23 Awesome Science Board Games for Homeschool Science Fun

science board games

These awesome science board games are a great way to incorporate learning and fun into your homeschool! 

No matter the subject, it always helps to have an easy way to make it fun for your kids! 

In an unofficial poll, homeschool moms indicated that science and math are the hardest subjects to teach their children. 

While science can be daunting to teach, you can help your kids feel comfortable with science by showing them how much fun science can be!

The 23 science board games for homeschool are divided into three groups, so you can browse the list to find exactly what you need. 

  1. Science board games for young elementary grades
  2. Upper elementary science board games 
  3. Middle school and high school science board games

While we’ve done our best to group the games according to grade level, please remember that these are our best recommendations. Of course, abilities for different ages and grades can vary widely.

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Young Elementary School Age

1. Wild Kratts Race Around the World

If your kids enjoy this fun educational show to learn about animals all over the world, they’ll probably love this board game too!

For 2-4 players, this game was nominated for a 2020 Parent’s Choice Award!

2. Baby Dinosaur Rescue

This is easily the board game for the youngest audience on our list.

Cute graphics and no-reading required make this cooperative game ideal for the younger set.

3. Gathering a Garden

This fun board game would be a great addition to a botany unit study, or for any child learning to count! 

It’s designed for 2-4 players and won an Oppenheim Best Toy Award!

4. Mouse Trap

The classic board game Mousetrap really can serve as a science lesson!

Consider Newton’s First Law of Physics: “An object at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.”

Voila! Play Mousetrap with your kids and this science lesson will be complete! 

5. Match These Bones!

A dinosaur match game perfect for when you’re studying paleontology, this straightforward matching game requires players to match pictures of dinosaur fossils with drawings of the correct dinosaur. 

There’s an educational booklet included so you can have another easy science lesson in one setting!

6. Operation

Another classic game that can double as a science lesson!

Even though the game isn’t anatomically correct, kids can use their anatomy knowledge to make corrections to the game as they play it!

Not only will you be able to see what they’ve learned, but your kids can feel proud of all of the great anatomy facts they know.

Upper Elementary Science Board Games

7. Electronic Snap Circuits

Whether this actually qualifies as a science board game is up for debate, but Electronic Snap Circuits is so great that it is definitely worth mentioning here!

With over 300 challenges to complete, kids learn tons about electricity, circuits, and many other STEM topics. 

8. Gravity Maze

This is another fantastic science board game for teaching physics! Additionally, this unique maze game helps kids hone their logic skills as well. 

9. Laser Maze

We love Laser Maze at our house! It’s a fantastic, challenging logic game that can correlate well with studying properties of light, lasers, and more!

It can be played in an individual version or for multiple players. 

The 60 challenges increase in difficulty and can keep kids interested for hours!

10. Guess in 10! 

This awesome series of card games come in two great science versions: Deadly Dinosaurs and Animal Planet (there are also lots of cool geography versions available too!).

If you have younger kids too, check out the Guess in 10! Junior versions that are also available. 

11. Ocean Bingo

Of course, you can probably find a free printable bingo game online (we’ve got several seasonal bingo games in the Reluctant Homeschool Mama Resource Library!), but this Ocean Bingo is not only super durable, but it’s also beautiful too! 

There are several other science-themed versions available. Check out the bird, bug, and jungle editions too!

12. Science Ninjas: Valence Card Game

This science board game is perfect for kids who are learning about atoms AND happen to love ninjas too. How’s that for a cool combination?!

For 2-4 players, this game was designed by two Ph.D.’s in chemical engineering along with a New York Times best-selling cartoonist. Check it out!

13. Planet  

This awesome 3D board game is intended for 2-4 players and is really unique!

Each player’s board is a 12-sided 3-dimensional planet core.

Once each turns, players choose landscape tiles representing different ecosystems and arrange them on their planets.

14. The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine

Recommended for ages 10 and up, this game won the coveted Spiel des Jahres award!

Similar to other trick-taking card games, the game occurs over 50 different missions throughout outer space.

 Middle School and High School

Let’s take a look at the science board games for middle school and high school! Remember, the grades are estimates, but most of these games will be listed for ages 12 and up. 

15. Pandemic

This collaborative game requires players to stop the spread of disease around the globe. It’s a ton of fun, and an easy tie-in to the study of germs, disease, anatomy, and global health concerns. 

If you’re familiar with Pandemic, there is a cool new expansion called Pandemic State of Emergency available too!

16. Evolution

This awesome board game is used to teach evolutionary biology in schools all over the world! It’s intended for 2-6 players.

While there are several cool expansions for Evolution, including Evolution: Climate and  Evolution: Oceans, you’ll definitely want to start with the base game.

17. Photosynthesis

This beautiful strategy game was called “a visual and mechanical marvel” by Polygon.

2-4 players take their trees from seeds to forest, gaining important light points along the way.

This game is a fantastic addition to a botany or ecosystem science unit study.

18. Wingspan

This awesome game is perfect for middle schoolers or high schoolers studying flight or birds.

It’s playable for 1-5 players, ages 14 and up. The rules are a bit complex, but after playing it through once, you’ll be able to focus more on learning about the birds than on the game mechanics!

Related article: 11 Best History-Based Board Games for Middle and High Schoolers

19. Ecosystem

This quick 20-minute game is awesome to play during an ecology unit study or homeschool course!

It’s a card-passing game where 4-6 players collect different types of cards and are rewarded for building biodiversity.

20. Cytosis

Did you know that there’s a cell-building game for kids?! Super cool!

In this game, players construct enzymes, hormones, and receptors and play with proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and DNA!

21. Periodic: A Game of the Elements

In this awesome science board game, kids literally race their pieces around a periodic table board to research different elements and gain points.

Kids 10 and up could do really well with it!

22. Ion

This fun compound building strategy game is all about creating strong chemical bonds is fantastic for illustrating chemistry concepts that can be somewhat confusing!

If your kids are struggling to understand positive and negative ions and neutral compounds, this game is worth a try!

23. Subatomic – An Atom Building Game

This game focuses on specific topics from physics and chemistry. Players use quarks to build protons, neutrons, and electrons and then use these particles to build elements.

It’s a fantastic companion to the Ion game described above!

Final thoughts about science board games

Over 9 years of homeschooling, I’ve found that if my kids are struggling to grasp a concept, finding a game to illustrate the concept is often very helpful!

Also, having a stocked board game closet full of educational games is a fantastic way to avoid too much screen time after school!

Let me know in the comments below if you try any of these great science board games for kids!

Related articles about homeschool science:

Dinosaurs Homeschool Unit Study – 15 Fun Activities Your Kids Will Enjoy

Sassafrass Science Curriculum Review – Why We Loved It and Why We Moved On

Earth Science Homeschool Unit Study – 6 Weeks of Science Fun

Do you have any science board games you’d add to this list?

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23 Awesome Science Board Games for Homeschool Science Fun23 Awesome Science Board Games for Homeschool Science Fun23 Awesome Science Board Games for Homeschool Science Fun

Hi there! I’m so glad you’re here! I’m Jen, a former reluctant homeschool mom who is ready to help you actually enjoy homeschooling too. Read more here…

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