Best puzzles and thinking games for young children

ThinkFun Laser Maze Junior

Pick a challenge card and place the tokens on the board to manipulate the beam and direct it towards the target.

Age 6+

Smart Games Little Red Riding Hood Deluxe

Can you find the path to Grandma’s house?  A fascinating game for 1 player; choose a challenge and set up the trees, house and characters as indicated in the challenge, then create a path for Red Riding Hood to get to Grandma’s using the path pieces.  As skills progress, you can move onto including Mr Wolf and creating two paths to the house.  There is only one correct route for each challenge.

Age 4-7

 

Rubik’s Cube Animal Junior

A new kind of challenge for the youngest Rubik's Cube fans. Twist and turn these crazy animals to create wacky mixed up characters, then keep twisting and turning until you solve the puzzle and turn them back into their original state.

Smart Games Camelot Junior

We are very big fans of this award-winning 3D wooden puzzle and would recommend it for any young child with an enquiring mind. To begin play, the Knight and the Princess are placed in different towers and the aim of the game is to bring them together. Can you help the Princess build a rescue route or the Knight build a bridge? Assemble the beautifully crafted blocks piece by piece to unite them. There are 48 challenges included, and the beginner ones are very simple, giving your child the confidence to move onto the next level, developing their spatial awareness and problem-solving skills. This is without doubt one of our top toys!

Age 4-9

Dinosaurs - Mystic Islands 

Dinosaurs Mystic Islands by Smart Games includes 80 challenges ranging from easy to expert. Choose a challenge and arrange the pieces on the board. Complete the puzzle by matching the island pieces and keeping the 3 green dinosaurs separate from their red T-Rex counterparts! With only 1 solution per challenge, this brainteaser will baffle puzzle fans aged 6+

Rush Hour Junior

Get your red card clear of the traffic by sliding all other cars and lorries out of your way. A great traffic jam logic game.

Age 6+

Penguins on Ice

This incredibly cute game is based on the Ancient Greek game Pentomino where the puzzle pieces have to shift in order to fit into place. The aim here is to arrange the ice blocks so that they all fit onto the game board while making sure that the five little penguins are in the correct places. Simple challenges for beginners then build up to more complex puzzles. Age 6+

Smart Games Day and Night 

Day and Night is a beautiful wooden toy that will stimulate young minds as they play. The 'day' challenges of the title make up the first 24 challenges in the puzzle booklet and are the easiest. The idea is that children work out how to make a real copy of the challenge picture by placing the wooden pieces in the correct order on the plinth by observing the colour, shape and size of the wooden pieces. The next 24 challenges are the 'night' challenges and are slightly more difficult. Here children are presented with a silhouette image to replicate. The key to these challenges is to understand the shapes you have to use without the aid of colour and individual shape outlines. This award-winning game provides hours of entertainment and is a wonderful educational toy.

Age 3+