Dinosaur Escape Game Info

Product: Dinosaur Escape Game
Company: Peaceable Kingdom
Website: gamewright.com
Recommended Age Range: 3 and up
Price Range: ~$20
Amazon Product Page (Affiliate Link)

Review

In my ideal reality, our family would be a table top gaming family. I envision us sitting down for a family game or pairing off to play with each other on a daily basis. However, at the moment, I am lucky to squeeze in a family game once or twice per week. Part of the reason is that life is just so darn busy sometimes. The other reason is because it can be really difficult to include the younger kids in our play.

This game is a quick and easy solution to both problems. It only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to play AND the 5 year old fully understands how to play on his own. Even the 3 year old can play with help. Another great feature of this game is that my 7 and 9 year olds WANT to play as well. It is not so easy that it is boring for them.

I love that it is cooperative. I want my kids to have practice playing competitive games and losing, but who has time for that kind of drama all the time? This way, we all win or we all lose together. The bigger kids are motivated to HELP their younger siblings so that they move their dinosaur in the right direction to maximize their chances of winning.

This game helps kids to work on their memory, concentration, focus, social skills, and even critical thinking. There is a little TINY bit of strategy involved since if you waste too much time exploring the same locations, the volcano might erupt and the game will be lost. I frequently don’t enjoy playing little kid games, but Dinosaur Escape is an exception to that rule. I am grateful for the painless family bonding it provides.

Click here for more Board Games Reviews for kids of all ages.

Related Links

Best Gifts for Kids
Independent Games for Kids
Best Books for Early Elementary

The post Dinosaur Escape Game appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

Product: Goodnight Moon Game
Company: Briar Patch
Recommended Age Range: 2 to 6 years
Price Range: ~$15
Amazon Product Page (Affiliate Link)

Comments: As an avid fan of board games, when my first child was a toddler, I was incredibly eager to find a board game we could play together. Chutes and Ladders was out, because he couldn’t count. Candyland was promising since he knew his colors, but he could NOT get a handle on the concept of following a path. Shortly after his second birthday, I found this game based on his all-time favorite book, Goodnight Moon. At the time, it was the only game I could find that listed 2 and a half instead of 3 as the minimum age.

We have enjoyed this game so much over the last 3 years. It really is a wonderful first game for toddlers and a great game for toddlers to play with slightly older siblings. The provided instructions list 6 different ways to play using the included game board (a picture of the scene from Goodnight Moon), the 24 cards (each highlighting one object in the scene), and the 4 two-sided playing boards (each with pictures of 6 objects, one side in color and one side in black and white).

Over the years, we’ve basically used the 6 suggested games as a guideline and come up with 3 slightly modified games. The first, which allows even our 18 month old to “play,” involves taking turns drawing cards and figuring out whose playing board each one belongs to. Whoever fills up their playing board first wins. Since my 18 month old loves Goodnight Moon, he already has lots of practice identifying the objects on the cards (with his adorable toddler pronunciation: “tat”=cat, “fiya”=fire, “bwush”=brush, etc.).

Another game we play is to take turns drawing cards and finding where each card is located in the scene of the entire room. There is no winner and even the youngest toddler can play. A modification of this is to take turns matching 5 cards to the board, then having that player cover their eyes while another player removes a card. The player then opens their eyes and identifies which one is missing. My older kids (3.5 and almost 6) love this and will keep playing together without my help even after I lose interest and wander away.

The last game my older kids enjoy is each choosing a playing board, then laying the cards in a grid face down and taking turns flipping over a card to see who can fill up their board first. I’m amazed by how often my 3 year old is able to beat her big brother. This is very similar to a memory style matching game, but instead of matching cards, each player has 6 specific cards they are trying to find.

The instructions also include games for older children, such as laying out the entire set of 24 cards, having one player close their eyes, removing one, mixing them up, then having that player find which one is missing. We haven’t tried this, but that sounds like a challenge even I would enjoy (and having read Goodnight Moon approximately 3 thousand times in the last 6 years, I feel like I could probably do this). Since my kids’ memories are so much better than mine, they could probably do it as well.

The instructions claim that this game is good for developing “visual and cognitive” skills “essential in learning to read” as well as providing opportunities to learn “tactical and strategic thinking.” I’m honestly not sure if this game does all that, but if you are looking for a structured game to play with your young child (or children) that will allow them to use their memory and matching skills, this is an excellent place to start. Familiarity with the story Goodnight Moon is in no way required.

Click here for more Board Games Reviews for kids of all ages.

Related Links:

Board Games for Babies and Toddlers
Play Ideas for Kids
Best Gifts for Kids

The post Goodnight Moon Game appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

Product: Bunny Peek a Boo
Company: SmartGames
Website: www.smartgames.eu
Recommended Age Range: 3 to 5 years
Price Range: $23 to $27
Amazon Product Page (Affiliate Link)

Comments: Bunny Peek a Boo is literally the only hands-on, visual, “challenge” game I could find supposedly suitable for 2 year olds (so if anyone knows of more, please let me know). However, in my experience, this game is not actually suitable for 2 year olds. I really think the box should say 3 and up, because while my 2 year old did enjoy playing with the bunny and his “house” while 2, she was not able to do even the first card until shortly after her third birthday. (A friend’s 2 year old also did not seem anywhere near ready for this game, so I don’t think my daughter is just abnormally slow.) I can understand why the makers of this game might think it would be suitable for a 2 year old, because the fact that my daughter struggled at all was a shock to me. (Like the time I tried to explain what a rhyme was to my first child when he was a preschooler and he just. didn’t. get it.) Basically, all the child needs to do is look at a picture (for example of the bunny sitting on a block) and try to replicate the picture using the actual wooden pieces. It should be straightforward, right? Except, for a 2 year old, it’s just not. (Or at least it wasn’t for my 2 year old).

Despite the fact that I was not able to use this game with my daughter for over a year after purchasing it, I still think it is a wonderful toy. I love logic puzzles and anything that will make my kids use their brains in new and unfamiliar ways. I frequently set up “challenges” for my oldest child, now 5, such as Rush Hour Jr. (my current favorite), so that when he’s bored or he and his 3 year old sister start bickering, I can distract him with something that he thinks is fun and that holds his attention. However, for over a year, I’ve been struggling to find an equivalent challenge for my 3 year old. While I have a wide variety of activities for my 5 year old, really the only successful independent challenging activity I found for my daughter while she was 2 was puzzles. I’m so excited that my daughter now understands the concept of Bunny Peek A Boo.

I should point out that even though she can now do the first several puzzles on her own, this game is still challenging for her. She frequently makes small mistakes and has to make a concentrated effort to find the detail she missed. It makes me so happy to watch her working so hard. As a female engineer in a male dominated field, I know how valuable this game will be to her spatial skills as she gets older. She still loves playing with dolls and other girlie toys, but if I can sneak in a few Legos and other spatial toys here and there, I definitely think she’ll benefit from the exposure.

Related Links

Independent Games for Preschool
Best Books for Preschool

The post Bunny Peek a Boo appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

Comments: My mom gave this to my daughter when she was 20 months old. (The box says 18 months and up.) When I first looked at it, I thought, “This is crazy. She can’t do half this stuff even though she’s 2 months older than the minimum age.” It involves counting, finding things of a certain color, making animal noises, making faces, making motions with your body, and identifying body parts. Then I realized, “Hmm…she can do half this stuff.” Now she’s 23 months and apart from counting, she can follow all the instructions on her own. Also, she’s interested in counting and happy to have an adult help her with those cards. However, even more than motivating learning, what is most awesome about this “game” is that she and her 4 year old brother LOVE doing it together. He can of course do everything without help, which makes him feel really happy and confident, so he’s always willing to play this with his little sister. There’s not really an objective, no winner and loser, not even an official endpoint to the game, but they’ll spend up to an hour playing with this together.

Included on Lists:

1. Best Gifts for 2-Year-Olds

Click here for more Board Games Reviews for kids of all ages.

Related Links:

Best Gifts for Kids

The post Roll & Play – Your Child’s First Game appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

Comments: I spent quite a while trying to find a good board game to play with my son when he was about 2 and half. Candyland and Chutes and Ladders were a little too hard, because he had trouble following the path, even if he understood the concept, and I’d have to help him count. Someone gave my son this game for his third birthday and I was amazed at how easy it was for him to play with minimal assistance and how much he enjoyed it. Even though I personally bought about 8 board games to play with him, this one (which is essentially a clever version of Bingo) is far superior. The box says it’s for 4 years and up, but it can definitely be played by a new three year old.

Included on Lists:

1. Best Gifts for 3-Year-Olds
2. Best Gifts for 4-Year-Olds

Click here for more Board Games Reviews for kids of all ages.

Related Links:

Best Gifts for Kids

The post Zingo! appeared first on ResearchParent.com.