Logic Games for Kids to Get Them Thinking While Having Fun.

Children love board games, and mothers love board games that are engaging and mind-stimulating for their kids. SmartGames has some of the best logic games for kids on the market. They're all colorful and interesting to children. I've partnered with SmartGames to show you some of their coolest games.

Logic Games for Kids

My children got their competitive nature and crazy love for board games from my side of the family. They will beg from sun up to sun down to play board games together! While I always love a classic round of Candy Land, sometimes I feel like it becomes a little thoughtless and their minds aren't being challenged anymore, and that they need an extra logic component in their board games. When I saw the line up at SmartGames, I was initially hesitant to look further, not wanting to fill our closet with things we didn't need, but I quickly learned that these games are completely different. Here is why I love them:

1. SmartGames are designed for 1-person, so there is no fighting between pushy or impatient siblings to hurry up or to play a certain way. There is no winner or loser, and the game can be played completely at the child's own pace. They can also easily be played with more people too. The challenges can become group challenges and teamwork can come in to play.
2. SmartGames span a large age range of appropriateness. When a game might be listed for ages 4-7, the included booklets contain challenges at a Starter Level up to an Advanced Level, so it is a game that can really grow with your child. Even children much younger than the suggested age can enjoy placing the pieces to fit on the boards.
3. The challenges are exciting! With many of these games, there are so many challenges to work through that they are still exciting every time they are used. Even when all the challenges are solved, you can start over and enjoy it all over again.

The first game we pulled out was the Little Red Riding Hood Deluxe. I really squealed over the cuteness of this adorable game! How darling to have a game that goes right along with a childhood story favorite!

This game comes with the green board, five flower tiles with pathways, five figurines, one house, a challenge booklet, and this charming story book! So sweet!

The pieces are made of a soft plastic that feels like rubber, making them perfect for little fingers to grip. They are too large to be choke-able so I don't have to worry about letting my toddler play with them on her own. The directions are to lay out the pieces according to the specific challenge in the booklet and then create one path that gets the wolf to Granny's house, and then another path that gets Little Red to Granny's house. The tiles can be placed in any direction, but they have to remain entirely on the board.

Now I know this is intended for ages 4-7, but even toddlers can enjoy playing with the pieces and arranging them in all sorts of fashions! My 18-month-old was having a ball putting the pieces in different pegs and was just thrilled to be "playing" a game next to her brothers!

My 4-year-old son picked out the Dinosaurs - Mystic Islands as his favorite game and he has really attached himself to it! We both immediately appreciated being able to play with it right out of the box without any instructions or challenges at first. Arranging the pieces so that they create islands with the outer pieces of land can be enjoyable on its own.

After that, you can simply try to make islands that separate the red dinosaurs (the carnivores) from the green (the herbivores), before you even get to the challenges in the book. When your child is ready to take on some challenges, you can begin with the starter challenges and move up from there. My four-year-old followed this progression sequence and was able to really enjoy himself without getting frustrated by jumping into a hard thing too fast. In these booklet challenges, you are told where certain pieces go, and then you are to fill in the rest, keeping the red and the green dinosaurs on separate islands.

The challenges take a few minutes to set up and solve, and the answers are all in the back of the booklet. My son can set up and play the game on his own and he just cherishes each little dinosaur piece! I think this game will be EXCELLENT for him on rainy afternoons as he waits for his brother to get home from school.

The IQ XOXO game is also one of the newest games at SmartGames and part of the Pockets collection, which are games that feature 120 different challenges and are stored in convenient travel cases. I definitely find this sort of thing appealing when I'm looking for games that we can bring with us when we travel or games that won't take up too much space in the game closet.

The X's and O's are a fun way to play with hugs and kisses! It feels a lot like tetris to me, but with an added element of difficulty because each piece has a different layout of X's and O's on the back. The instructions are to set up the board with only a few of the pieces according to the challenge picture, and then fill in the rest with the correct extra pieces without going out of the grid. I love the bright colors and the feel of the pieces and I'm really excited that I can just throw this in my purse! I think it will be a perfect distraction for my kids (or myself!) when we're waiting at doctor's offices.

Of all of these SmartGames we picked out together, my oldest son was desperately excited about this Walls & Warriors game! He asked about it every day until it arrived and has been playing with it every day since. It is so perfectly designed with the adventurous boy in mind!

This game includes some intricate and well-designed pieces, and is designed for ages 8 through adult. My 6-year-old can competently solve the Starter challenges, and my husband has been stumped on some of the Advanced ones, which shows you that this really is a game that can be enjoy up through adult age! Although it is a 1-player puzzle game, the two of them love setting up and playing this together. In fact, all of the SmartGames can be played alone or with friends!

The point of the game is to set up the board according to the directions for each new challenge, like you see below on the left. You are then supposed to lay down the remaining wall pieces in places that will enclose and protect the blue warriors and the castle, as seen on the right. There are a few more important rules and the challenges become increasingly difficult when red warriors are added, but it is just the right amount of challenge for my son right now! I'm so glad he has a game that isn't electronic that he can play on his own and at his own pace.

The Smartcar 5x5 is also brand new at SmartGames! The challenge is to build a car with the five different blocks according to the picture in the challenge booklet. This may sound easy, but with only a side-view picture, I can see how this can be an enjoyable challenge for ages 4-9.

Notice how there are two booklets! One for ages 4+ and one for 7+. Still, like all of the previous Smart Games we've gotten to play, I've found that the pieces are so appealing to my toddler! Without using the booklet or trying to solve any problems, my almost-2-year-old so enjoys loading the car with the blocks and sending it off for a ride. This is why I find SmartGames such an excellent investment. While they are specifically designed for a certain age group, children of much younger ages still find so many ways to play with them!

The pieces are smooth and richly painted. The car itself has high quality rubber wheels and is excellently made with a nice weight to it. Its nice knowing that I don't have to worry about the vehicle coming apart like a common match-box car, and the fact that it rolls like a real car is just so much fun for the kids!

Like I mentioned, the goal of this game is to arrange the blocks in the correct fashion by simply looking at a side-view picture. The L-shaped pieces could be lying in different directions and still look the same from the side, so it takes some trial and error to get it right. I'm really excited to have this in my own for my children who aren't yet in grade school to enjoy during those long winter days at home with mom!

Penguins Pool Party is a new game that is part of the Compacts collection, games that are perfectly sized for a backpack. I can see this being a favorite to bring on trips or taken for after-school fun.

The 3D elements make this a fun one to maneuver. I feel like this one is similar in difficulty to Dinosaurs - Mystic Islands and that even though it is intended for ages 6+, my children much younger will really enjoy it.

The goal is to place the penguins on the board as directed in each challenge, and then fit the ice blocks to fit around them. There are 60 different challenges that increase with difficulty as you move through the book. I love how compact this game is and how it comes with a clear lid so that with all the pieces inside, it only takes up as much space as the blue base. I think it is very well designed and a perfect cold-weather holiday activity!

The last game we pulled out is Parking Puzzler, and having lived in Boston for 5 years where parking is a little nutty, my kids really got excited about this one!

It is similar in style to each of the previous games, but with a few variations in difficulty, such as the cars all needing to be perpendicular and no cars are allowed in the driving row.

The 60 challenges for ages 7 and up will test your parking skills as you try to arrange everything like the challenge layout says. The transparent pieces with attached colorful cars are very fun to handle and it all feels like a very clean and bright game to play. The board is also used as the storage case when the clear lid is attached, and it becomes very easy to transport and very easy to store.

In all, I am VERY pleased with each and every game here! I am so very excited to have an armful of excellent options for my kids that don't involve anything electronic. I love how each game can store away easily and compactly, and how all of the pieces feel sturdy and smooth. My children love playing with these now and I'm sure it will continue for years and years! Thank you, SmartGames!!

Buy it: You can purchase these logic games for kids on Amazon.com.

Be sure to check out our post about what kids can learn from magnetic tiles and our favorite magnetic building blocks for more hands-on fun.

Disclosure: I (Camille) received these SmartGames items at no cost to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.