Games are a great way for kids to learn. Why sit in a stuffy classroom being lectured to, when play can both teach essential skills like communication and sporting conduct, and teach them about everything from mathematics to dinosaurs?
Whether your child is just starting school, needs some help in a specific area, or you just want something fun and educational for your next game night, here are the perfect educational tabletop games.
Updated on Jun 21, 2025, by Vaspaan Dastoor:With the summer holidays approaching fast, you may be wondering how to keep the kids learning while school is off. Sure, there’s homework to be done, but best of luck with that. A good board game could teach them a lot of things, like history, match, and general knowledge.
The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game
Best Game For Preschoolers
you may think of The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game as Operation, but for younger players. Roll the spinner, and using the tweezers, carefully pick up the matching acorn and put it in your tray. With colourful pieces and a lovely woodland theme, it helps kids with their fine motor skills, colour recognition, and basic sporting behaviour like taking turns and winning graciously.
If your child is starting school, making sure they have colour and pattern recognition is an absolute must. To help out with that, The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game is a charming game that feels similar to the classic Operation.
Spin the spinner and then, using the included tweezers, try and pick up the corresponding acorn. Get 11 acorns into your log first, and you’re the winner. With its lovely woodland theme, appealing squirrel figures, and big, chunky pieces, this is an ideal way to help kids develop those critical early skills in a hands-on, exciting game.
Contrary to what my teachers in the mid-’00s said, we do, in fact, carry calculators around with us wherever we go. That doesn’t mean mental arithmetic isn’t important, though, and you can help develop your kid’s mathematics skills with this brain-boggling numbers game.
Each card has a target number in the middle, surrounded by other numbers. The idea is simple: by adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing these numbers, you need to make the number in the middle. Get the number first, and you win the card.
The neat thing about Adsumudi is that it’s easily scalable for all abilities by setting rules about how many of the surrounding numbers you need to use. Younger players might want to start with only two or three, while math whizzes may want to challenge themselves by requiring four or five. Maths doesn’t have to be dull, and Adsumudi is the fast-paced game to help liven it up.
Ecosystem
The Best Science Game
Build up a suitable ecosystem by drafting cards and putting the correct wildlife next to each other. Not only do you have to pick up the right cards, where you choose to put them is a tricky balance - deer like to have lots of room to themselves, whereas bears need to be near trout. Can you build a sustainable environment, or will nature be out of balance? If you like this, there’s also the aquatic-themed Coral Reef expansion to check out.
Learn all about environments, ecosystems, and food chains with Ecosystems, a biology-focused card drafting game. By carefully picking the cards passed to you, you need to assemble the most balanced and harmonised ecosystem possible: bears and trout, bees and meadows, deer in solitude, and more are all things you need to consider if you want to come out on top.
This might be a game for older players, as the scoring system can be tricky to grasp. But with the serene art and environmental message, it’s a great introduction to some of biology’s basic concepts ahead of encountering them in school.
Goats' Day Out
The Best Logic Game
A fast-paced and chaotic game, Goats' Day Out has you try and feed your goat as much as possible by slotting Tetris-shaped pieces into their stomach. Grab the pieces that fit as quick as you can, and leave the trickier pieces to your opponents in a game that teaches quick-thinking, logic, and spacial awareness.
Part Tetris, part card-drafting game, Goats' Day Out is all about cramming as much food as possible into your goat. Mess up your opponents by finding their goats rocks, and try and get the highest score possible. Not only is this game fast and chaotic, perfect for kids, it also helps teach spatial awareness and logic through planning out where you’re going to put the goat’s next snack.
The construction quality is surprisingly sturdy too, with thick, chunky pieces slotting together to make a game that just feels great to play. This is the best kind of educational game: one you won’t even realise is educational while playing.
Feed the Woozle
The Best Game For Learning Social Skills
Scoop up silly snacks like hairy pickles and chocolate-covered flies, and carefully carry them across the room to feed them to the Woozle. Watch out, though, as the spinner could challenge you to bunny hop, walk backwards, or even do a hula dance while carrying your snacks to the Woozle. Working as a team to feed the Woozle is crucial, teaching kids not only motor skills, but also how to take turns and cooperate with each other.
It might sound strange, but you need to teach your child how to play. Taking turns, sporting conduct, and working as a team are all vital skills, and Feed the Woozle can help that while ensuring your kids remain active. Set it up in a spacious area, and try and scoop up the Woozle’s bizarre snacks to feed them to him.
To make things a bit harder, spin the spinner for a variety of extra challenges while carrying the food. Can your kids hop their way without losing the snack, or even hula dance? They’ll need to work together and take turns if they want to successfully feed the Woozle.
Herstory
The Best History Game
Take on the role of a writer, researching for a book about the most important women in history. By researching women like Malala Yousafzai, Frida Kahlo, and Florence Nightingale and picking up special abilities, your goal is to write the best book possible and score the most points possible. An in-depth look at the women of history wrapped up in a compelling engine-building game, Herstory is a great way to shine a spotlight on an important part of history.
Herstory is a game all about celebrating the most important women in history. By collecting information about women like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Joan of Arc, your goal is to pick up special writer abilities and create the best book possible.
This is a game for slightly older players, but highlights an important part of history that unfortunately gets left out of lessons all too often. Add to that a surprisingly compelling and strategic game, and Herstory is one that, despite its possibly dry-sounding premise, can really drag you in.
Trivial Pursuit: Family Edition
A challenge for everyone
Trivial Pursuit is one of the most popular trivia-based board games around. However, some of the questions may be a bit much for younger kids, so the Family Edition includes a separate deck of questions for kids and adults. This is a great way for the whole family to get in on the fun.
Some questions in Trivial Pursuit may be a bit tough for kids. Similarly, the adults in the family may want some challenging questions. Trivial Pursuit: Family Edition ensures that everyone gets a question suitable to their level, making the game fun and engaging for the entire family.
Colour Brain: Disney Edition
This will be a challenge for all you Disney adults as well.
Colour Brain is a memory game based on colors. The Disney Edition is the perfect version of this game for kids, as it asks them to remember colors of things from Disney animated movies. Sure, your child needs to have seen these movies, but it’s a great way to exercise their memory.
Memory games are usually way more difficult than they seem. However, Color Brain: Disney Edition adds in that Disney element which makes it fun, while also testing your child’s memory. The questions will range from obvious to detailed, like the color of Woody’s vest.
Ticket To Ride
Geography class made fun
Ticket to Ride might not teach your kids to become wealthy industrialists, but it will help them name and locate major cties actoss the world map, and capitals as well. It isn’t always easy pointing out where the capital of a country is, but after a few games of Ticket to Ride, they’ll be pointing out Rome in Geography class. If your kids are too young, you can try Ticket to Ride: First Journey.
Naming and pointing out capital cities in Geography class may sound boring, but there’s a way to make it fun, thanks to Ticket to Ride. Over the course of a few games, kids will be able to locate cities with more ease, making the learning process fun.
Trekking: The National Parks (Second Edition)
The great outdoors
The National Parks are a major part of the Geography curriculum in the United States. However, there are so many of them, each with their own unique ecosystem. Trekking: The National Parks will gamify the process, helping you or your kids learn about each of them, and what makes them special.
The USA has a number of National Parks, each with its own diverse ecosystem. Trekking: The National Parks will help your child remember where each of them is, and what flora and fauna can be found there. Another great board game that will help your child in Geography class.
FAQ
Can games be educational?
Play is an absolutely vital part of childrens' development. Games help improve motor control, social skills, physical fitness, and have a measured impact on mental wellbeing. Even if the game itself isn’t inherently educational, encouraging your child to play is crucial to developing these early skills.
Games can also be used to provide another pathway for learning. Not every child can learn sat in a classroom or reading a book, and playing can provide a more hands-on approach. If your child is struggling to learn in more traditional ways, seeking out a game to play could be just what’s needed to help them out.
What is a serious game?
While hunting down educational games, you might run into the concept of a “serious game”. Despite sounding like an oxymoron, serious games are games designed to teach more advanced skills, rather than being necessarily entertaining. you’re able to consider a pilot’s flight simulator a type of serious game, as it looks and acts like a game, but plays a vital role in training pilots how to fly.
These games are likely going to be too advanced for your children. However, plenty of people do use serious games as a source of entertainment, and sims can be a major hobby in and of themselves! If your child takes an interest in these things, don’t dissuade them from checking these out.
