For some reason board games have been associated with boys, especially in their younger years. Well I believe that board games are for everyone, regardless of age and gender. To disregard a board game as a gift for a little girl solely based on her gender is depriving her of a fun, and often time’s very educational experience. I feel quite passionately about this as my youngest niece loves board games and I always hear my parents and other family members (not her own parents of course) saying that board games are for boys and that ‘she won’t enjoy them.’ It is my hope that this list (and the lists for the other age groups) show that board games are for girls as well and that they are fantastic gifts!
Catan Junior
Number of Players: 2-4 (3 is the optimum amount of players)
Age: 6+
Time: 30-45 minutes
Pricing: Medium
Catan Junior is a great game to get kids to learn some fundamentals of board game strategy and resource trading. Based off the very popular Settlers of Catan, Catan Junior is another great game to help transition younger kids into more serious board games. This was a personal favorite of mine to play with my niece and nephew as they quickly were able to form surprising complicated strategies for obtaining resources.
Read the Full Review of Catan Junior
Sherlock the Memory Card Game
Number of Players: 2-5
Age: 5+
Time: 15 minutes
Pricing: Low
Sherlock is a memory card game that is great for young developing minds. There is a stack of cards in the middle with 8 cards surrounding the stack face down. The player then points to a card and guesses what the card is, if they are correct they move to the next card (following the prompts on the correctly guessed card) and go around the circle until the arrive at a card that is face up. Play continues until a player has won a certain amount of cards or there are no more in the stack. This is a great gift for girls around the age of 5 and is also fairly inexpensive to buy.
Read the Full Review of Sherlock the Memory Card Game
Hasbro Candyland the Board Game
Number of Players: 2-4
Age: 3+
Time: 30 minutes
Pricing: Low
Candyland is a fun board game for boys and girls between the age of 3 and 6. Players are trying to find the lost king of the Candy Kingdom and the only way to find him is to play through the game. This is a great game to play with young kids who are learning to count since it has very simple game mechanics and a fun color palate.
Read the Full review for Candyland
Spot It
Number of Players: 2-8
Age: 6+
Time: 15 minutes
Price: Low
Spot it (previously known as Dobble) is a face paces card game where players are trying to match the pictures of the card in their hands to the ones in the stack before the other players. Even though its typically rated for ages 6+ any 5 year old with a knack for identifying figures and colours could play this after a few practice rounds. It also comes in a handy travel sized tin so if perfect for a game on the go or even on long plane trips.
Read the Full Review of Spot it
Guess Who
Number of Players: 2
Age: 6+
Time: 20-30 minutes
Pricing: Low to Medium
Guess Who? is a game where two players try to guess each other’s chosen character based of asking simple yes or no questions. This is a fairly simple game, great for young kids, and is fairly quick to play. Guess Who? It’s great for teaching kids colours, facial recognition, and basic deductive reasoning. Guess Who is a stable of children’s board games and still holds up to this day.
Read the full review of Guess Who
Finding the Perfect Game for 5 year old Girls
And those were my top picks of board games for 5 year old girls. You seriously can’t go wrong with any of these as they are all great as both games to entertain and as educational tools.
I actually started my niece on a few of these as young as 4 years old and to this day loves to play Spot It and Catan Junior.
For more game suggestions also check out my list of best board games of kids or my other lists for kids aged 5 to teens. If you have any suggestions send them to me through my contact page. I’m always looking for new games to try.
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