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These Classic Board Games Are 7-Year-Old-Approved — Plus New Games That Are Sure To Become Classics
To engage your child (and the whole family), you need the best board games for 7-year-olds, which are designed to help them practice key developmental skills. At this age, your child is likely ready for many classic board games, as well as a few new ones that develop age-appropriate skills, often while flexing their strategy skills to problem solve.
The social nature of board games, in general, will help your child hit developmental milestones, including social and emotional ones since playing games typically improves self-esteem and helps your child learn how to adapt when things don’t go as expected. But it will also help them develop a capacity for empathy and a longer attention. span.
Games can even foster cooperation and sharing, which includes sharing knowledge, including their feelings, and retelling what has happened in their lives. These social and emotional skills enable 7-year-olds to play more complex or competitive games like Battleship, a junior version of Catan, and Gnomes At Night, a cooperative game where winning requires working with the other players (no opponents here).
A few of my picks like Guess Who? and Scrabble Junior may help develop your child's language skills, like spelling, recognizing more words, constructing complex sentences, and understanding jokes or puns.
Most of the games on my list are designed for at least two players, though there are also picks for four or more players, and even games your increasingly independent child can play solo. These games typically take 10 to 30 minutes to play, which is ideal for most 7-year-olds' attention spans; though some games are less structured.
With all this in mind, keep reading for the best board games for 7-year-olds.
1The Award-Winning Strategy Game That’s Fun For Adults, Too
The Blokus board game is highly rated on Amazon, with a stellar 4.8-star rating after more than 1,300 reviews. Parents love this game because it's easy to learn and provides a half hour of fun at a time for the whole family. As your child plays, they'll use strategy for problem solving, practice a prolonged attention span, distinguish left from right, and engage in friendly competition.
The game was named a Mensa Select Winner in 2003 for its role in stimulating brain activity. Here's how it works: up to four players take turns placing their 21 red, blue, green, or yellow pieces on the board so that they're touching a piece of the same color, but that also means anticipating other players' moves to preserve your territory. When no more pieces can be played, whoever has the lowest remaining number of tiles wins.
What fans love: “I am the parent of two kids (one in particular) that love to play board games. All the time. Of all kinds. Sometimes this is amusing, but sometimes it can get rather dreary. Often, the games that they want to play don't have enough strategy and mental work to them to be interesting to an adult [...] But this game—this game is an absolute *blast* [...] I actually love playing this with them, and get to feel the satisfaction of seeing them exercise their minds and grasp strategic concepts as they play it. Very rewarding.”
2The Best Classic Game For Two To Play
Many parents will remember the classic two-person game Guess Who?, where each player draws a "mystery face card" and then takes turns asking yes or no questions to figure out the other player's character. While playing, kids will practice vocabulary and storytelling skills as they describe their character, and they'll practice strategy and complex sentences by asking the right questions to eliminate cards. With 24 face cards in a deck and a play time of 20 minutes, it's perfect for your child's attention span and memory skills.
What fans love: "This is excellent quality and has been great for my 7 year old and 9 year old sons to play together. They don't even fight when they're playing this game! Awesome toy! Games go quickly enough that I can sit down and play a round with them between my Mom-chores. Great find at a great price!"
3A Funny Card Game Invented By A 7-Year-Old
Invented by a game-loving 7-year-old, Taco vs Burrito is a unique card game that got its start on Kickstarter. Reviewers say it’s hilarious and fun for adults, too. With this 10- to 15-minute game, your child will practice strategy, develop their sense of humor, engage in friendly competition, and spark their imagination and creativity.
Two to four players compete to make the weirdest burritos or tacos with unexpected ingredient cards, like "Month-Old Sushi," or action cards that shake up the game, like "Food Fight." The player with the most points at the end of this fast-paced game wins.
What fans love: “Taco vs Burrito plays a lot like Uno, but with funnier cards. Much like Uno, you can sabotage your opponents, or be nice; whatever suits your playstyle. You can totally play with only 2 players, but more people means more opportunities for mischief and mayhem!”
4The Best Portable Game For 7 Year Olds
A game that plays well on the go is always good to have on-hand when you're traveling with your 7-year-old, but this Amazon exclusive version of Battleship adds planes to your fleet for even more epic battles. The set comes with two portable cases with built-in storage for pegs, ships, and planes, making it easy to pack for trips.
In this two-player game, your child will practice strategy, establishing left and right, and engaging in friendly competition as they try to find and destroy the other player's fleet before their own ships are sunk. With a 4.6-star rating after more than 400 reviews, parents love this game for engaging their kids and making them think.
What fans love: "Love this game! Portable for road trips! Helps kids learn X and Y axis coordinates"
5The Best Active Game For Breaking A Sweat
Ribbon Ninja is the game to get everyone moving. In this fast-paced game, two to six players run around trying to grab the three ribbons attached to their opponents' wristbands. The last ninja still wearing a ribbon wins.
While playing, your kid will bond with family or friends and exercise gross motor skills like running, lunging, spinning, grabbing and dodging, as well as quick thinking, strategy, and engaging in friendly competition. Reviewers love this highly rated game for all ages, making it a perfect choice if your 7-year-old has siblings (or cousins or friends nearby).
What fans love: “Our family play a lot of games, and I mean truly a lot (average 2-3 every day, different ones each day), and more when we are gathered with extended family. I thought this looked fun to try and am so glad I purchased! There were enough bands and ribbons for our family of six to play, and it was easily played by all ages present (youngest was age 7, oldest was 47). It was a wild mix of giggles and desperate, frenzied lunges, and we had to try to stop laughing to see straight enough to try to grab the other ribbons.”
6An Educational Game That Grows With Your Child
By age 7, your child is ready for their first Scrabble game. This junior version of the game is double-sided and comes with four tokens and 105 letter tiles. Start on the side with a set crossword, and your child can work on spelling, vocabulary, and letter recognition as they match the tiles to spaces on the game board to form words. There are even colorful clues on the board to help your child.
Players earn points for each completed word and move their token forward to keep track of points earned; the one with the most points at the end wins. The board's advanced side is blank, so your growing child can form their own words as they play. Designed for two to four players, each game lasts around 30 minutes. It's a popular pick on Amazon, with a 4.6-star rating after more than 450 reviews.
What fans love: “My husband and I played it with our grandkids, ages 8 1/2 and 5 1/2, for the first time over the weekend, and it was lots of fun. The instructions were very easy to follow; the game is pretty simple. The 8-year-old can spell and has an advanced reading level; he enjoyed the challenge of the game; the 5-year-old knows her letters and can spell some words; she enjoyed spelling words. She won the game and was quite thrilled!”
7The Best Cooperative Game For 7 Year Olds
In Gnomes at Night, players work together to find the queen's missing treasures in a maze. The only way to win is to work together; while working toward a common goal, your child will work on communication and cooperation skills, use descriptive language, as well as use directions, like left, right, up, and down. With two to four players and 15 minutes of play time, this is a quick game that will keep the group engaged.
Peaceable Kingdom is known for its award-winning games focused on cultivating cooperation and kindness in children, and reviewers love this collaborative game where everyone wins.
What fans love: "My 5 and 7 year old boys play nicely some of the time, but they definitely do not cooperate often. This game is a game changer. They LOVE it, playing it nightly before bed to delay bedtime (because, who are we parents to interrupt nice play between brothers?) and I can’t recommend this game highly enough for getting your kids to get along. I’ll admit I’ve found it fun, too."
8The Best Strategy Game For Developing A Sense Of Adventure
The internationally popular Catan board game comes in a junior version that's simpler for an easy introduction to younger players. On a ring of islands, two to four players use their resources (like wood or goats) to build ships or hideouts while avoiding the Ghost Captain; the first player to control all seven pirate hideouts wins. Play time for this game is around 30 minutes.
With a 4.8-star rating after more than 550 reviews, this highly rated interactive game will promote strategy skills, friendly competition, and sense of adventure.
What fans love: "Such a great game. My son doesn't seem to like allot of board games but this one really kept his attention. The rules are easy and the game play is very understandable. I would 100% recommend this for a boy 6+ who loves pirates, fantasy & adventure!"
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