Free Kids Board Games Printable Downloads

From LoveToKnow BoardGames

When looking for free kids board games, printable downloads are a good choice. Not only are they free, it's also simple to get multiple copies if one of them gets messed up or there are a large number of children that wish to play.

Printable board games are fun!

Where to Find Free Kids Board Games Printable Downloads

There are many online sites that have printable board games available. Before downloading anything from an unfamiliar site, it's recommended to make sure the antivirus software on the computer is up to date.

AmherstLodge.com has several board games that are available as printable Web pages or as Adobe Acrobat files. These include BattleShips, where one player tries to sink the other player's ships and Boxes, where each player tries to create boxes by using lines to connect dots.
Interformic Games offers a board game called Hidden Empires for free as a PDF, although donations are accepted. In this game, each child manages a pretend ant colony, trying to make his or her colony survive over all of the others. The user needs to provide on 6-sided die for each player. Up to six kids can play with one download kit.
Dr. Mike’s Math Games offers printable board games that can help kids learn number skills. This includes one focused on adding and one that concentrates on the times table. Kids can download everything they need, including the cards and the playing pieces.
MES English has links to printable bingo boards and to a printable dice-maker. Parents can use these bingo games to help students review words, numbers or both. That's what is so great about creating the cards instead of buying them.
ESL Galaxy has free kids board games printable downloads designed specifically for non-native speakers trying to learn English. These games include one that helps kids practice action verbs and a couple of Jeopardy-like question and answer games.

A Note about Printable Downloads

The printable downloads available are not going to be for games you can buy in the store, such as Monopoly or Candy Land. This is because those games are protected by copyright and are not allowed to be duplicated. Every once in a while a copy of one of these games sneaks through. For example, Googolopoly was available for download for some time. People who download these spoofed games must be careful not to distribute them or use them commercially, or the company who owns the rights will not be too happy with them. Neither will their lawyers.

Making Board Games

If a search for free kids board games printable downloads does not result in finding that perfect game, people can always make their own printable games. Fancy game creating software is not required. For example, a person can make a simple bingo board just by making a chart in Microsoft Word with five columns and five rows and printing out several copies. Other games that are easy and free to make are:

A simple maze board game – Draw a row of boxes using the table tool. Have kids flip a coin to make their moves. Heads means one space and tails means two spaces. Add special spaces to the board as desired.
Tic tac toe – Draw the board using four lines, just like you would draw it on paper.
Checkers – Make a table that has eight rows and eight columns. Fill every other column with a dark color. Use coins for the checkers. One child uses pennies, and one uses dimes, nickels or quarters.

Those willing to eschew the board can find plenty of other games to print, including: