Squares and dice is a simple board game concept that teaches kindergarteners about counting. To make this game, you need a flattened file folder or a large sheet of heavy cardstock, a black marker, a number spinner and game pieces. On the file folder or cardstock, draw a series of attached squares that move in a snakelike pattern around the paper. Make the start and end squares stand out from the rest. Students will play two at a time and select which game piece they want to use. The first player will spin first. The number that the arrow lands on will be the number of squares that he moves his piece. Then, the second player will do the same. Whoever gets his game piece to the end square first wins the game.
The shape race is a board game that teaches kindergarteners about identifying shapes. Create a checkered game board out of cardboard or thick poster board. Within each empty square, draw a single shape. (Use the shapes that you have covered in class with your students.) Color in all of these shapes with three or four different colored markers. You do not have to assign each shape a color, because the goal is for kindergarteners to identify the shape. Two students will sit across from each other and have their game pieces ready. When a player rolls the dice, she will move her piece across the board. She will have to name the shape that she lands on correctly, or else send her piece all the way back to start. The game piece that reaches the other side first wins.
A game with clues challenges kids to guess the right answer to a clue before they can move their pieces across the board game and win. Design a game board with a snakelike pattern of squares. The players' game pieces start out at the same square. Give the first player a clue to solve. Keep the clues simple and informative, such as "I like to dig, and sometimes I'm dark, I like my bones, I like to bark. Who am I?" The answer is a dog. If the player answers correctly, he can move his piece two squares forward. An incorrect answer sends a game piece two squares back. The adult supervising the game is responsible for reading clues and checking answers.
Create a kindergarten tic-tac-toe board game with a variety of themes or for special occasions. For instance, a Valentine's Day tic-tac-toe game may use hearts and arrows instead of x's and o's. Simply draw a tic-tac-toe board on a piece of cardstock and prepare the cutout objects for the kids to use. This game is more for fun than it is educational, but you can tie it into a theme that you will cover in class. For instance, if your lesson is on lions and tigers, make lion and tiger game pieces for the kindergarteners to use.