Beginner’s Guide to Card Games for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Are you looking to introduce turn-taking and some game play into your toddler’s or preschooler’s life? It’s a fun step in the life of a parent when our kids start to be able to play games. These card games are ones which are great as first steps into playing games with others.

Top Tip

I would highly recommend purchasing a card holder for your little one. You can obviously start off by laying their cards down on the floor or table and helping them that way but a card holder is fun for them too and they’ll love putting their cards in it. These are the wooden ones that we have. They’re good quality and sturdy and my girls (2 and 5) are both able to use them by themselves.

Card Games Using a 52 Card Pack:

52 Card Pick Up

When I asked my husband to name me a card game for toddlers, this was his answer within a millisecond! I’d never heard of it and then he showed me…you basically just throw 52 cards on the floor and get your toddler to pick them up!

I mean, it’s great for fine motor and gross motor skills as they’re running around using their fingers to pick up the cards! Haha!

But, when I tried it with our 3-year-old, it lasted about a minute before she was bored. But she did ask that she have a turn at throwing the cards too in that minute.

Go Fish!

The aim is to collect a full set of number cards (e.g. all four 8’s).

Number of players: 2-4

Age: 4+

For a first go, I would sort the cards out and have just five numbers starting with 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s and 6’s.

Then, deal five cards out to each player.

When it’s your turn, you look at your cards and work out what you need to make a full set of one number. You then turn to any other player and ask them for a specific number card. It has to be one that’s in your hand already.

e.g. I hold a 2, 3, 4, 4, 5 so I want to make a full set of 4’s. I will then ask another player, “Do you have a 4?” If they have a 4, they give it to you. You are then allowed another turn and can again ask any other player for a card. However, if the player doesn’t have the number you’ve asked for, they say, “Go Fish!” and you get nothing and play passes to the next player.

Play passes around the circle until one player makes a set of four. They then place that set down on the table and are allowed another go.

Play continues until all sets are collected. The winner is the player with the most full sets of numbers.

If you run out of cards, your game is over but you can still win. You just need to wait until all cards have been collected.

If you’re interested in playing games with your kids, why not check out my post called “Why Should I Play Board Games With My Preschooler?”

Uno Junior

This is a fun, colourful card game with some special wild cards.

Age: 3+ though my 2.5 year old managed to play the beginner level with support and I’m sure after a few plays, she’d be fine with it.

Aim: To get rid of all your cards.

Time: 5-10 minutes per game.

There are three levels to Uno Junior: Beginner where you just use the numbered cards, Intermediate level where you use some of the action cards and Advanced level where you use all the action cards and the penalty cards.

The action cards are: Skip a turn, reverse card where play changes direction and the wild card where you get to choose the next colour.

The penalty cards are Draw One and Draw Two. Playing these cards makes the next player draw that number of cards. We take these out mostly just because my 5-year-old doesn’t like them as I suppose it can feel a bit mean when you have these cards played on you.

Verdict: This game is easy to learn. Its colourful, fun images are appealing to children. It keeps the children’s interest as it’s a pretty quick game to play. We love this game. My daughters are currently 2.5 and 5 and we usually play the beginner game without the wild cards. My 5-year-old loves taking it with her when we visit our 91-year-old friend and she plays it with him.

Snap!

This is an easy game to learn. We have played this with our 2.5-year-old who picked it up quickly.

Aim: To get rid of all your cards.

If you find a pair, you shout SNAP! If you find a shark, try to be the first to pretend to be a shark.

This version of Snap was bought from Aldi’s middle aisle and it doesn’t seem to be available anywhere at the moment so I’ve linked to another Orchard Toy’s snap game called “Animal Match” which has the same premise.

Dobble

There are so many different versions of this game. And different ways of playing too. Dobble cards are circular with lots of little pictures on them of different sizes.

Our favourite game is when you deal all the cards out. Then, turn one card over in the middle. You look at your top card and try to see which picture from your card matches a picture on the middle card. When you find a match, you shout out what your match is, e.g. “Shoe!” and place your card in the middle. Now that card is the middle card. There’s no taking turns. It’s fastest player wins because the first to get rid of all their cards wins.

McDonalds gave different versions of Dobble away with Happy Meals at one point so they can be found in charity shops quite often.

Little Astronauts

This is a card game which advertises itself as being played in ten minutes for ages 4+.

It’s a card game of pure luck so the youngest players can genuinely win. It really is a good introduction to card games with its lovely images of the planets with added facts. It introduces turn taking and counting as well as strategy.

The aim is to collect a complete set of the planets and along the way you may find yourself having to make a silly alien sound!

Number of players: 2-5