List of Board Games for Kids

Candyland

• This classic game is an appropriate first game for children (the targeted range is 2 to 4 years old). Players move gingerbread men pieces along a path through Candyland by drawing cards with colors on them. The path is broken into corresponding color blocks, and each player moves by proceeding to the next spot on the path that matches the color on her drawn card. There are shortcuts, such as Gumdrop Pass, and "miss a turn" areas, such as the Lollipop Forest and Molasses Swamp. This game typically runs about $9 to $12 new.

Cranium

• This relatively new kid and family game exercises a variety of skills, rather than focusing on just one or two skills, as so many other games do. There are four categories of activity cards (Data Head, Creative Cat, Word Worm and Star Performer). The game is played in groups (at least two groups of two members each). Dice is rolled to move along a track on the board. If a group lands on blue, they draw a card from the Creative Cat category, and so on. Common activities include Humdingers (humming or whistling a tune that group members must guess) and Sculptorade (sculpting a given item with your eyes closed). There are many variations of the game. It usually costs between $9 and $20 new and is appropriate for ages 12 and up.

Memory

• This is another classic kiddie game. Players turn over cards laid out face down and try to draw the card with the matching image. A player must rely on his memory and the process of elimination to know where the matching card may (or may not) be. The player with the most pairs at the end wins. The game costs approximately $8 to $10 and is geared toward children 3 years and up.

Clue Jr.

• The mainstay game for adults is adapted for kids ages 5 to 8. Instead of solving a murder mystery, as the traditional game of Clue entails, Clue Jr. has players use a process of elimination to figure out which animal has stolen which item from one of the kids and placed it in the neighborhood clubhouse. Clue Jr. costs from $25 to $40 new.

Operation

• This game requires players to exercise their hand-eye coordination by picking "ailments," or plastic game pieces, from a hollow patient&'s body (the board). If the player touches any part of the body around the item with the tiny metal tweezers he must use to extract the body part, a loud buzzer sounds. If he removes the part successfully, he is paid a specified amount of money. This game is geared toward kids ages 6 and up and typically runs from $15 to $25.