I Spy Eagle Eye

There are many board/card games out there that are great for kids and families.  Some games, such as Candyland, require little to no critical thinking skills, while others require a great deal of critical thinking.  There's nothing wrong with games such as Candyland.  If you have a young child, Candyland is a great game to help your child learn colors as well as counting.  Once your child knows his/her colors and knows how to count, there's no critical thinking skills to gain.  Then it's time for another game.

My 3 year old isn't ready to play many of the strategy games that my 6 year old is capable of playing, but my 3 year old loves to play I Spy Eagle Eye.

In the game you are given a board with many objects on it.  A card is drawn with 8 objects on it and one of those 8 objects is on the board.  The first to find the object on his/her board wins that round.  The other day when we were playing my 3 year old won the first 3 rounds against me!  Within a few seconds of turning the card over, she had found the object on the board!  Games like this are a great way of teaching kids how to quickly scan something, looking for particular patterns.  Plus it's fun!