. Once a winding path is complete, you place your coloured meeples down that match the colours on the tiles. The first person to get all their coloured meeples down on the map wins the game!
With simple rules and clear visual cues on every tile, children quickly learn the basics of tile placement, planning ahead, and strategic thinking in a fast and engaging game.
2. Catapult Feud
2 Players I Age 3+ I 10 mins
3. Wombat POO
2-4 Players I Age 6+ I 20 mins
Nothing brings a family together quite like trying to balance a giant pile of poo!
Players take on the role of wombats in this dexterity game, carefully stacking differently sized poo cubes onto a tower that becomes more unstable with every turn.
Playing poo (stack) and wipe (score) cards increases the height of the stack, leaving players to decide whether to cash in one point per cube or risk adding one more. Push your luck too far and, if the tower collapses, you're left with nothing.
Aside from the hilarious subject matter for children, this simple stacking game is ideal for younger children as they can visually see the higher the stack, the more points they’ll earn.
The target score can also be adjusted to suit different ages, making it easy to tailor the game's length and challenge.
4. Sleeping Queens
2-5 Players I Age 8+ I 20 mins
As an introduction to card games, this charming family game was a regular favourite at our table. Plus, it was designed by a 6-year-old (with the help of her family).
Twelve queens begin the game asleep, lying face-down as players race to awaken and claim them. Along the way, knights can steal queens, potions can send them back to sleep, and jesters add an element of luck by revealing cards from the deck.
Defensive cards help protect your royal collection, and the first player to awaken the required number of queens wins. Combined with its vibrant, graphical artwork, this fast-paced card game is a wonderful introduction to light strategic play for younger gamers.
5. Ticket to Ride - First Journey
2-4 Players I Age 6+ I 15 - 30 mins
Older kids will enjoy the now famous Ticket to Ride series, whereas younger players will like First Journey, a streamlined version with fewer cities and shorter routes.
Players collect coloured train cards and use them to claim railway routes across a colourful map of Europe. They get to learn about geography as they play too!
As they connect cities and complete tickets, children naturally develop skills in colour matching, set collection and route planning.
With simple rules, vibrant artwork and satisfying gameplay, it's an excellent next step for families ready to explore slightly more strategic board games.
6. Scribbly Gum
1+ Players I Age 6+ I 20 mins
In this paper and pencil drawing game, players trace the distinctive scribbly trails left by moths beneath the bark of scribbly gum trees.
No-one has to wait for their turn in this cosy board game. Once a direction card is turned over, every player simultaneously draws on their own tree sheet to guide their moth towards food!
The simple rules make the game easy for young children to learn, while the quick playtime encourages replay ability. For players looking for an extra challenge, advanced achievement tiles add strategic depth for both children and adults.
7. Sushi Go!
2-5 Players I Age 8+ I 15 mins
What goes round and round and is colourful and makes you hungry? This firm family favourite - the card game Sushi Go!
This card game is an easy introduction to card drafting for younger players. In each turn you choose a card to keep from your hand, then pass the rest of your hand to the next player and so on, until all the cards are gone.
Over three rounds, players collect different types of sushi sets to create the highest-scoring combinations, carefully deciding which cards to keep and which to let go. The adorable sushi characters and vibrant artwork immediately capture children's attention, while the clever set-collection mechanics keep adults engaged.
Easy to learn and quick to play, it's a rewarding game of hand management, planning and strategic decision-making that is highly replayable.
8. Launching in September.
2-6 Players I Age 8+ I 20 mins
In September, Gumnut Trails is launching a thematic family card game that is all about hatching and saving sea turtles. See our making of blogs
It's a light strategy game that you can play individually or in teams!
More details coming very soon. Stay tuned.
9. Flip 7
3-18 Players I Age 8+ I 20 mins
With simple rules that are easy to teach, this family card game combines push-your-luck excitement with strategic decision-making.
Each turn, players decide whether to flip another card, risking the chance of revealing the same number twice and ending their run. Since higher-number cards are less common but worth more points, every decision becomes a balance between playing it safe and chasing a bigger score.
Children develop number recognition and pattern-spotting skills as they identify the different numbered cards in play, while a handful of special cards add exciting opportunities to earn bonus points.
Adults can help younger players total their scores each round, or older children can practise their addition skills independently. The first player to reach 200 points wins.
With its quick playtime, the game can be reset with a simple shuffle, making it easy to jump straight back in for another round of tempting your luck.
10. Forbidden Desert
2-5 Players I Age 10+ I 45 mins
Forbidden Desert and Forbidden Island are co-operative board games. This means you work together as a team to beat the game - which is great for kids!
This thrilling adventure game requires all players to work together to recover a flying machine buried in the ruins of an ancient city. A 5 x 5 tile grid represents the land for players to explore to recover the lost components for the flying machine.
As the game progresses, sandstorms approach, water becomes scarce and all players need to rely on each other to win the game. This game is great for older children, as it requires forward planning, decisions in every turn and lots of strategic discussions together.
Forbidden Desert is a rewarding game for families who enjoy a thematic and co-operative adventure.
