Our Purchases for Children in Need This Holiday Season

In Part One of this post, published on November 16, 2020, I talked about the benefits of board games and shared some recommendations from Charlottesville toy stores Alakazam Toys and Shananigans Toys, two delightful local toy stores that have been fabulous partners in our efforts to get enrichment materials out to low-income children since the pandemic started.

Their selections were included among the games that were delivered to New Beginnings Christian Community Church to be shared with community families in need. Other selections were made based on reviews and our own experiences. These and other toys will be available for parents/guardians to select as they chose Christmas gifts for their children. Today I am sharing the complete list of games we sent over.

This list is far from exhaustive. We focused on games that could be purchased for a large number of children by a non-profit on a budget. Even within those limits, we left out at least as many awesome games as we included. Fortunately, there is always next year.

These games are arranged by the earliest recommended age. Some age recommendations were taken directly from the manufacturers, but others were taken from community votes on gameboardgeek.com. Many games that can be introduced at an early age are games that are played and enjoyed through a lifetime (chess, backgammon, mancala to name only a few). Please see our blog post Adapting Board Games for ideas on making board games accessible across ages and abilities.

Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers

Three Little Piggies by SmartMax is one of my all-time favorite games for preschoolers.  It is a single player game in which players set up the game board and then have to put each piggie in a house while keeping the wolf out of the house.  This game requires players to execute a guess and check strategy and experience facing challenges in an engaging and fun way.  There is only one correct answer to each puzzle! The lessons from this game are many – hard work pays off when you finally solve the challenge and struggling a little bit while you solve a problem is a good thing as you can eliminate possibilities.  It also suits their attention span and they can play for as long or as short a time as they want.  Fantastic fun for kids, and I dare adults to not get hooked on this game, too! ~ Amanda Stevens, Shenanigans Toys

• Sequencing
• Literature Appreciation
• Problem Solving
• Logic

Roll and Play Toddler Game by Think Fun. This is a dice rolling game for tots. Roll the dice and do what is suggested by the card. For more information see the review on Fatherly

Skills and Concepts:

• Color Recognition
• Numbers
• Creativity
• Turn Taking
• Gross Motor Skills

Skills and Concepts:

Hoot Owl Hoot by Peaceable Kingdom is a cooperative board game in which players work together to get owls home before the sun comes up. For more information see A Mom’s Take.

Skills and Concepts:

• Color Recognition
• Turn Taking
• Strategy
• Cooperation

Pre-K and Early Elementary

Some of these games are appropriate for older children and adults.

My First Carcassonne, by Asmodee, is an introduction to the more complex game described below. My First Carcassonne is a variation that is more focused on the skills, interests, and attention of young players, but can be used as an expansion pack when players are ready for a more sophisticated game. ~MaryAnna Dunn, Enrichment Alliance

Skills and Concepts:

• Planning and Decision Making
• Strategic Thinking
• Social Studies
• Economics

Outfoxed, by GameWright. One of my most important qualifications for a board game for the younger set is that it must be fun for parents to play as well, and Outfoxed is always my first recommendation for early game play for that reason. It’s easy to learn and fun for the whole family! A pot pie has gone missing, and players must deduce who the guilty party is before the fox gets away! Outfoxed game play centers around deductive reasoning: players have to search for clues and use their observations to eliminate potential suspects.  It’s a cooperative game, so children have to use social and emotional skills to work together to come up with a strategy to win. ~ Ellen Joy, Alakazam

Skills and Concepts:

• Deduction
• Visual Discrimination
• Cooperation.

Guess Who? The throwback game, Guess Who, is a fun, timeless game that challenges players to use their deductive reasoning skills.  Developing strategies for guessing the correct character with the fewest amount of guesses engages logical thinking and reasoning skills for players of any age. ~ Amanda Stevens, Shenanigans Toys

This game was very popular with children of all ages in our after school program, The Enrichment Place. It was a great game for the skills noted below, but also for building language skills for our English Language Learners and for encouraging children with autism to focus on facial features.

Skills and Concepts:

• Logic
• Deduction
• Attention to Detail

The Blokus Game by Mattel is a strategy game that will appeal all ages, including adults. Read more about this award winning game at Early Childhood Education Zone.

Skills and Concepts:

• Strategy
• Social Development
• Follow Directions and Rules of Game Play
• Critical Thinking

Upper Elementary and Beyond

All of these games are appropriate for older children, teens, and adults. Many are also suitable for younger players.

Carcassonne. This is a tile placing game and the board is never the same. My First Carcassonne is a variation that is more focused on the skills, interests, and attention of young players, but can be used as an expansion pack when players are ready for a more sophisticated game.  When you play the original game will need to plan carefully as you develop your medieval city. The decisions you make regarding your roads, features, and people will impact how you score.  Another Enrichment Place favorite. ~ MaryAnna Dunn Enrichment Alliance

Skills and Concepts:

• Planning and Decision Making
• Strategic Thinking
• Social Studies
• Economics

Labyrinth players create an ever changing maze by moving tile pieces on move at a time as players attempt to collect pieces. There is also a Labyrinth Junior Version of this game for younger players. There are also numerous themed versions, such as Harry Potter and Super Mario. Read more about the game on Board Game Geek.

Skills and Concepts:

• Visual Perception
• Planning
• Strategic Thinking

Mancala is a classic…and by that I mean it’s been around for over 1000 years! The Mancala board is made of two rows of six pockets, or “pits”. Four stones are placed in each pit, and each player has a Mancala or “store”  on his or her end of the board. The object of the game is to collect the most pieces into your Mancala by moving the stones clockwise around the board. This game develops a math skill called subtizing, which is the ability to instantly recognize “how many” in a small set. It’s a skill that we use with dice, for example, but in this case is used to quickly assess how many stones are in the pit by looking at them. Mancala also requires critical thinking: players have to think ahead and strategize to win. Beyond all of that, this ancient game offers an opportunity for a history and culture lesson!  ~ Ellen Joy, Alakazam

Skills and Concepts:

• Fine Motor
• Math
• Critical Thinking
• Cultural History

Bananagrams is a fast-paced crossword tile game, with variations that make it adaptable to different levels and abilities. For more about this game, see Board Game Geek.

Skills and Concepts:

• Spelling
• Word Recognition
• Vocabulary
• Flexible Thinking

Mille Bornes is a card game with a racing theme. You want to be the first player to travel 1000 miles by earning miles through the cards in your hand.  Watch out for challenges as opponents can throw down obstacles cards that cause you to “break down” and lose miles.  While not an obvious “educational” game, this game requires the players to be mentally adding two and three digit numbers, increasing number flexibility and mental math skills.  There is also quite a bit of reasoning and strategy employed to impede the other players! This is a great game for kids and a regular at my adult game nights!~ Amanda Stevens, Shenanigans Toys

Skills and Concepts:

• Mental Addition
• Number Flexibility
• Reasoning
• Strategic Thinking

Dixit is another favorite. It’s a wonderful storytelling game.   One player is the storyteller for the turn and looks at the images on the 6 cards in her hand. From one of these, she makes up a sentence and says it out loud (without showing the card to the other players). Each other player selects the card in their hands which best matches the sentence and gives the selected card to the storyteller, without showing it to the others. The storyteller shuffles her card with all the received cards. All pictures are shown face up and every player has to bet upon which picture was the storyteller’s.~ Ellen Joy, Alakazam

Skills and Concepts:

• Abstract Thinking
• Picture Comprehension
• Creative Expression through Language
• Addition

Set, though technically not a board game, is one of my favorites for older children and adults so I had to include it in our shipment to New Beginnings. This game is fun and challenging.  Cards display images that are alike or different in terms of shape, color, shading, and number.  Players try to find three cards with shapes that are either all the same or all different for each trait. (In this image: different number, different shape, different color, same solid shading). The game can be played competitively or as a game of solitaire. It’s harder than it looks. ~ MaryAnna Dunn Enrichment Alliance

• Visual perception
• Logic
• Pattern recognition

Clue is such a classic it probably doesn’t require much introduction. This murder mystery board game has kept children engaged since it was developed in England during the WW II blitzes. Today there are numerous variations on the classic scenario and characters. Read more about Clue on The Gamer.

Skills and Concepts:

• Reading Comprehension
• Deductive Reasoning
• Drawing Conclusion

Backgammon is part of a set of three-games-in-one that we sent over to New Beginnings. The other games were chess and checkers, which speak for themselves, but it was my love of backgammon that put this item in the cart.  It’s a wonder I graduated from college after discovering the game. My roommate and I could play for hours (days??). The mixture of strategy and chance and the quick playing time may explain why people have been stuck on this Mesopotamian game since ancient times. ~ MaryAnna Dunn Enrichment Alliance

Skills and Concepts:

• Number Sense
• Number Flexibility
• Strategic Thinking

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a trick playing co-operative game in which adventurers travel on 50 space missions. For more about The Crew, see Board Game Geek.

Skills and Concepts:

• Collaboration
• Planning
• Strategic Thinking

Forbidden Island is a cooperative, strategic tile placing game, in which players seek treasures while competing against rising tides. For more about Forbidden Island, see Board Game Geek.

Skills and Concepts:

• Collaboration
• Planning
• Strategic Thinking