Best Board Games For 2 Year Olds (With Reviews)

Board games are a fantastic way to start building children's language and development from a young age. They can even do so much more than that (see our article on Why Board Games are Important for Kids). We compiled our list of the best board games for two year olds to help you find some new exciting ways to spend time with your toddlers.

If you are looking for ways to build your tots fine motor skills, color recognition, counting abilities, patience and more, play can be a great way to do it. When introducing them at such a young age, they can start to learn the technique of strategy. All of these things will be skills that your toddler can use beyond the board for their entire lives.

We love that board games offer a way to work on these skills through play, keeping things fun and exciting. Your child will be learning and building skills in an organic nature.

As avid gamers, we couldn’t wait to get started playing with our kids. As our collection of games grows, so has theirs. Some have grown with our children and have stood the test of time, others are growing cobwebs on the back of the shelf. To help you to find the perfect games to play with your family we have also created a list of the best board games for three year olds. Check it out!

Thinkfun has created a game that is fantastic for kids aged 18 months and up. We have included Roll and Play in our best board games for 2 year olds because it's the only game on the market that we feel is great for such a young age. The other reason we included it is because it's a great game to grow with. While you can start with young kids, their understanding of the game will grow as they get older therefore, the ways in which you can play will as well.

Playing the game is simple, kids roll the large plush die, which has different colors on each side, and pick a card of that color. The different colors of cards work on different skills. Yellow is emotions, purple is body parts, green is animal sounds, red is actions, orange is counting, and blue is colors.

We love that all 6 sides are simple enough for small kids to enjoy! There are 48 cards which gives tons of options for each color, they also made a little storage pouch for the cards on the purple side making roll and play easy to take with you! Our kids love rolling the die and watching it bounce around, they also loved learning about different body parts, animal sounds, etc that they weren’t already familiar with.

In the beginning, we would talk about which color was rolled and try to help them pick the corresponding card, but we weren’t too worried about it if they wanted to choose a different one since it's a game and they are still working on skills. Now they are very excited to pick the right card and even cheer for certain colors knowing that that color has their favorite cards!

Roll and Play is not a game for young kids to play independently, they will need help reading the cards.

The creators did a great job making sure that the colors on the cube were the same hue as the colors on the card making it easy for kids to match up, and they even made the cube washable which is perfect for toddlers. Our one gripe with this game is that the cards can get bent pretty easily.

All in all we love that Roll and Play has no small pieces, teaches a wide variety of skills while also letting them jump and move around, it’s played cooperatively so there is no winner or competition, and is able to be played from a young age. Thinkfun says that this is “your child's first game” and we agree! It’s the perfect starter game for any kid!

Great for working on:

• ​Turn Taking
• Language Development
• Gross Motor SKills
• Colors
• Body Parts
• Animal Sounds
• Counting 
• Emotions

​Another option is the Move and Groove game also by Thinkfun. It’s the same concept and price but is geared towards children that are a bit older (in our opinion, but the company does still say 18 months and up). Move and groove involves more dance and movement skills than Roll and Play, making them both great options, but Roll and Play wins for us.

There are a million different versions of memory or matching games on the market. We started playing them with our kids from a very young age.

In the beginning it’s fun to lay a few cards face up and ask your little one to help you find a certain animal or item. As they got older, we still kept them face up but placed a few cards out with their matches and worked together to find the matching cards.

After that we moved on to having the cards upside down. There are two different ways we like to play this as well. The first was to have them flip over two tiles and leave them face up if they weren't a match. This helped them to be able to get used to the idea of searching for the matching image, but doesn't require as much memorization. The second way is the traditional way of turning them back over if it's not a match to develop their memorization skills. As they worked on their skills we would add more cards making it more difficult.

There are so many different ways to play that memory has stood the test of time in our household. Our kids love mixing the cards up and getting a game set up as well.

We own a few different versions since it's fun to switch it up, but we love this traditional memory game. It is a good board game for 2 year olds, but it also lasts through the ages since it doesn't have characters like some of our versions. The pictures are of fun, recognizable items that will help to build their vocabulary as well.

One last tip we have is that if you laminate the cards they will be much more durable for young players. We strongly believe that every household should own at least one version of memory. It will last for years and is so helpful for your child's growing mind.

Great for working on:

• ​Turn Taking
• Sportsmanship
• Matching
• Memorization
• Vocabulary
• Fine Motor Skills

It's time for bunny to get ready for bed, can you help her make choices while she goes through her bedtime routine. Bunny bedtime is a great game by Peaceable Kingdom. In this game you and your children) work cooperatively to help bunny get ready for bed.

Roll the die and move the bunny to the closest square of that color, green blue or purple, for each set of 3 colors there is a choice to make to help bunny with her bedtime routine. For example: What color toothbrush should she use, or which book should she read. To make these choices you find the puzzle piece that fits into that space(circle, square, etc) and pick the side of the piece that is your favorite and place it face up. Its that simple.

You continue moving along the squares and picking your favorite option until bunny gets a big hug and a kiss and goes to bed. Bunny bedtime is a lot of fun for little ones. It is an extremely simple game that is a great way to start your tot on boardgames. Other than rolling the die and moving bunny there are no rules.

We love that when picking which side of the puzzle piece to put face up, kids get to simply pick what excites them. Also the fact that they have to find which piece to fit in is a great added fine motor skill and problem solving element. When creating the game they made the path in which bunny walks only go in one direction. This is an awesome way to teach game play progression to new gamers and it also works on pre- reading skills since you move bunny from left to right.

Bunny Bedtime is not the most thrilling game, it can get a little stale for adults after a couple games since the puzzle pieces are the same and at least in our houses, the kids picked the same option a lot of the time.

That being said it is fun and there are a lot of teaching opportunities to be had throughout. You can tell that they wanted to create a very straightforward game that is simple enough for 2 year olds to play that was also jam packed full of learning and skill development. They succeeded.

To top it all off, it helps to give kids a positive outlook on what can be one of the more troublesome times of the day. We strive to take the choices bunny made beyond the board and let our kids make choices throughout their bedtime routine as well.

Great for working on:

• Turn Taking
• Basic Counting
• Colors
• Fine Motor Skills
• Pre-Reading Skills
• Game Play Progression
• Shapes​

​We have played quite a lot of Peaceable Kingdom games with our families, and they are always fantastic! Their ability to make games kids love while also focusing on their development makes their games favorites in our household. To check out our reviews on more Peaceable Kingdom games, visit our best board games for 3 year olds article.

Oh No! A hungry raven is hoping down the path towards the fruit trees. Can you work together to get all the fruit off the trees before he gets there? Haba has created a super fun, simpler version of their original Orchard game, this one being a great board game for two year olds.

In this game players work together to clear the fruit from the trees. The fruits are amazing, large, chunky wooden pieces! They are great for toddlers to play with as they are not choking hazards and they won't have trouble picking up them up.

On their turn players roll the die and pick a fruit of that color off. If they roll a basket they get to pick any fruit. Watch out for the raven side of the die though, if you roll the raven you have to hop him one step closer to the fruit trees.

First Orchard is a great way to introduce your kids to the idea of taking turns and doing the move associated with a die roll. We love that they took their original game and made it more toddler friendly while still keeping the same idea. Our kids love rushing to pick the fruits and trying not to roll the raven. It gives you the chance to work on simple counting and a few different colors.

Toddlers will also enjoy helping you set the game up which is a great opportunity to talk about how some fruits grow on trees, and how only one kind of fruit can grow on each tree. It also gives them a chance to practice the skill of rolling a die, which is a fine motor skill.

While geared towards younger children, we find that our older children still enjoy playing First Orchard. They wouldn’t pick to play if it wasn’t for their younger siblings, but it’s their favorite of the 2 year old games.

While similar to the original Orchard, and also to Hi Ho Cherry O that we have on our Best games for 3 year olds list, First Orchard doesn't involve setbacks such as the spilled basket. At 2 years old we are trying to teach the beginning steps of playing games and appreciate that they don't lose their hard earned fruit.

The fact that it is a cooperative game is another one of our favorite things, winning and losing as a team is much more fun than having one person win when you are two. First Orchard has stood the test of time in our families. If you are looking for a high quality game that your kids will love playing then look no further!

Great for working on:

• Turn Taking
• Color Matching
• Basic Counting
• Fine Motor Skills
• Organization
• Sportsmanship

Snails pace race is a super quick and easy game that you can introduce to the two year olds in your life. There are 6 different colored snails on the starting line and two dice with colored spots on each side matching the different colors of snails. Players roll the dice and move those two snails forward one square each. The first snail to get to the end is the winner.

The box does state for ages 3 and up, but the game is very simple so 2 year olds can definitely play as well. The only thing to beware of is that the dice are choking hazards so kids should not be playing unsupervised.

There are 2 different ways that you can play snail's pace race. The first is competitively, where each player picks a color of snail to be theirs, play continues as normal but if your snail reaches the end first you win.

The second option is cooperatively, where everyone cheers for every snail. This is our preferred way to play. We love cooperative games for kids at this age, and so we take every opportunity to make all the games we play cooperative.

Snails pace race is a great way to work on colors with your child. The game itself is extremely simple, but if you get into cheering the snails on, it's a lot of fun. Kids love all aspects of this game, rolling the dice and hoping a certain color is rolled, moving the snails, cheering them on. The fact that everyone is so involved makes waiting for your turn a lot easier too.

This game is another starter game that might not be played with for too long, but still has a sweet spot of when it's a ton of fun for your family to play. There is no strategy but it's still great for working on colors and counting. We do still bring it out from time to time and our kids still enjoy a couple rounds even though it's very simple for them. It's a fun, cute game that your kids will love playing, and best of all it doesn't break the bank.

Great for working on:

• Turn Taking
• Sportsmanship
• Colors
• Counting
• Fine Motor Skills
• Dice Rolling​

Go Away Monster is one of our favorite games for 2 year olds. While it is recommended for ages 3+ we find that two year olds can play as well.

In this game each player gets a bedroom board that is missing 4 items. All the missing items (bed, teddy bear, picture, and a lamp) go into a bag along with monster tiles. Players take turns drawing a tile from the bag, if you get a room item you place it in the corresponding spot on your bedroom board. If you get a monster you yell “go away monster” and throw it either into the box or around the room.

We like to play cooperatively where if you draw an item that you had already placed on your board, you help another player out and add it to theirs. There is only one of each item per person playing so games are super quick.

Our kids love playing go away monster. Their favorite part is of course yelling “go away monster” and throwing it. They also love helping others to complete their board if they already have that item. The reason I would suggest making this one of the first games you purchase is because when they are young they will get a thrill out of drawing a tile out of the bag. As they get older they will start to realize that they can feel the shape of the tile and know what they are picking most of the time.

This is the one downside of go away monster however, we did still get a lot of play out of it. Our youngests loved playing it, and since we play cooperatively they didn’t notice nor care that the older kids never seem to pull monsters. Go away monster doesn't involve strategy or too much in terms of skill building but it still made our list for its fun factor and how much our kids love it. We use it as a way to work on counting and turn taking.

An added bonus is that it helps children to take charge of their fear of monsters and kick them out of their rooms. We highly recommend Go Away Monster as a quick, inexpensive and fun game to play with your youngsters!

Great for working on:

• Turn Taking
• Puzzle Piece Placement
• Counting
• Shape Identification
• Cooperation
• Fine Motor Skills
• Colors
• Basic Counting