The Ultimate List of Board Games for 2 Year Olds – 2022

The go-to comprehensive list of board games for 2 year olds that will help you find the perfect game for your toddler. Looking for games that are educational and fun too? Many of our top picks have won numerous toy awards.

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I’d choose a board game with my kids over pretend play any day, which is why I’m a huge fan of researching the best board games by age.

These are games we’ve played, known friends directly who played and recommended or have won toy awards and received rave reviews.

When choosing our board games that will suit a 2 year-old, you’ll notice that we don’t always pick games with a “2+ rating.”

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.com which means if you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.

I also like to include games that are rated for 3 year olds and 4 year olds.

Here’s why:

1. Most board games you can simply change the rules a bit to suit your individual child’s developmental level.
2. Many families have multiple children and this is a great way to find a game that works for older siblings too.

Kids’ brains grow so fast from ages 2-4 that it’s worth investing in some games for preschoolers too. It won’t be long before your 2 year old has them all mastered!

• Related: 50+ Best Simple Games for 2 Year Olds and UP

Best Educational Board Games For 2 year-olds

Mom approved and loved by kids! These are the best board games for 2 year olds I’ve found that are fun, educational, encourage cognitive development and motor skills. 

Most of these games help toddlers master basic concepts:

• Taking turns
• Following simple directions
• Color, number and shape recognition
• Dexterity

Since toddlers like to move from one thing to the next, the attention span required for these games is very short (on purpose). All of the games listed below play fast and are easy to grasp.

Fine Motor

1. HABA Animal Upon Animal

Classic wooden stacking game – counting, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Players race each other to be the first to stack all of their wooden animals upon the animal pile before any of the other players. A roll of the die tells the players how many animals can be placed or whether they can add to the alligator base.

2. Hungry Hungry Hippos

Players can choose to play as Bubbles, Twinkle, Dazzle, or Sparkle as they race to chomp down the most marbles to win. Color recognition and fine motor skills.

3. Pressman Let’s Go Fishin’

Object: players use mini fishing poles to try to catch the most fish. Fine motor skills: gameplay helps develop hand-eye coordination.

4. Yeti in My Spaghetti

Place the noodles across the top of the bowl and sit Yeti on top. Take turns removing the noodles one-by-one without letting Yeti fall! If you make Yeti fall, you lose!

5. HABA Here Fishy Fishy

The board game is designed specifically for 2 year olds and acquaints children with first game rules and how to apply them. Fishing with the rod fosters hand-eye coordination in particular and strengthens concentration skills.

6. Frankie’s Food Truck Fiasco

A shape-tastic recipe for fun! Help children with early math skills by identifying geometric shapes. Get those little hands ready for pre-handwriting as they use the squeezer to develop fine motor skills.

Creativity and Imagination

7. Create and Tell Me A Story Cards – Fairytales

Create a Story Cards involves recurring Fairy Tales characters, locations, and props allowing the cards to be linked in endless combinations for fresh, new stories every time it is played. Encourage interactive and imaginative play. Encourages imagination, creativity and storytelling.

8. Kids on Stage

Take the Kids On Stage charades game wherever you go, in this convenient travel tin from University Games. Kids on Stage encourages creativity and helps children develop communication skills while having fun.

9. Roll and Play Game

Encourages creativity, active play and gross motor skills, and provides a perfect clever learning experience for your toddler.

Gross Motor and Dexterity

10 .The Floor is Lava

The Floor is Lava! is a game where players must imagine the floor is molten hot lava while spinning the color wheel to jump to the right foam pieces to reach safety. The Floor is Lava! is a family game that promotes physical activity, an active imagination, and engaging excitement for kids and adults.

11. Hasbro Elefun and Friends Game

In this lively and active game, kids can chase the butterflies that come out of the elephant’s 3 foot trunk. Builds gross motor skills.

12. First 100 Words Activity Game

The perfect first game. The game features very simple rules and a soft set of first dice that roll very easily. Stack your cards as you complete them.

13. Mindware Zoo on the Loose

This game incorporates the mind and body: from building memory and vocabulary to practicing turn-taking, gross-motor skills and following directions!

14. Melissa & Doug Kids Bowling Set

This soft bowling set for kids is easy for children to set up and play with, thanks to the weighted bottoms in each bowling pin. Enjoyable for 2 year olds and up.

Matching and Memory

15. Spot it! Junior Animals Card Game

Helps develop focus, visual perception skills, speech-language skills, and fine motor skills. 

16. Disney Matching Game

Develops critical skills – this game helps preschoolers practice their focus, memory, and matching skills. Collect matches and stack your cards as you complete them.

17. Heads Talk Tails Walk 

Develops critical skills – Builds visual perception and reasoning skills through fun gameplay.

18. Eric Carle 4-In-A-Box Puzzle Set

World of Eric Carle Brown Bear 4-in-a-Box Puzzle Set from Mudpuppy comes with 4 chunky puzzles, each with a different level of difficulty. Progressive puzzles with 4, 6, 9 and 12 pieces grow with your child.

19. First 100 Words Activity Card Game

This game takes the experience from the books to the next level as kids engage in hands-on learning activities that teach vocabulary, counting, shapes, and much more.​

20. Orchard Toys Red Dog, Blue Dog

A color match game for young players. Develops matching and memory skills. A perfect first game.

21. Thinkfun Zingo – Bingo with a Zing

Perfect for little ones, builds language and matching skills in preschool kids through fun, fast-paced play.

22. Colorama

This matching game reinforces pattern and shape recognition and allows for your child to form connections at an early age.

Cooperative Games and Family Games

23. Don’t Break the Ice Game

Good family game to facilitate taking turns and teamwork.

24. Snail’s Pace Race

This fun dice-rolling, snail-racing game allows for noncompetitive play and motivational reinforcement, so this colorful game can be played with over and over. Promotes cooperative play and teamwork.

25. Peaceable Kingdom Hoot Owl Hoot!

In this color coordinated matching game, players cooperate to help the owls fly back to their nest before the sun comes up. Help all the owls home before sunrise and everyone wins!

26. Banana Blast

Players pull bananas from the treetop…until the monkey jumps! Keeps kids engaged because every player gets a chance to catch the monkey. Facilitates reflexes and hand-eye coordination.

27. Richard Scarry’s Busytown, Eye Found It

It’s a cooperative game for families with toddlers and preschoolers where you race across Busytown along a game board to find objects like buckets, towers, ladders and more. On your turn pick a card from the stack to determine what to search and find on the board.

28. Bunny Bedtime

Players roll a chunky die and move Bunny on the game path. Along the way, players help Bunny make choices about her bedtime routine. Which bath toy will she play with? Which pajamas will she wear? A wonderful first board game for 2 year olds that’s not just for bedtime.

29. Go Find It

This fun family game is a natural outdoor scavenger hunt that helps kids use their senses. The game can last for 2 minutes to the whole day.

30. Soggy Doggy

Race around the board and take turns giving Soggy Doggy a bath. But watch out! He loves to shake himself dry!

31. Melissa & Doug Puppy Pursuit Game

10 active games to develop a wide variety of skills.

32. HABA Building Site

This fun cooperative game has kids working together at the construction site to build a house. Excellent very first board game for 2 year olds.

33. Peaceable Kingdom Friends and Neighbors: The Helping Game

In playing the game and reading about the feelings and needs of the characters, parents can help their children recognize feelings in others – the first step to building empathy.

More Board Games For Young Kids

34. Rhino Hero Junior

Floor by floor, the fun gets steeper and steeper. Stack tower upon tower until the heroic rhino reaches the top and the children win (or lose) together.

35. Count Your Chickens!

The baby chicks have flown the coop & Mama Hen needs help to bring them back. Spin & count numbers to travel and collect chicks while working together. Gather all the chicks & everyone wins!

36. Orchard Toys Shopping List

Race round the shop against your friends and see who will be the first to collect all the groceries on the list and put them into your shopping cart.

37. Toddler Scavenger Hunt Cards

A perfect first game for little ones! Toddler Scavenger Hunt cards contain 20 double-sided sturdy cards that provide simple, satisfying questions and prompts to guide your toddler. Playing with the cards builds vocabulary and increases confidence and encourages toddlers to explore the world around them. 

38. Duck Duck Dance

Get moving and grooving with this fun dancing game for toddlers! Players imitate the adorable ducks to uncover the four audience members to complete the game! This board game encourages meaningful moments of connection between you and your 2-year-old. 

39. Smelly Wellies

Find matching pairs of smelly wellies to make your monsters. Perfect toddler game!

40. Panda’s Picnic in The Park

Kids practice colors and shapes, turn-taking, gross and fine-motor skills and vocabulary as they play! Parents can use the included guide to play the game in several ways to encourage growth.

41. Acorn Soup

Squirrel likes to store extra food for the winter. In this game, you and your toddler will help Squirrel make yummy soups by following the included recipe cards!

42. Let’s Feed The Very Hungry Caterpillar Game

Collect puzzle pieces to transform your caterpillar into a unique, beautiful butterfly.

43. Where’s Bear?

Where’s Bear combines two favorite activities- stacking blocks and finding hidden objects-into a game! Parents and kids take turns hiding and finding Bear under the sturdy nesting boxes.

44. Candyland

This classic game is a favorite for beginners. Do you remember playing Candy Land when you were a kid? Introduce new generations to this sweet kids’ board game.

45. Snug as a Bug in a Rug

Kids learn colors, numbers, shapes, counting, matching and the concept of big and little. They also get to practice rolling a die, spinning a spinner and taking turns.

46. Lucky Ducks

A modern version of a traditional matching game that moves while players try to find a match.

47. Monkey Around – The Wiggle & Giggle Game

Children learn gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, imitation, vocabulary and social-emotional skills through play.

48. Hi Ho! Cherry-O Board Game

A single spin can add 1, 2, 3, or 4 cherries to a bucket. But, watch out! Spinning a dog, bird or spilled bucket can quickly empty a bucket!

49. Feed the Woozle Game

Comes with three levels so it grows with your child. Kids work together to help feed the Woozle snacks with a spoon. No reading required, so even the smallest can participate!

50. Ladybug’s Garden Memory Game

There are multiple cards that can be used both positively and negatively. Children 2-5 years old can learn cognitive things, and children over 5 years old can exercise their memory. They can play alone or in groups.

51. Seek-a-Boo Game

These large laminated cards are high-quality, bright and color-coded by 6 categories. Show your child the “FIND ME” card and have them match it to one of the “SEEK ME” cards.

52. Button, Button, Belly Button

Flip the card and find the matching picture on the board! In this game, introduce your toddler to the understanding of same vs. different, taking turns, and vocabulary building.

53. The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game

Reinforce color learning, help develop matching skills, strategic thinking, turn-taking, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills with this board game for 2 year olds.

54. First Orchard Game

This classic toddler game has been enjoyed by families for many years. The perfect first board game for 1-4 players ages 2 years and up. Work as a team to grab fruit off the trees before the hungry raven reaches the end of the path.

Best Companies Making Toddler and Preschooler Board Games.

There are several toy companies that focus specifically on collections of games that your 2-4 year old will love. I didn’t list every game these companies made, but you can find their collections below:

• HABA My Very First Games Collection
• Peaceable Kingdom Games for 2 Year Olds
• Hasbro Toddler and Preschooler Games
• Pressman Toddler Games
• Orchard Toys First Games for Toddlers

The Amazing Benefits of Board Games For 2 Year Olds

At first glance, a game seems like a simple way to occupy your child and maybe have a moment of peace.

Surprisingly, you are accomplishing so much more when playing ANY kind of game with a child!

In just twenty minutes of game play with your kids, you can help your child develop:

• color, shape, number, letter recognition
• hand-eye coordination
• increased attention span
• fine motor skills
• gross motor skills
• problem-solving
• social-emotional skills
• teamwork
• imagination
• language skills
• self-control
• critical thinking
• planning skills
• memory skills
• focus ability
• cooperation
• ability to follow instructions

That’s some pretty serious parenting multi-tasking if you ask me!

The Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University shares that when you play many kinds of games with your kids, you help them develop executive function skills.

Translation: Playing games develops the awesome brain skills listed above.

That’s a win-win!

Want more on parenting?

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• 5 Sample Daily Toddler Schedules From Real Moms
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