Helpful Tips for Parents

• Classic games (Duck Duck Goose, Red Light Green Light, Hide and Seek) have lasted because they're developmentally well-matched — they work across ages, require minimal equipment, and never get old.

• Games are culture — traditional games pass down language, values, and community practices. Seek out games from your family's cultural background and those of your community.

• Choose cooperative games (everyone wins or loses together) for preschoolers who struggle with losing. Cooperative play develops teamwork without the emotional cost of competitive loss.

• Screen-based games should be carefully curated and time-limited. Physical and social games develop capabilities that screen games cannot replicate.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many games should we own for a preschooler?

3–5 well-chosen games that the family actually plays regularly is more valuable than a large collection gathering dust. Prioritize: one cooperative game, one game of chance (dice), one skill-based game, and one matching/memory game. Rotate games with library game programs if available — many public libraries now lend board games. A single game played 50 times delivers more developmental value than 50 games each played once.

Are video games appropriate for preschoolers?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting all screens (including video games) to 1 hour per day for children ages 2–5. Simple, educational touchscreen games have minimal harm when time-limited; fast-paced, commercial, or violent video games are not appropriate for preschoolers at any screen time level. The best educational value comes from games that are interactive and challenge thinking — simple puzzles, matching, and story-based apps. Video games should not replace physical games or creative play for any preschooler.

Related reading: See also our board games guide and our memory games guide for more ideas on this topic.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 🔢 Early Math Concepts — Counting dice, keeping score, recognizing numbers, and comparing quantities makes game time genuine mathematics practice — and games deliver math in a context children find intrinsically motivating.
• 😤 Frustration Tolerance — The regular small frustrations of game play — a bad roll, a losing streak, a close loss — give children repeated practice recovering from disappointment, building the emotional resilience they need for academic challenge.
• 🌍 Cultural Literacy — Traditional games and games from different cultures connect children to the broader human community — building the cultural awareness and global perspective that increasingly diverse classrooms require.
• 🔄 Turn-Taking & Patience — Games with clear turn-taking rules give children repeated practice waiting — one of the most challenging but important impulse-control skills preschoolers are developing — in a low-stakes, engaging context.

**Learn how to reduce back to school anxiety in your preschooler.

Treasure Chest

Make a place to keep all of those "treasures".

Grocery Shopping Fun

Turn this daunting chore into a fun, enjoyable trip.

Marble Hide-And-Seek

Preschoolers love to hide-and-seek. So why not try a little hide-and-seek game with marbles? Just how quick are their eyes and memory? Test them with this game of hide-and-seek.

What You Will Need

Three Dixie cups or small paper cups

A small object, such as a marble

Table or flat surface

How to Play

Step 1:

Show your preschooler the object you will be hiding.

Step 2:

Place the object under one of the cups. Tell your preschooler to keep their eye on the cup with the object under it.

Step 3:

Scramble the cups once or twice.

Step 4:

Ask your preschooler to guess which cup the object is under.

Step 5: Take turns allowing your preschooler to move the cups and you guess where it is.

Lost your marbles? You can find them again at Amazon.com .**

How to Liven it Up

Use food, such as a grape, cracker or Cheerios, as the hidden object. (Pepperidge Farms Fish work great.) When your preschooler finds it, s/he gets to eat it! What a great way to enjoy snack time!

Game Tip

Move the cups slowly and move only one position before asking your preschooler to tell you where the object is located. Once s/he gets the hang of it, increase the speed and/or the number of positions you move the object.

Here's an Idea...

This is a great, compact game that is easily transported to restaurants and doctor's offices. Turn boring time into quality time - pack it up in a Ziplock bag and keep it where you can grab on your way out the door.

Alternate Game Version

Once you're done playing hide-and-seek with the object, discuss over, under, inside, outside by placing the object on top of, inside, beside, and under the cups. You can also use several objects to demonstrate empty and full.

I'm Stacey Lloyd , the Executive Editor and one of many writers for PreschoolRock.com. I enjoy writing about preschoolers, and reading your ideas and experiences with your preschooler. If you have any suggestions, ideas or questions about this site, please contact me .

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