10 Best Puzzle Games For Kids
Puzzle games are a fun way to exercise the mind of adults and children alike! Because not only do they give us a challenge to work through, but they also allow our brains to process information in a different way than usual. Plus, ultimately, we’re filled with pride when we finish the puzzle.
But although puzzle games are great for everyone to play, they’re especially good for children. Which is why I wanted to create a list of ten of the best puzzle games for kids that I’ve found on Amazon so far, and share it with you guys.
But first, I want to briefly cover what some of you may be wondering…
Why are puzzle games good for kids?
Puzzle games are good for kids because they can help develop a child’s motor skills, cognitive abilities, and attention span.
But of course, some of the benefits will vary depending on what type of puzzle game we’re talking about and how old the child in question is.
For instance, a small child might have a simple puzzle game that only consists of placing shapes in holes. And to them, this puzzle would be beneficial and provide them with the development mentioned above. But for an older child, this puzzle probably wouldn’t be a challenge at all and therefore… wouldn’t be beneficial.
The older child will need a slightly more complex puzzle, complicated enough to challenge them but not so above their level that they can’t complete it.
So in other words, if you want your child to benefit from playing puzzle games, you’ll need to make sure you’re finding one that matches their level.
But now, without further ado…
The 10 Best Puzzle Games For Kids –
#1 – Coogam Wooden Blocks Puzzle
This puzzle game features a variety of colored wooden blocks as well as a board that fits all of them, and can be played in one of two ways. The first way is to try and figure out how to place all the blocks so that they fit in the board, and the second way (which can be less challenging) is to use the blocks to create a picture within the board.
No matter which way your child decides to play with this set, they’ll be refining their motor skills and developing their creativity.
This set is for ages three and up, and will probably be enjoyed the most by young children.
#2 – Coodoo Magnetic Tiles Set For Toddlers
This magnetic tile set allows kids to create and build virtually anything they want; a castle, a robot, a boat, etc. And because these tiles can snap together and snap apart, they can be used over and over again.
This results in countless hours worth of play and development, as your child builds motor skills and explores their creativity. This set is suitable for toddlers, ages three and up, and is marketed as such. But older children might enjoy playing with this set as well!
#3 – QUOKKA Wooden Puzzle Set (USA, World, and Space Maps)
This product is actually a set of three different wooden puzzles; a map of the USA, a world map, and a map of space. It will be your child’s job to place each puzzle piece where it goes within the maps, and learn about where things are in the process.
My girls had a very similar puzzle when they were young, but instead of a set, it was just a map of the US. They loved it! And not only did it provide them with the expected benefits of a puzzle game, but it also taught them some basic geography in the process. This set is suitable for ages three and up.
#4 – Kanoodle (A Brain Teaser Puzzle Game)
Essentially, Kanoodle is a game where you try to fit all the given pieces within the set into a small board. There are many different combinations (200 to be exact), but each Kanoodle set comes with a book of specific starter combos to try. And each will produce a different puzzle for you to solve.
Kanoodle has created a line of 3D puzzle games for kids and adults, but I’m going to specifically link you to the “classic” version for now, since that’s where most people start. If you’re interested though, you can feel free to check out the “Extreme”, “Genius”, “Head to Head”, “Cosmic”, and “Fusion” versions as well.
#5 – ThinkFun Gravity Maze Puzzle
This puzzle game consists of a grid, a variety of towers, a marble, and a booklet full of challenges. You use the booklet to find new combinations to try, by following its directions for setting up a starting and ending point for your marble.
Then, once the game is set up, you use designated towers (that the booklet will list) to create a path that will take your marble from the starting point to the ending one. This puzzle is great for developing your problem solving skills, playing with gravity, and increasing your logic. But it is a bit advanced, so it’s best for kids that are ages eight and above. Adults can play this game as well!
#6 – Melissa & Doug Suspend (A Wire Balance Game)
Suspend is a wire balance game developed by Melissa & Doug, and requires players to take turns hanging wire rods on other wire rods without toppling the entire tower over. Or it can be played by a single person, who can challenge themselves to make the tower as large as possible without knocking it over.
This game might sound simple, but rest assured that it can build hand eye coordination and important cognitive skills! This game is for ages eight and up
#7 – Hasbro Handheld Simon Game
This is a puzzle game that’s been around for a while, and in fact, I remember playing it myself when I was a kid!
The objective is to remember and repeat the random sequence of colors that the handheld device gives you. And the game will keep going on indefinitely, just adding more and more colors to the sequence, until you fail to repeat it perfectly.
So it’s essentially a constant battle against yourself that will help build hand eye coordination, memory, and more. It’s suitable for ages eight and up, but smaller kids can play it with supervision (as long as you don’t let them break the game haha)
#8 – Winning Fingers FlashDash
This is another electronic puzzle game, but it’s a small cube rather than a disk. And while it does have a “memory” mode that functions basically the same as the previous puzzle, it features a lot of other mini games as well. (Such as “chase me”, “follow me”, and more.)
These other mini games all pretty much involve the player finding lit up squares across the cube and pressing on them as quickly as they can. This sharpens your hand eye coordination and quickens your reaction time, which means it’s a great puzzle game for kids and adults to try out. It’s suitable for ages six and up!
#9 – D-FantiX Rainbow Puzzle Ball Set
This puzzle is similar to the Rubik’s Cube, which is another classic puzzle game. But it has a twist to it!
Basically, the puzzle consists of a ball with twelve holes and eleven balls of corresponding colors. After the ball is “scrambled” (meaning that none, or very few, of the balls match the color of the hole they’re in), your child’s job is simply to put all the balls back in their designated holes.
At the very least, the game states that it will take about 34 moves to complete this puzzle. So it’s useful to hone your child’s logic if they’re older, and help with color recognition if they’re younger (even if they can’t complete the puzzle by themselves yet). This set consists of two balls (a blueish-green one which glows in the dark and a white one that doesn’t), plus two bags to carry them in. And it’s suitable for most ages, although small children may need help solving the puzzle.
#10 – The Genius Square
The Genius Square has won “The Game of the Year” award, and for good reason. It’s a puzzle game with over 60k possible solutions, and is a brain teaser that kids and adults can both enjoy.
The game works like this… You have a six by six grid, some blockers, and some dice; you’ll roll the dice and place the blockers in the grid according to what each dice says, then you’ll try to find a way to fit all the colored blocks in the grid as fast as you can.
You can play by yourself, by simply trying to solve the puzzle as fast as you can; or you can play it with others, by seeing who can solve it faster. (There are two grids in the set). This game is suitable for ages six and up!
Final Thoughts
I hope that out of the ten puzzle games I listed in this article you were able to find one that piqued your interest, because I truly do believe puzzle games are a fun and easy way to enhance a child’s playtime in a meaningful way.
Personally, I plan on getting The Genius Square for my family. And one of my daughters has already been playing Kanoodle for a while now (she loves it).
