Games are one of the best ways to make learning fun for preschoolers!

Whether they incorporate cards, dice, boards, spinners—or even a squishy banana or some funny fish—games have a host of benefits for preschool age children. Games help preschoolers develop academic, spatial, and critical thinking skills. By playing with grown-ups or peers, kids practice social-emotional skills like cooperating, taking turns, and winning or losing gracefully. Many games are perfect for the preschool classroom, or for playing together at home. Check out 3 of our favorite games and activities for preschoolers!

Fruit Punch Game

The object of this game is to collect the most cards. Players collect cards by squeaking the banana when they see exactly 5 fruits of the same kind in play!

To play, you'll put the banana in the middle of the table. The oldest player will shuffle the cards and deal them, one at a time, to form one pile for each player. Players keep their piles of cards face-down on the table and do not look at their cards.

Starting on the dealer’s left, players take turns (one player at a time) flipping over the top card from their face-down piles and placing it face up on the table. After they have cards face-up, players place their next card on top of their face-up cards so that they cover those cards and only the top card is visible. When players flip cards, they must hold the end of the card that is farthest away from themselves so they don’t see the cards before other players do!

When the face-up cards show exactly five fruits that are the same (for example, five bananas or five limes), players race to bop the banana. The player who bops the banana first collects all of the face-up cards and places them face-down underneath their stack of face-down cards! The player with the most cards wins the game!

Topanifarm Nest and Stack Blocks + Animals

When children are using nesting materials they aren't simply playing or building they are experimenting, they are problem-solving and developing critical thinking skills!! Nesting toys are so incredibly easy to play with and they provide exceptional learning opportunities. We love to use nesting materials as they can help support and develop:

• dexterity and fine motor skills
• counting skills
• gross motor skills - especially in larger materials like these nesting farm scenes
• awareness of shapes and size
• grasp and release movements
• visual and spatial perception / visual discrimination
• hand-eye coordination
• concentration
• language - 'in', 'up', 'big', 'bigger', 'biggest', 'small', 'smaller', 'smallest'
• sequencing skills
• creativity - for example, we love to build with these farm buildings in different ways
• problem-solving and critical thinking skills - the preschool age child will learn to trouble-shoot: why doesn't this work, why won't this fit

Alphabet Bingo

This alphabet bingo set by Peaceable Kingdom is simple and everything you’d expect a bingo game to be (and more): instead of calling out numbers, players reach into a bag and pull out a letter. If the letter is on their card, they mark it with a plastic chip. When a player gets four in a row, they shout “Bingo!” and win the game. In true Peaceable Kingdom fashion, though, this game stands out. The glossy finish elevates the look of the cardboard playing boards (of which there are 6 in total). For kids, the colorful visuals are the stars of the game!

There are 72, double-sided tokens with both a picture and a letter side. First-time players and beginners can practice playing with the picture side of the tokens. Children who already know their ABCs can play by announcing the letter only, which is an easy way to spice up the game and let children mark their progress!

Each of these games is available for purchase at Beyond the Blackboard. We ship nationwide and most items ship same-day. Thanks for keeping our small business going!