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Check out these 6 board games, bingo games, and toys to make studying French a more fun experience.
They mostly use visual and auditory cues. One of the games, “Hide & Seek Alphabet – French,” is also a tactile tool to help your student master the new language.
French Learning Board Games, Bingo Games, and Toys Comparison Table
| Game | Age | Players | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race to Paris | 11+ | 2‑4 | $$$ | ★★★★★ |
| LearnBots the Game | 15+ | 2‑4 | $$$$ | ★★★☆☆ |
| French Vocabulary Bingo | 11+ | 3-6 | $$ | ★★★★☆ |
| Flashcards in French | 11+ | 1+ | $$$ | ★★★★☆ |
| Bananagrams | 15+ | 2‑8 | $$ | ★★★★☆ |
| Hide & Seek Alphabet – French | 7+ | 1+ | $ | ★★★☆☆ |
French Learning Board Games
Race to Paris (Kloo)
★★★★★
For Families | Age 11+ | 2-4 players | Price $$$ | Duration 20-30 mins
Kloo’s Race to Paris
is an award-winning game for building your child’s French vocabulary and sentence writing skills. This set comes with four decks with specific themes:
- People
- Eating and drinking
- Places
- Everyday objects
Each theme also features common expressions, verbs, nouns, and adjectives. The cards also have the translations of the words in the set.
To play the game:
- Give seven cards to each player and put the rest aside.
- The first player has to try to create a sentence with their cards.
- Sentences always start with the red card, or they can also use the purple card if they have one.
- Sentences can be as short as two cards or as long as seven cards.
- Each card is equal to one square on the board. So, the player has to move their piece, depending on how many cards they used. They score more if they can translate their sentence correctly.
- After each turn, players draw the same number of cards used. Everyone should have seven cards every time.
- There are two special cards on the board – hotel and question mark.
- To play the hotel square, you will ask anyone to translate a word in your hand. If the other player gives the correct answer, they stay where they are. Otherwise, they move back to the nearest hotel square.
- To play the question square, the person to your left will let you translate a word that they have on hand. If you answer correctly, move two spaces forward. Otherwise, move two steps backward.
- The player to reach the capital first wins the game.
I highly recommend getting this set because it teaches you the basic sentence pattern in French. It is essential knowledge for beginners because it is different from the English sentence rules. It is also very easy to make sensible sentences because there are color-coded guide arrows on each card. You can create a variety of sentences by mixing and matching the cards
You can also play the deck without the board.
LearnBots the Game (iEdutainments)
★★★☆☆
For Families | Age 15+ | 2-4 players | Price $$$$ | Duration 20-30 mins
Learnbots the Game help players expand their French vocabulary as they travel around the board. This set adopts a blended learning approach where students can use the accompanying booklet and app to play.
The goal is to use the verbs on the board to practice conjugation and create sentences within a set time. To play:
Roll the two numbered dice and move accordingly. And if you rolled two same numbers (e.g., two fives), you get two chances to create a sentence.
- Next, roll the pronoun and color dice.
- The color dice tells you what tense you need to use
- The pronoun dice tells you what conjugation to make
- Flip a noun and adjective card. You need to include these words in your sentence.
Finally, flip the timer, then try to conjugate the verb correctly, and create a sentence with your verb, noun, and adjective.
- If you create a correct sentence, you get 10 points
- If you use the correct conjugation, stay in your box
- If you run out of time, make a wrong conjugation, or don’t make a sentence, return to your previous box.
- The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
I like this game because it has color-coded cards for easier organization and use. The set also includes cultural questions, which are entertaining and educational. But it also makes the gameplay harder if you don’t know much about French culture.
I think this is an excellent game for practicing conjugation. But it takes time to play as there are many elements in the game. It may also be a bit of a nuisance to constantly flip through a book to check your opponent’s answers. So I think having the answers in a separate card is better and easier to use when playing.
French Learning Bingo Games
French Vocabulary Bingo (eeBoo)
★★★★☆
For Families | Age 11+ | 3-6 players | Price $$ | Duration 10-20 mins
French Vocabulary Bingo is an award-winning bingo game that helps develop your child’s French vocabulary. The set comes with six boards with different themes, including:
- Nature
- Supermarket
- Clothes
- Transportation
- Animals
- Colors
It follows the rules of a typical bingo game. It comes with a pronunciation guidebook to help the color say the words correctly. All the words are in French with no translations, but the colored illustrations can help your child understand the terms.
I highly recommend this game because:
- It has colored illustrations along with the words for children who learn visually
- It makes remembering and learning new French words easier because they are read and heard
- The cards also include the accompanying article, which is necessary when learning the French language
This game is easily a five-star one, but I’m giving it four stars only because there are only six boards. So it has very low replayability.
Flashcards in French (Yo-Yee Flashcards)
★★★★☆
For Families | Age 11+ | 1+ players | Price $$$ | Duration 10-20 mins
Flashcards in French is a set of flashcards that you can use to play bingo. Each set has a specific theme, and there are several types to check out. Here are some examples:
- Verbs
- Clothes
- Daily routines
- Foods and drinks
- Food preparation
- Opposites
- Adjectives 1
- Nationalities
- Colors
- Common instructions
- Classroom
- Occupations
- Kitchen
- Days and time
- Weather and seasons
The topics range from very simple for beginning French language learners like colors and clothes to more complicated for intermediate students like phrasal verbs and common instructions. Each set comes with 16 bingo cards that you can use to review the vocabulary words. There is no English translation in the cards, but the helpful illustrations can guide your study.
I think this set is worth checking out because there are tons of topics to choose from. You can just pick the ones you think your child needs to focus on. I also like that there are no translations in the cards because it allows your child to focus on the French words or phrases. However, this can be an issue for some more abstract concepts like time and instructions.
French Learning Toys
Bananagrams (Bananagrams, Inc,)
★★★★☆
For Families | Age 15+ | 2-8 players | Price $$ | Duration 20-30 mins
Practice and expand your French vocabulary with Bananagrams – a Scrabble-like game without the board. This set comes with 144 letter tiles and instructions in both English and French. The difference between the French and English versions is the frequency of the letter tiles. Here is the breakdown for this version:
| A – 13 | E – 18 | I – 12 | M – 4 | Q – 2 | U – 6 | Y – 1 |
| B – 3 | F – 3 | J – 2 | N – 9 | R – 10 | V – 4 | Z – 1 |
| C – 4 | G – 2 | K – 1 | O – 12 | S – 6 | W -1 | |
| D – 6 | H – 2 | L – 6 | P – 4 | T – 10 | X – 2 |
To start your game, lay all the 144 tiles facedown on the table. This set is called the “bunch,” then let the players take their starting tiles, which will be:
- 21 tiles – 2-4 players
- 15 tiles – 5-6 players
- 11 tiles – 7-8 players
When someone yells “split,” all players start flipping their letters. Then, everyone will arrange their tiles to create words horizontally or vertically like a crossword. If you place your last faceup letter in your puzzle, yell “peel,” and every player has to get another tile from the bunch. The game ends when the bunch is less than the number of letters, and a player uses all their letters.
I like this game because:
- It helps you practice your French word spelling
- It challenges your French vocabulary and lets you widen while playing
There are more ways to play the game, depending on the time, place, and number of players. You can check these rules out on the Bananagrams website (https://bananagrams.com/blogs/news/how-to-play-bananagrams-instructions-for-getting-started)
Bananagrams is an excellent game for French language learners. However, I’m only giving this toy four stars because it doesn’t include the accented letters, which are necessary to remember when studying the language. Players also need to have a vast French vocabulary because the game will take longer if you don’t.
Hide & Seek Alphabet – French (Battat)
★★★☆☆
For Families | Age 7+ | 1+ players | Price $ | Duration 10-20 mins
Hide & Seek Alphabet – French is an interactive board for learning the basic French alphabet sounds. It features the 26 Roman alphabet letters and example words and names of shapes, colors, and numbers in French.
This toy is easy to use and great for beginning French learners. But, you can also use it for children as young as three because the tabs fit their tiny fingers. Behind each flap is a colored illustration of the words, color, shapes, and numbers. So, this toy also widens your child’s vocabulary.
While it is a great tactile tool in developing phonics in French, I’m giving it three stars only. The sample words can be improved to include more common nouns that young students will encounter in their everyday lives.
Other French Learning Games to Try with Your Family
About 30 to 40 percent of the words in the English language have French origin. So, learning French also expands your understanding of many English words. However, this language can be challenging to remember. Incorporating games and toys in your study can make the process more fun and engaging. It also helps you recall more words as these tools address your visual, auditory, and tactile learning needs.
For more French learning game suggestions, check out this post – 14 French Learning Card Games and Flashcards.
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