5 Cooperative Board Games for
5-year-olds.
This article is my last (at least for now) in a series of posts focusing on cooperative games by age! My oldest son recently turned 6 years old, and the games in this list are ones that I would recommend for kids 5 and older!
Use these posts as a loose guideline- just because a board game shows up in a list for one age, doesn’t mean that it can’t be enjoyed by kids of other ages as well!! The first three games in the list (Outfoxed, Team Digger and Race to the Treasure) can also be enjoyed by kids younger than 5 years old. The last two games in the list (Cauldron Quest and Gnomes at Night) have more completed gameplay, so I would recommend for kids age 5 or 6 and up!
If you want to know more about why you should include cooperative games in your family game night, read my article here (coming soon).
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Outfoxed by Gamewright
The first time we played Outfoxed by Gamewright, it quickly became one of my kids’ favorites. They love the mystery element of trying to figure out “whodunit”! The object of the game is for all players to work as a team of detectives to figure out who stole a pot pie. You solve the mystery by revealing suspects and searching for clues. To search for a clue, you place a card in a special “clue decoder”, open a slide and see whether the color showing through is green or white. If it is green, it means you have found a clue – a piece of clothing that the suspect is wearing (e.g., hat, scarf, glasses, etc). When you reveal suspects, you flip over cards to show the possible suspects. Once you have collected clues, you can eliminate suspects based on the clues you have revealed. Once you have a strong suspicion of the guilty fox and all players agree, you can name the suspect and reveal if they were the thief!
Team Digger by SimplyFun
We own a few pre-coding games, but one thing that sets Team Digger apart is that it is a cooperative game. I like the setup of the board, because it is a 3×3 grid that you rearrange each time you play the game, which is great for keeping the gameplay fresh each time you play! During the game, players take turns playing a sequence of cards to move their dog on the board. You want the dogs to move to specific spots on the game board with hidden items to “dig” up the item. Because it is a cooperative game, players can talk about what sequence they are going to play and players can even trade cards during their turn in order to reach a hidden item. I like this aspect of the game, because it provides a good opportunity to talk about strategy and plan ahead for what sequence each player should play during a round.
Race to Treasure by Peaceable Kingdom
In Race to Treasure by Peaceable Kingdom, all players work together to collect 3 keys on the board game by laying path tiles on the game board. Players try to create a path to collect the treasure before the ogre! Cooperative games are great early strategizing games, because players can talk about the possible moves as they work together to win the game! In this game, you also use future planning, as you need to think a couple moves ahead in order to place tiles that will allow you to reach the keys.
Cauldron Quest by Peaceable Kingdom
Cauldron Quest by Peaceable Kingdom is a great cooperative game for older kids! In this game, players work together to collect three ingredients to create a potion to stop an evil Wizard that wants to cast a spell and destroy the kingdom! During each player’s turn, the player will either: move a potion, move the wizard, block a path or roll the magic dice. Rolling the magic dice helps you reveal ingredients (which is essential to winning the game), but you also can swap potion bottles or remove a path blocker, which can make it easier to collect needed ingredients. This game involves a lot of strategy when deciding what action to take on each turn. Cooperative games like this are great games for kids to practice strategic thinking during gameplay, because everyone can discuss and think through the possible outcomes together!
Gnomes at Night by Peaceable Kingdom
Gnomes at Night by Peaceable Kingdom is a truly unique game. The board game is set up vertically and each player or team of players sits on opposite sides of the board. The game pieces are two magnetic gnomes. One gnome is placed on each side of the board by attaching the two magnetic gnomes together – when one gnome is moved (by sliding along the board) on one side, the gnome on the other side of the board will also move! The objective of the game is to collect treasures that are scattered on each side of the board. However, each side of the board is a maze with a different configuration and gnomes cannot move through a wall on their side of the board. In order to collect the treasures, players much communicate where the treasures are located and work together to move the gnome around the obstacles to collect it. We usually play this game as two teams of two. At first my 5- and 6-year-olds needed some help with how to describe to the other team where the gnome needed to move. With practice they are getting better at communicating how (and where) the gnome needs to move to collect the treasures and overall this game is a great on to develop team work and communication skills!
If you are interested in more cooperative games, be sure to check out these posts:
3 Cooperative Games for 3-year-olds
4 Cooperative Games for 4-year-olds
Why Play Cooperative Board Games with Kids?
If you are interested in more favorite games by age group, be sure to check out these posts:
Favorite Games for 2-year-olds
Favorite Games for 3-year-olds
Favorite Games for 4-year-olds