The Best Family Board Games For Only-Child Families
Check out my list of the best family board games for only-child families!
I always liked finding activities that could strengthen our family bonds and have fun simultaneously.
I think board games are one of the best (indoor) ways.
Family board games are great for getting your child off screens and teaching them essential life skills, such as teamwork and problem-solving.
But, most importantly, it’s an excellent opportunity to spend quality time with your kid.
Undoubtedly, building memories that will last a lifetime.
Below, I’ve included 17 of the best games since our family started playing board games.
Most of them can be played in small groups, with just a partner, or even solo! Perfect for a small family like mine.
Connect 4
This is one of Olivia’s all-time favorite games. I’ve lost count of how many times we played it.
Though it’s pretty straightforward – the player who lines up four discs in a row first is the winner – it’s a game of strategy.
You need to plan your moves ahead of your partner.
How to Play: Drop your red or yellow discs in the grid and be the first to get four in a row to win. You can stack the four discs vertically, line them up side to side, or go on the diagonal.
Recommended Age: 6+
No of Players: 2
Reasons I Like it: It encourages problem-solving skills and motivates the child to predict the outcome.
2. Rubik’s Race
Rubik’s Race is a fast-paced 2-player version of the traditional Rubik’s cube.
You play against an opponent to see who finishes the pattern first.
It’s a fantastic option for adrenaline seekers and kids of all ages.
How to Play: Shake the scramble to create a pattern. Next, slide the tiles to match the design on your board. Finally, the player who finishes the pattern first – wins.
Recommended Age: 7+
No of Players: 2
Reasons I Like it: It improves agility and concentration and helps build healthy competition skills.
3. Disney Eye Found It!
If you’re looking for family board games with a Disney theme, then the World of Disney Eye Found It Board Game is perfect!
Join Mickey and Friends on a magical journey through 12 Disney kingdoms on the colorful and massive 6-foot-long board.
The game’s goal is for all players to get to the castle before the clock strikes 12. The fantastic thing about this board game is that you must work together to end the game successfully.
How to Play: A player begins their turn by spinning the spinner. Then, follows the direction of the spinner, which can be a number, a mickey mouse outline, or a clock. If you land on a mickey mouse shape, you get a card, and all players look over the entire board, trying to find pictures that match the word or image on the card. If all of the players reach the castle before midnight, everyone wins.
Recommended Age: 4+
No of Players: 1 – 4
Reasons I Like it: It helps children practice their focus, memory, and object identification. In addition, it promotes cooperation and teamwork skills. Perfect for playing with friends and family.
4. Outfoxed!
This cooperative deduction family board game where clever chickens try to find evidence to frame foxes is bonded to entertain the kids.
In Outfoxed!, you move around the board to gather clues. Then use the special evidence scanner to rule out suspects.
However, you must work together quickly before the guilty fox escapes towards the exit! Games like this are awesome fun times together as a family.
How to Play: At the beginning of the game, you randomly select a thief card and stick it into the clue card device. Then, you roll the dice to reveal the suspect or find a clue. After that, use the clue decoder to eliminate suspects. The objective is to find the guilty fox before it gets away.
Recommended Age: 5+
No of Players: 2 – 4
Reasons I Like it: It teaches problem-solving and encourages cooperation.
5. Rush Hour
Rush Hour is one of the most popular strategy games ever made, with over 10 million sold worldwide.
It’s a great game to stimulate logical thinking, patience, and persistence. And the bonus is that your only child can play solo! 😉
The objective is to slide the red car through the exit to freedom. It consists of 40 challenges/cards – from beginner to expert.
It’s easy initially, and the challenge grows along the way. Which I personally think is a great way to keep kids entertained and engaged.
How to Play: Select a challenge and place the cars and trucks on the traffic grid as indicated on the card. Then, slide the blocking cars and trucks in their lanes – (up and down, left and right) – until the path is clear for the red car to escape.
Recommended Age: 8+
No of Players: 1
Reasons I Like it: It encourages problem-solving and helps develop critical thinking.
6. Dixit
Dixit is an uncomplicated yet joyful family board game of storytelling and guessing, where you have to use a lot of imagination.
The game comes with 84 stunningly illustrated cards, which depict dreamlike images.
Though the concept is simple, the players must think carefully about the clue. It can’t be too easy or too difficult because the storyteller scores points if some, but not all, players guess correctly.
How to Play: As the storyteller, choose a card from your hand and give a clue for it (word, phrase, song…). Next, the other players choose one of their cards that best fits this clue and give it to the storyteller. Then, the storyteller shuffles the cards and shows all of them. Finally, the players have to guess which is the storyteller’s card. The points are awarded based on how many players selected that player’s story.
Recommended Age: 8+
No of Players: 3 – 6
Reasons I Like it: The board game fosters creativity and deductive reasoning thinking. I also love that you can buy an expansion pack when you get bored of the cards.
7. Guess Who?
Is it a boy or a girl? This was probably the first question when I played this game as a child.
Today, there are a couple of versions; we have two – the original edition and the electronic.
I’d say that the original is good enough to start with.
How to Play: Each player chooses a mystery character and then tries to figure out the other player’s mystery person using yes or no questions. The first player to guess the opponent’s character wins the game.
Recommended Age: 6+
No of Players: 2
Reasons I Like it: Develop deductive reasoning skills, question formation, and descriptive vocabulary.
8. The Game of Life
This is another board game that never goes out of style. It’s a family board game where players navigate various life paths – from choosing college or professions to retirement.
It’s an excellent way to introduce your child to making choices and earning money for retirement!
How to Play: On your first turn, decide to either start a career or go to college. Then, spin the wheel and move your car to the number of spaces on the spinner.
Recommended Age: 8+
No of Players: 2- 4
Reasons I Like it: It’s a simple game perfect for a family game night.
9. Kanoodle
I personally love this one! It’s a brain teaser puzzle and such a cool game to play. Perfect for developing problem-solving and spatial reasoning skills.
It’s great to keep your child busy and off screens. There is also a version for two players where you race to fit the remaining pieces before your buddy does.
How to Play: Pick a design from the puzzle book, place some puzzle pieces into position as shown, and then fill the empty spaces with the remaining pieces.
Recommended Age: 7+
No of Players: 1
Reasons I Like it: It enhances problem-solving, critical-thinking, and strategic-thinking skills.
10. Sequence
Sequence is a strategy game and one of the best board games for families.
The game’s object is to form rows of five chips by placing them on the board spaces corresponding to cards played from the player’s hand.
You can play this board game with a different number of players – from 2 or 3 individuals to 2 to 3 teams. There is also a junior version for younger children.
How to Play: Play a card from your hand, and place a chip on a corresponding space on the game board – When you have five in a row, it’s a SEQUENCE.
Recommended Age: 7+
No of Players: 2 – 12
Reasons I Like it: It develops STEM skills, like strategy.
11. Even Steven’s Odd
It’s a simple concept game – rolling dice to complete the challenge first! Yet, this fast-paced game is really engaging, fun, and addictive.
On top of that, your child can learn some maths! 😉 The flip side is that it can be quite “noisy,” but we still love it.
How to Play: Flip a card to reveal the challenge. Then everyone races to roll their dice to complete the challenge. The first to grab Steven wins that card. The player that collects the most cards wins.
Recommended Age: 7+
No of Players: 2 – 4 players
Reasons I Like it: It encourages understanding simple addition and subtraction, number concepts like even and odd numerals, and following a pattern.
12. Blokus
This is another great game to test your strategic skills! At first glance, it seems easy and simple.
However, each piece you play must touch another of the same color at the corners, which can be a bigger challenge than initially anticipated.
How to Play: Fit as many pieces on the game board as possible while strategically blocking your opponents. The game ends when no more pieces can be placed down, and the player with the lowest number remaining wins!
Recommended Age: 7+
No of Players: 2 – 4 players
Reasons I Like it: It helps kids develop spatial reasoning and promotes healthy brain activity.
13. Zingo
This bingo-for-kids version is an award-winning game. It is perfect for early readers and builds language and matching skills in preschool kids through fun, fast-paced play.
Zingo is as popular in the classroom with teachers as in the home with families!
How to Play: Similar to the classic game of Bingo, players match words with pictures throughout the game and try to cover their boards before their opponents.
Recommended Age: 4+
No of Players: 2 – 6 players
Reasons I Like it: It Builds language and matching skills in preschool kids.
14. Spot it!
Spot it! Junior is a delightful, fun card game designed especially for younger kids.
It has an adorable animal theme that young children will love. This travel-friendly matching card game can be played in five different ways.
Easily adaptable to different kids’ ages and abilities, Spot it! Jr. Animals can be played competitively or cooperatively, at a fast pace, or while taking your time.
How to Play: Every 31 cards are decorated with six colorful animals. The animals may vary in size and position. Still, there is always one animal match between any two cards. The aim of the games is always the same: Be the first to spot it.
Recommended Age: 4+
No of Players: 2 – 6
Reasons I Like it: It helps develop focus and promotes visual, cognitive, and speech-language skills. Moreover, the cards are stored in a tin that is easy to carry with you wherever you go.
15. Trouble
Released in 1965, the Hasbro Trouble game still delights children today.
The board game was designed to be an exciting experience for kids of all ages. They race to get all their game pieces around the board.
You can play the classic version or try out their skills in Power Up mode with more challenging obstacles on each board! And the iconic Pop-o-Matic die roller bubble is so much fun to press.
How to Play: Set up your pegs and hit the Pop-O-Matic to get the dice rolling. Depending on what you got, you can move your pegs to the Start space, move it forward, or watch other players move while you can’t! Be the first player to move all four colored pegs around the game board to your finish line.
Recommended Age: 5+
No of Players: 2 – 4
Reasons I Like it: This classic board game teaches the kids to take turns and bring families together.
16. Uno
Uno is probably one of our first card games as a family. So, we’ve got several variations of it – Uno flip (each card has two sides), Uno Frozen, and Uno Pokemon. But, ultimately, they are basically the same, with different images.
How to Play: Players take turns matching one of their own cards with the card that appears face-up on the discard pile, either by color or number.
Recommended Age: 6+
No of Players: 2 – 10
Reasons I Like it: Uno is great for building social skills such as taking turns, following rules, and being a good winner or loser. In addition to being a fun game for families.
17. Mastermind
This strategy game requires a lot of attention, logic, and patience! But it’s pretty worth it (in my family’s opinion).
Your child will test their code-cracking skills using deductive reasoning, logic, and a little luck to crack the code!
How to Play: The Code maker sets a secret code, and then the codebreaker places the colored pegs in a pattern, trying to match the Codemaker’s code.
Recommended Age: 8+
No of Players: 2
Reasons I Like it: It teaches stem principles like deductive reasoning and logic.
This post contains affiliate links, and I may receive a commission if you choose to buy. Nevertheless, I’ve only selected the games that we personally love! Full disclaimer here.
