can a 3 year old play dominoes? or should I wait and give them to DD next year?

[indigosky]

I picked up a nice set of dominoes really cheap at a local consignment sale. I'm thinking my 3 year old could enjoy the game where you match the dots (5 dots to 5 dots), etc, but I'm not positive. Trying to decide whether to give them to her as a gift this year or hold off for another year? Anyone have experience with this?

[laohaire]

We bought a basic set for DD when she was nearly 5. She was able to play the basic game you described, but I'm not sure she would have at 3 (though it's possible!).

BUT - I think a 3 year old can enjoy dominoes like building blocks anyway :) We have the dominoes on our kitchen table and when she's waiting for dinner she often builds towers, or plays with the patterns, or knocks them over.

The question I would ask myself is not whether she could play with them, but whether she would lose them! When DD was 3, we were not that organized and various game pieces did go missing. In other houses, though, it's very organized and not a concern.

[KLM99]

We have an animals dominos game that we play with our three-year-old.  She turned three in August and loooooves games.  She gets taking turns and matching up the animals.  She's played regular dominos with her grandma and can count the dots and match them up, but loses interest fairly quickly.

I think if nothing else it would be good to *talk* about the number of dots if not actually have her match them and/or to stack or generally play with. 

[lonegirl]

Yes a 3 year old can play dominoes.  My son has been playing since he was about 2.5 with his cousins who are a couple years older.  He loves them.

[kittie313]

The ones with the colored dots may be perfect for a 3yo to learn with.  You can work first on matching the colors, then as your child gets older transition to counting the dots and maybe later replae them with a set with just black dots.  My 3yo could probably play dominos with our set since its colored dots, I'll mention it to dh tonight and see if he wants to try it this weekend to see what happens. (we don't keep score like in a traditional dominos game, we declare the "round first winner" by who runs out of dominos first and we keep going until everyone is out or there are no more moves)

[indigosky]

The set I have is the traditional black & white kind, so maybe I'll hang onto them for a year...