Smart Games by Age: Which Puzzle to Start With, From Preschool to 8+

Start with the age on the box. Smart Games are logic puzzles that come with a booklet of challenges, from easy starters to expert ones, so the same game keeps working as your child gets better at it. Preschool games use chunky blocks and figures to match a picture. From about 5 or 6, they become real logic puzzles, and from 8 there are 3D puzzles and two-player race games. Here are our picks by age, the ones that travel well, and how to choose.

How Smart Games work

Your child picks a challenge from the booklet, sets up the pieces as shown, then works out how to place the rest. Most challenges have one solution, printed at the back of the booklet, so a stuck child can check the answer. In many games, the easy challenges show where some pieces go, and the harder ones show less. Most games are for one player, which makes them good for quiet time. Our Smart Games and solo play guide answers common questions about that.

Ages 2 to 4: match the picture

Preschool games ask your child to build what's on a card by stacking or hiding pieces. Peek-A-Zoo, for example, practises colours, animals and words like above, below and inside.

• Peek-A-Zoo, $42.95, age 2+. Stack and nest five cardboard blocks so the animals peek out as shown on 48 cards.
• Gnome Sweet Gnome, $42.95, age 3+. Three wooden gnomes and three flowerpots, with 48 challenges from easy to harder.

Ages 5 to 6: first real logic puzzles

• Snow White Deluxe, $44.95, ages 5 to 7. Help the seven dwarfs find Snow White in a 3D house, across 48 challenges.
• Hansel & Gretel, $42.95, ages 5 to 8. A sliding puzzle with 60 challenges, plus a picture book of the story. Easy challenges use only one of the two characters.
• Apple Twist, $26.95, age 5 to adult. Bend three caterpillars to fit on a twisting apple board, with 60 challenges.
• Squirrels Go Nuts XXL, $79.95, age 6+. The extra-large version of the classic, with a board four times bigger and 100 challenges.
• Dinosaurs: Mystic Islands, $36.95, age 6 to adult. Keep the plant-eaters away from the T-Rex across 80 challenges.

Age 7: more pieces, more rules

• Jump IN' XXL, $79.95, age 7+. Rabbits jump over each other and mushrooms to reach their holes, with 100 challenges on a large board.
• Pirates Crossfire, $36.95, age 7 to adult. Four playing modes and 80 challenges, 20 per mode.
• Anti-Virus Mutation, $24.95, age 7+. Slide the pieces to move the red virus out, across 60 challenges.
• IQ Digits, $22.95, age 7 to adult. Fit the numbers 0 to 9 so the sums add up, with 120 challenges. A good one for a child who likes math.

Age 8 and up: 3D and harder logic

• IQ Link, $16.95, age 8+. Twelve pieces with rings and balls that link together, and 120 challenges.
• Cube Puzzler GO, $22.95, age 8 to adult. Build a cube from seven pieces, with 80 3D challenges. The case opens into the game tray.
• Snow Problem, $39.95, age 8+. Roll the snowballs into place to build snowmen, with 80 challenges in five levels. A good winter gift.
• Quantum 2-in-1, $26.95, age 10+. Two puzzles in one, with 60 challenges, and you can make up your own.

Two-player games

For siblings, or a parent and child, these race games are played head to head:

• Genius Star, $39.95, age 8+. Roll the dice to place the blockers, then race to fill your star. The winner of each round moves up a level, and the first to finish all five levels wins.
• Cube Duel, $39.95, age 10 to adult. Get your colour on top of the cube. It also has 80 solo challenges.

The best ones for trips

These come in compact cases with the pieces stored inside, which suits planes, restaurants and waiting rooms:

• IQ Fit and IQ XOXO, $16.95 each, age 6+. 120 challenges each, in a small case with a lid.
• Monsters Hide & Seek, $24.95, age 6 to adult. The board is also the storage case.
• Puzzle Beach, $14.95, age 6 to adult. Magnetic pieces, so they stay on the board.
• IQ Mini and Reverso, $9.95 each, age 6+. Pocket-size, with no booklet to lose: you set up a new challenge yourself.

Our screen-free travel toys guide has more ideas, and if you're flying with little ones this season, see our guide to flying with a car seat.

Tips for choosing

• Go by the box, then by interest. A child who loves animals, dinosaurs or fairy tales may keep coming back to a game with that theme.
• Start at the beginning of the booklet, even if the first challenges look easy. They teach the rules.
• Check for small parts. Many of these games carry a small parts warning, so keep them away from younger siblings under 3.
• Buying for a 3 to 5-year-old? Our gift guide for 3 to 5-year-olds has more ideas.

Prices are in CAD and were current when we wrote this. Browse all Smart Games online, or call our Richmond, Burnaby or Ottawa store ahead of your visit to ask which ones are on the shelf.