These kid-tested, parent-approved educational games and products will help kids start the school year off strong.
Get Ready for Phonics Spin & Learn
$19.99; 18+ Months
LeapFrog.com
Send kids on an interactive word-sound journey to boost vocabulary skills. Pressing the big red button sends engaging lights around the pictures. When the lights stops, kids will hear phrases that help build early reading skills. Press a light-up button next to a picture to make connections between what is seen and heard. Four modes encourage exploration with early phonics games and activities.
Sesame Street Zingo! by ThinkFun
$23.99; 4+
Amazon.com
Slide the new Cookie Monster Zinger to reveal picture tiles, make matches and fill your card to win. With two levels of play, this is a perfect game to build progressive speech and motor skills. Featuring recognizable Sesame Street characters and images on the game tiles, your little one is sure to see their favorite show zing to life on the tabletop.
Simple Math Bingo
$21.99; 5+
eeBoo.com
A cleverly designed bingo game with double-sided boards; children can choose to solve addition or subtraction math problems.
Letter, Number or Bug
$15; 3+
Amazon.com
A game that tackles one of the most important determinants of future success, the basics of letter and number recognition prior to entering school for the first time. This action-meets-learning game has players jump up and race around to identify letters, numbers and bugs. This game boosts motor skills, coordination, and lays the foundation for early literacy and numeracy.
Garden Heist by Ravensburger
$24.99; 6+
Amazon.com
When the gardener’s away, the raccoons will play in this hide-and-seek game based on Red Light, Green Light. Sneak around the garden as raccoons to steal food and coveted trash treasure. The gardener sits behind the house screen until they pop open the window and try to spy raccoons hiding behind obstacles. With familiar gameplay, cute illustrations, and a memorable table presence, this classic with a twist is sure to be a family favorite.
Make a Pie Game
$23.99; 5+
eeBoo.com
This simple game of fractions takes the confusion out of fractions, because each pie piece adds to the whole pie.
Criss-Cross Applesauce
$15; 3+
Amazon.com
A fun, auditory, and physical activity game that has kids active, engaged and learning. To play, players sit down (criss-cross style) and act out activities like tracing letters, roaring like a lion, or doing jumping jacks.
Chronicles of Light: Darkness Falls (Disney Edition) by Ravensburger
$29.99; 8+
Target.com
Players work together to form dynamic alliances of Disney and Pixar heroines, including Moana (Moana), Violet (The Incredibles), Maid Marian (Robin Hood) and Belle (Beauty and the Beast). Materializing as radiant crystal versions summoned into the realm, the heroines drive back shadows of infamous Disney Villains and restore the Realm of Light.
Math Path Monster by Think Fun
$19.99; 6+
Amazon.com
Teamwork and math skills equal victory in the newest cooperative game. Deep in the mountains, players stumble upon the Math Monster’s lair and must beat them in an epic race to the cave entrance. Foster teamwork and collaboration as players unite to outsmart the Math Monster using addition and subtraction. Can you and your team outwit the monster before it catches up?
Big Feelings Pineapple
$11.99; 3+
LearningResources.com
Build preschool social-emotional learning (SEL) skills with every face you make! Helps your toddler to express their feelings. Explore emotions with 26 face pieces from smiles to frowns and everything in between. Two-sided pineapple helps kids learn opposites by building two faces at once. When kids learn how to recognize, understand, and feel their feelings, they build the skills they need to make friends, master teamwork, and live a happier, healthier life.
Making Change Game
$23.99; 5+
eeBoo.com
An educational game where players use mental math to subtract the price of an item from the amount paid to make the correct change.
LeapStart® Learning Success Bundle
$39.99; 2-7 Years
LeapFrog.com
This system with a sleek, new design grows with your child and gets them excited about learning with interactive touch-and-talk pages. Activities that include games, puzzles and creative challenges enhance learning to help kids build math, reading, problem-solving skills and more. Many replayable activities have two levels with 50+ key skills per grade level, so kids can play and learn at the right level and move up when they’re ready. The easy-to-hold stylus is comfortable for kids of all ages, promotes proper writing grip and neatly clicks into the cover for storage. Take it on the go using the carrying handle.
Magnetic Wonder Tiles – Starter Set
$49.99; 3+
www.lakeshorelearning.com
Lakeshore’s translucent magnetic tiles give kids a fun, hands-on way to explore 2-D and 3-D shapes, develop spatial awareness and more—as they build. The durable plastic tiles come in 5 shapes and 6 colors and have magnets built right in, so they stick together from every side—for endless, frustration-free construction. Plus, they’re perfect for use on light tables and work with other popular magnetic tiles.
Connecto
$20; 8+
Amazon.com
Connect items, draw shapes, and guess what you're drawing. Fast-paced and addictive keeps the fun going with seamless and thrilling gameplay. Discover 184+ challenges with different difficulties and gradually increase your skills. Use the two included blank tokens to incorporate items from your surroundings.
My Mine
$30; 6+
SimplyFun.com
This mine is loaded with valuable gold nuggets and ready for you to stake your claim. Try to mine as many nuggets as you can, but beware—the other miners will also be trying to stake their claim and may even try to take some of yours. In this game of risk and reward, players roll the dice and try to collect as many gold nuggets as they can. But if you get too greedy, you may lose it all.
Color Puzzle Spinner Game
$21.99; 3+
eeBoo.com
A unique puzzle and game that introduces the color families as you play.
Hocus Pocus Everybody Focus
$15; 3+
Amazon.com
Players each take a mask and are challenged to memorize which tactile or flat objects have been added or removed from the play area. This game reinforces coordination by adding and removing objects from the play area, mathematics as kids engage their spatial awareness and memory, and literacy as it reinforces word concepts.
Fossil Sweep
$22; 8+
SimplyFun.com
Fossils come in various forms, from hardened animal bones to intricate plant imprints. Players use strategy and decision-making to match the fossil layers on the cards in their hands to the card layers on the dig site. See how many fossils you can discover before they become lost.
GraviTrax Junior by Ravensburger
$14.99-129.99; 3+
Amazon.com
Introduces children to marble run and construction toys in a vibrant and easy-to-learn way. Start building right away and immerse yourself in thematic worlds for added creative play. The GraviTrax Junior lines feature jungle, ice, desert and ocean-themed sets and expansions.
Creativity for Kids The Very Hungry Caterpillar Sensory Bin
$22.99; 3+
Amazon.com
Immerse yourself in sensory, tactile, and FUN play with The Very Hungry Caterpillar sensory toys. Filled with 2.5 lbs of sensory sand, a Hungry Caterpillar Toy, foam accessories, shovel, sand stamp, colorful clings, and more. This self-contained sensory bin brings Eric Carle's story to life through hands-on play.
Touch & Learn Dinosaur Book
$27.99; 2+ Years
LeapFrog.com
Touch the colorful pictures on 14 interactive pages to explore what dinosaurs are, where they lived, what they ate and more. Dig deeper to hear fun facts and learn how to pronounce popular dinosaur names. Switch to Find-It mode and answer questions by finding the correct pictures throughout the book. Press the music button to rock and roar along to three songs.
How Was Your Day Conversation Cards
$15.99; 5+
eeBoo.com
Help children and parents navigate social situations about going back to school, prepping for school for the first time, or starting a new school.
Updated: July 2024
