The following post is by Kathy Simmons from Nanny Services http://www.nannyservices.org/blog/10-reasons-why-kids-love-to-play-candyland/

Candyland is probably the simplest board game that exists.

It is made for very young children, and as long as it has been around, young children have been enjoying the fun it provides.

There are several reasons for Candyland’s ongoing popularity.

1.  Bright colors – Red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple; these six basic colors make up the squares on the path that winds across the board from start to finish. The images surrounding the path contain those same bright colors that kids love.
2. ‘Sweet’ images – It is ‘Candyland’, after all. The board is covered with images of lollipops, candy canes, gumdrops and sugar coated sweet things of many varieties. There are also several special places along the path that are designated with their own sweet images and pulling a card from the stack with the matching image will move you to that ‘sweet spot’. Just looking at it could give you a sugar rush.
3. Shortcuts – As just mentioned in No. 2, pulling out a card with a sweet image on it allows you to move immediately to that space, which can either move you quickly ahead or quickly backwards. Uncertainty about what card will come up on your turn is part of the fun-filled anticipation of the game.
4. Equal opportunity – Candyland is not a game of skill, like checkers. Every player has the same equal opportunity of winning regardless of their age or education. An adult doesn’t have to ‘let the kid win’; the kids have just as good of a chance of winning as an adult does.
5. No counting – Many board games require at least counting skills to move around the board. Even small children who do not know how to count the spaces as they move can play Candyland; all you need to know is your colors.
6. No reading – There are no words on any of the cards that are drawn from the pile; there are only blocks of color or images that match an image on the board. This is just another plus for preschoolers who want to be able to play board games like their older siblings or parents.
7. Two or more players – Candyland can be played with only two players or it can accommodate a small group of players, and it is just as much fun with two as it is with four. This means that a single child only needs one parent or one other child to be able to play.
8. Short and quick – Small children have short attention spans. Candyland caters to this by making the path to victory short and sweet. (Pardon the pun!) Preschoolers would much rather play a short game over and over than to play a game that takes an hour or more to reach the finish.
9. No adults required – This is a factor about the game that both adults and kids appreciate; kids can play this game easily without any help at all from adults. There is no complicated assembly and it is easy enough for one child to explain it to another.
10. Simple rules – The rules to the game are very simple and easy to remember and follow. 1. Players take turns. 2. On your turn you draw one card from the pile of cards. 3. One colored square on the card means move to the next square of that color on the path. Two colored squares means that you move your marker to first one and then the next square of the color on the card. A picture card means that you move your card to that picture on the path. 4. The first one whose marker reaches the end of the path is the winner.

 Candyland is not likely to ever lose its place in the world of preschoolers.

There is not a more perfect way to introduce preschoolers to board games than Candyland.