The key is finding age-appropriate games that will not only entertain your 1-3-year-old, but will also help them develop! Here are the five fun and entertaining board games we recommend for toddlers!

Candy Land

Candy Land is a classic board game. Color-based and sweet-treat themed, this board game not only helps your young child with recognizing color, but also pulls your toddler into a candy-themed world. The directions are simple: draw a card from the deck, and whichever color you see on the card, you move your piece to that space. You may land on a space that says, “Lost in Lollipop Woods! Lose one turn.” These directions spice up the game and make it more difficult to reach the end.

Chutes and Ladders

Chutes and Ladders, like Candy Land, is a favorite board game. This game helps develip number skills and number recognition in toddlers. Players take turns rolling the die and moving their tokens the appropriate number of spaces. If a player lands on the lower end of a ladder, he must move to the upper end. Contrarily, if a player lands on the upper end of a chute, he slides down. The simple counting game is sure to keep your toddler engaged.

Busytown

Richard Scarry’s Busytown – Eye found it! is a six-foot long board game that involves searching for objects and racing through Busytown. This game is perfect for the development of image-recognizing and reasoning skills with its fun, larger-than-life atmosphere. Busytown is a speed-based game, so there will be no dull moments as your child searches for hidden objects on the long board!

Spelling Bee Bingo

Spelling Bee Bingo is a fun and simple game that helps children with reading basic words and learning the alphabet. Not only does this game present many hidden educational advantages, but it grows with the child with different levels of difficulty. Players select bingo cards that each have two words on them. Players draw letters from a “bee” tray and call them out. The first player to cover all the letters with a chip wins!

Memory

Memory may not be a traditional board game, but it makes our list as it involves image-recognition skills and builds a great memory! Players lay out all the given cards into a grid pattern and then each player will proceed to flip two cards at a time, using memory skills to pick two matching cards. If you succeed in picking two of the same card, you get to keep them. At the end of the game, whoever has the most cards wins.

These games are sure to incite fun and excitement in your growing toddlers as they learn to count, spell, read and remember.

Ashley Howard is an intern at Boston Parents Paper.