Educational board games are modest amusements that usually come in a small box and are inexpensive.
The fact is…
Educational board games open a wide world of information, strategy, teamwork, and sportsmanship along with brain and language development. They don’t require batteries, Internet connections or expensive outlays to engage children and adults in a fun and positive learning experience.
One example of that is the Hasbro Scrabble Deluxe Edition which made it to the top of my list based on several reasons that you’ll find out below.
In this review, I have included 43 games along with suggestions of how to use them in your classroom. They are divided into categories to make it easier for you to find what you want.
| Product | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Hasbro Scrabble Deluxe Edition |  Editor's Choice |
Deluxe Edition
|
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| 2. Math For Love Prime Climb |  Best Pro-STEM |
Fun & Deeper Math
|
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| 3. Geography Card Game |  Best For Teens |
Master Geography
|
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| 4. Election Night! Board Game |  Best On Civics |
Learn Election Process
|
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| 5. Hasbro Monopoly Junior Game |  Best Traditional |
Modified For Kids
|
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Best Educational Board Games Reviewed
- Math Board Games
- Reading, Phonics and Vocabulary Board Games
- Geography Board Games
- Strategy and Problem-Solving Board Games
- Other Great Board Games
Math Board Games
According to the National Council of Teachers, math board games are a fun and effective way to teach students the fundamentals of arithmetic. Young students learn counting sequences, number combinations, place value, patterns, and more while they understand and retain important mathematical concepts.
1. Math For Love Prime Climb
Duration: one hour or more
Number of players: two to four
Age: 10 years – adult
This game requires players to add, subtract, multiply or divide to advance pieces. The race is to the finish, and you can bump other plays back if you draw the right card. It is color-coded which is one reason younger children can play it.
Some reviewers say the instructions are difficult to follow, but this video will clearly show you how to play the game.
2. Pressman SMATH
Duration: one hour or longer
Number of players: two to four
Age: 6 years – adult
This is a popular, crossword-style math game that is compatible with the STEM curriculum. It’s suitable for beginners in the first grade as well as high school kids because you can choose the level of math skills needed for a game.
This video is a great introduction to this game. It gives features as well as playing instructions.
3. ROPODA Shut-The-Box Smart Game
Duration: one hour or more
Number of players: two to four
Age: 6 years to adult
This is a game of addition that is still played in English pubs today. It comes in two sizes with nine numbers for the original game and 10 numbered tiles for a bigger challenge. It’s made of sturdy pine wood and will last for years even with rough handling by students.
This video is a review of the game and gives you a good idea of what it looks like and how to play it.
4. Mind Inventions Mathemagical World
Duration: one hour or more
Number of players: two to four
Age: 5 years – adult
This is an addition and subtraction board game that includes a little geography. It has a beautifully illustrated board that sends players to different countries, fantasy islands, landforms, and back in history as they add and subtract their way around the world. This is a fun way to improve basic math skills.
5. Learning Resources Dino Math Tracks
Duration: one hour or more
Number of players: four
Age: 6 years to adult
This is a great board game for elementary students who are young dinosaur lovers. It teaches place value, addition, subtraction and counting with 16 dinosaurs and three levels of play. It’s especially good for first or second-grade students who are learning place value. Of course, it also teaches the names of several dinosaurs.
6. Jax Sequence Numbers Game
Duration: one hour or more
Number of players: two to six
Age: 7 – 15 years
This game provides the STEM curriculum in basic math and strategy. It is a good game to have in an elementary classroom that students can play when they have time. It reinforces addition and subtraction as well as logical thinking.
This is a very good video the explains how to play and all the features.
7. Carson-Dellosa Math Bingo
Duration: one hour
Number of players: two to the whole class
Age: 7 – 15 years
This is a bingo game that supports basic math functions. It is two games on one card with different skills needed for each side. You can play this game with your whole class or small groups. It supports the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards. It is a good way for children to memorize multiplication and division tables.
8. Logic Roots Pet Me
Duration: one hour
Number of players: two to four
Age: 5 – 9 years
This is an award-winning math game that supports the STEM curriculum. It builds mental math skills and logical thinking. You can change the rules a bit and play it with even kindergarten and first graders. You can even play it in teams.
This video is a box-opener and explains the features and instructions of the game.
9. Amberetech Wooden Math Game
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: one to four
Age: 3 – 6 years
This is a top board game for kindergarteners that was designed to teach children to count. The tiles are small to make it easier for little hands to manipulate. Children learn the sequence of numbers from one to 100. You or they can create any board with the numbers and the player has to fill in the blanks.
This video gives you a good idea of how to play this game.
Reading, Phonics And Vocabulary Board Games
Almost all board games allow children to improve their reading and vocabulary, but some are specifically designed to help improve reading skills.
10. Hasbro Scrabble Deluxe Edition
Duration: varies according to players
Number of players: two to four
Age: 8 years – adult
This is the classic Scrabble game where you build words and add up points. The difference is in the game pieces. It is made of rubber, so the tiles don’t slide around. The board rotates for easy reading. It all folds away into convenient storage and carrying case.
11. Hasbro Scrabble Junior Game
Duration: 30-minutes to one hour
Number of players: two to four
Age: 5 – 7 years
This is a letter-matching game for early learners on one side and a more advanced word game on the other side. It includes pictures and color-coded words to help children match letters. This is a great pre-reading game for pre-school and kindergarten classrooms.
This video shows you the features and rules of this junior edition of Scrabble.
12. Jax Sequence Letters
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: two to four or teams
Age: 4 – 7 years
In this game, players match the letter on a card to the beginning sound of a picture on the board. It teaches phonics as the children sound out the letters and match the sounds. This is one way to learn the alphabet that will bolster your classroom alphabet lessons.
Here’s a cute video that will explain the features and rules of the game.
13. Didax Spelling Game
Duration: each game may last one hour
Number of players: two to four
Age: 6 – 8 years
This set contains six spelling games. It teaches phonics with letter and sound matching as well as early word building. Each game focuses on one aspect of a word, including the beginning, middle, and end sound for many words. The games follow the pattern of CVC for early word building.
14. Learning Resources Alphabet Island
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: two to four
Age: 4 years and up
This is a spelling game that has an alphabet level and a simple word level. It is meant for beginning readers and would be suitable for a kindergarten or first-grade classroom. The aim is to match upper and lower case letters and the sound of letters with the first letter of a word. Children can learn to take turns or play simultaneously.
This video shows the features and rules of the game.
15. Key Education Big Box Of Word Chunks
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: individual players
Age: 4 – 8 years
The 220 puzzle pieces in this game are color-coded according to the vowel sounds in the word families. It supports NCTE standards and comes with a four-page instruction booklet. The puzzles are specifically designed for young and special needs children. Students can take turns to play with this puzzle individually. For a classroom, it would be good to have at least two if not three sets of this game.
16. Educational Insights Blurt! Word Game
Duration: 30 minutes or as long as you want
Number of players: 3 to 12
Age: 10 years and older
This is a multi-level general knowledge game with six different levels of questions. The dice are rolled which determines which question is asked. The reader can choose a difficult or easy question according to the age of the players. Everyone gets a chance to blurt out an answer and the first one with a correct answer gets to move ahead on the board.
This video will give you an idea of how to play.
17. Key Education Publishing Name That Word
Duration: 30 minutes and longer
Number of players: two and more
Age: 5 years and up
This is a language arts game that supports NCTE and NAEYC standards. A card is drawn by one team and they have to give clues, either verbally or pantomimed, to the other team that has to guess the word. The 144 photocards are in eight themes. This is a great rainy-day indoor game for the whole class.
18. Briarpatch ABC Letter Game
Duration: 30 minutes or more
Number of players: two to four
Age: 3 to 7 years
This game is based on the PBS TV series that introduces children to early phonics and rhyming. It’s a good game for early readers, but some children will finish it quickly. I recommend it for pre-school and kindergarten.
A good video of the features and instructions for playing.
Geography Board Games
Good geography board games allow children to interact with physical maps. They may give a clear picture of continents, oceans and famous explorers who navigated the seas. Geography games may also teach the origin of products and how they spread around the world such as gunpowder from China and tomatoes from South America.
19. The World Game
Duration: as long as you want
Number of players: two to five
Age: 8 – 12 years, but teenagers and adults like it too
The World Game covers capitals, countries, continents, locations, and flags of every country in the world. When your students play this game, it may be all the geography lessons they need for a while at least. The more often they play the game, the more they learn.
20. Wild Card Games Who Knows Where?
Duration: one hour or more
Number of players: four
Age: 12 years to adult
In this game, the players play simultaneously, so there is no waiting for a turn. The board has two sides for playing. One for the more difficult questions and one for easier questions. The aim is to travel around the world first by answering questions. Winning requires a combination of geographical knowledge, strategy, and luck.
This video will give you a clear idea of the two different ways to play this game.
21. Tactic Games Flags around the World
Duration: 30 minutes or longer
Number of players: two to six
Age: 8 to adult
This game teaches about flags, nations, capital cities, and geography. It contains questions on every country in the world and can be adjusted for level of difficulty. Kids really love to identify the flags.
22. Passport To Culture
Duration: your choice
Number of players: two to six years
Age: 10 years to adult
In this board game, layers travel around the world collecting fun facts about different cultures and geography. The questions cover different aspects of a culture such as food and drink, famous places, greetings, and traditions. It’s a good game for a middle school classroom. Each player plays individually and there is no waiting for a turn.
This video gives you a good idea of the pros and cons of this game.
23. Dr. Moku Worlds Of Trivia
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: four
Age: 15 years to adult
As the name suggests, this is a trivia game that covers geography, flags, capitals, US states, animals, world records, riddles, languages, and word games. It has two levels of difficulty for younger learners and teenagers and adults. It will keep your students busy while they have fun and learn a lot.
24. Gartana USA Geography Game
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour or more
Number of players: two to five
Age: 6 to 12 years for medium difficulty level, 14 years to adult for the harder level
This is a great game for fifth-grade students and anyone else who needs to learn about the United States. It has questions about the name of a state, its capital, the region, and where it is on a map. It gives lots of facts about each state and geographical region of the country.
25. Little Passports Where To?
Duration: 20 to 30 minutes
Number of players: two to four
Age: 7 years and up
In this game, children travel around the world learning facts about countries and traditions. Middle school students will enjoy this game, but I recommend it for fifth and sixth-grade students. Players collect travel destination cards to make a travel journal. The first one to collect five cards wins. It covers 50 destinations around the world.
This video gives clear instructions on how to play this game.
Strategy and Problem-Solving Board Games
These are the board games that encourage children to think. Whether it is as simple as matching colors or planning a voyage across the ocean, strategy and problem-solving board games require knowledge and planning.
26. Semper Smart Games Election Night
Duration: 50 minutes
Number of players: two or more
Age: 8 years and up
This is a multi-award-winning game that teaches strategy while the players learn how to win an election. The board has games on both sides. One side for addition and the other for multiplication. It also teaches US state geography, the Electoral College and can be played in several difficulty levels.
This game is a bit complicated, so I recommend you watch this video to get an idea of the instructions.
27. Learning Resources Color Cubed
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: two to six
Age: 5 years and up
This game teaches strategies for matching colors and gaining points. It is a good game for kindergarten and first and second grade, but anyone can play it. It teaches visual skills, color recognition, and patterns.
Here’s a quick video of how to play this game.
28. Winning Moves No Stress Chess
Duration: 20 to 40 minutes
Number of players: two
Age: 7 years and up
This is a great game for both having fun and learning how to play chess. Since the cards tell you how to move, you learn the gambits easily without the stress of memorizing the basics. When a player is ready, just flip the board and play regular chess.
This video teaches you how to play the game.
29. Catan The Board Game
Duration: one hour
Number of players: three to four
Age: 10 years to adult
This is a multi-award-winning game of strategy where players build civilizations and learn how to trade goods. It sparks thinking and planning to grow crops and avoid robbers and plunderers. Players must tame a remote region where there are harbors, pastures, mountains, forests, and deserts.
If you are new to Catan, this video will give you a good idea of the instructions, features, and benefits of the game.
30. Spin Master Santorini
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: two to four
Age: 8 years and up
This is a strategy-based game that is challenging and fun. It can be played with two opponents or two teams. The aim is to build a completed tower with blocks. The way to build depends on the cards you draw and your critical thinking.
You may need to watch this video several times because the instructions are complicated.
31. Shifu Tacto Classics
Duration: endless
Number of players: one to four
Age: 4 years and up
While this game uses a tablet or iPad, it does so in such a way as to get kids off the electronics and playing a hands-on game. It blends retro board games with digital gameplay. The game aims to develop math skills and strategy skills. It supports the STEM curriculum. You need to download the app.
This video gives a clear picture of how to use this innovative game.
32. University Games Rubik’s Race
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: two
Age: 7 years and up
Similar to a Rubik’s cube, but in two dimensions, the aim of this board game is for the players to match the given pattern. To do this, they slide the tiles to create patterns. It comes with instructions, but you can create your own games. This is a good classroom game that students can play when they have finished their work.
This is a good video that explains how to set up and play the game.
33. eeBoo Lion in my Way
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: two to eight
Age: 5 years and up
This is an educational board game for elementary students and older children to get past the lion. Players have to find different ways to achieve the goal from catapulting over the lion or offering him a sandwich. There are endless solutions. Students play this game as a team, so they all get home safely. This is an excellent game for an elementary classroom.
This is a great video that explains the game perfectly.
Other Great Board Games
These games have no particular category, but they are hugely entertaining and educational.
34. Hasbro Monopoly Junior
Duration: 30 minutes or more
Number of players: two to four
Age: 5 years and up
This is basically a traditional Monopoly game, with a few simplifications, especially concerning the money. It’s a fun game for young children but not necessary as a teaching tool for the classic game. The game aims to drive someone into bankruptcy and get as much money as possible. I put it on the list because, well it’s Monopoly, but these aren’t my favorite goals to teach my kids.
When you watch this video you will see how the regular game has been modified for younger players.
35. Hasbro Game Of Life
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: two to four
Age: 8 years and up
This is another classic game to make money. Players have to think about their path in life and make choices such as going to college or selecting a career. This version includes adopting pets.
This is a clear explanation of the new game.
36. Days Of Wonder Ticket To Ride Europe
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: two to five
Age: 8 years and up
This game was inspired by the book Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. The aim is to connect European cities with train routes and earn points. It teaches a lot about the major European cities and geography.
This is not just an explanation of the game. It focuses on strategies to win. This video uses the USA board, but it works for the Europe board too.
37. Game Development Stare! Junior
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: two to ten
Age: 6 – 12 years
This is a simple game that kids love. They need to stare at a picture for a specified amount of time and then try to remember all they saw. Other players can ask questions about the image such as what color was the girl’s hat. The cards have attractive artwork, not just simple cartoons. It’s a multi-award-winning game.
This is an interesting video about other ways this game can be educational.
38. Didax Social Skills Game
Duration: 30 minutes per game
Number of players: four
Age: 5 – 10 years
The box contains six games that cover morals, manners, managing emotions, showing emotions, empathy, and friendship. It’s fun and starts children thinking and asking questions. I recommend it for elementary classrooms. It mainly teaches communication skills and team building.
39. Distribution Solutions Cashflow 101
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: two to six
Age: 14 years to adult
This game teaches about money. Many people never learn how to handle money, and this game provides a good way for children to get an idea there is more to finances than earning and spending. The main drawbacks are the cost of the game and the fact that it becomes boring after playing several times.
Despite this, the lessons it teaches, in the beginning, are very useful. If you want to buy it, consider using it in your classroom for a short time and bringing it out only the next year.
This is a reviewer who has played the game several times.
40. Gamewright Outfoxed
Duration: 20 to 30 minutes
Number of players: two to four
Age: 5 years and up
This is a cooperative game that teaches teamwork. Players work together to figure out which fox is the thief. It requires deductive thinking and the luck of the throw. This is not my favorite game, but it has its uses in the classroom on a rainy day.
Good, clear explanation video.
41. Game Development Wit’s End
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour or more
Number of players: two to 10
Age: 8 to 10 and 11 to 12
This is a trivial general knowledge game that has one side for younger students and the other side for middle school students. It has four different categories each with knowledge-based, educational questions. It is a good game to boost general knowledge and has won several awards.
42. ThinkFun Robot Turtles Coding Game
Duration: 30 minutes to one hour
Number of players: two to five
Age: 4 years and up
This game teaches the youngest students the rudiments of coding. It is a recommended STEM game that teaches logic and supports cognitive development. I think this is a great game for the classroom and it would be worth having two or three sets to allow more children to play.
This video gives a clear explanation of how to play the game.
43. Blue Orange Planet Game
Duration: 30 minutes
Number of players: two to four
Age: 8 years and up
This is a strategy game that teaches geography and ecosystems. It’s an award-winning game that allows players to create habitats that attract certain animals and create ecosystems. The aim is to create as many as you can. Each player has a 12-sided board. You get tiles that represent oceans, deserts, mountains, or frozen lands. You have to arrange them to create the habitats.
This video shows the features and rules of the game.
Board Games Are A Great Way To Unplug
They come in all shapes and sizes and are designed for different learning levels.
Most games require some amount of reading, and if a child is struggling with reading, board games can offer simple words to learn that boost their ability and confidence.
Children need to concentrate and focus to improve their memory skills and patience. This may also help lengthen the child’s attention span. Board games also offer a good opportunity to engage in teamwork.
Some games require a certain amount of general knowledge, so when two students work together, they increase their chance of winning.
Speaking of winning, sportsmanship is absolutely necessary when playing board games because there is usually a winner and a loser. Children of all ages need this skill and board games are a good way to learn it.
They not only need to learn how to be a gracious loser, but they also need to learn how to be a gracious winner too. Children often tend to tease the loser. This is unacceptable behavior, and board games are a good way to teach sportsmanship in a quiet and personal atmosphere rather than on an active playing field.
Please keep in mind that most of these games caution a choking hazard for children three and under.
Final Thoughts
Board games are one of the best educational tools for teachers today. This is especially true for early learners, elementary and middle school children. They compete in a good-humored way while learning facts, concepts, and skills. This type of learning experience helps students retain what they have learned whether it’s shapes and colors, basic math concepts, or countries and capitals.
The Hasbro Scrabble Deluxe has become my personal favorite. It definitely enhances learning and interaction among my students. Apart from that, it is also a great way to spend a family game night as this can be played by all ages.
So what’s your best pick and why? Tell me in the comments box below as this is also a great way to spark ideas for our fellow teachers as well as for our students!
My Top Pick
Hasbro Scrabble Deluxe
- Rotating board
- Carrying case
- Drawers for storing tiles
Best for: Beginners to Scrabble. Younger children can keep track of tiles and the handy card helps them add up the scores.
This is a new edition of the popular word game. It has features, mainly with the organization that makes it easy to keep track of pieces and store them. With the rotating game board, no one has to read upside down. The grid is non-slip to keep the tiles in place.
Last Updated on August 18, 2021 by Emily
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