Recently I had the opportunity to review some games by Peaceable Kingdom provided to me for free (by Tryazon) in exchange for my reviews. So....here they are:
My thoughts on Peaceable Kingdom as a company: Generally speaking, I really like their games. Their games are all players verses the game in a cooperative fashion. It's neat to get to work together to find solutions to the game's "problem." It is a little "special snowflake, can't hurt people's feelings, no losers, participation trophy." However, I personally don't think that is always a bad thing. Talking and communicating is a good thing and I enjoy talking to my kids about strategy and why certain moves are better than others. There are times to play games where the is a winner, but there are also times to work together. Peaceable Kingdom games are a time to work together.
HOOT OWL HOOT:
General game play: Get the owl pieces back to the nest before the sun comes up. Achieve this by moving the owls to the next colored space on the board that matches the color on the card played. If you have a sun card, you have to play it, and that moves the sun closer to the sunrise.
What I Love:
*My kids LOVE the game
*It's not boring for me
*Difference difficultly levels of play
*Adorable graphics
What I didn't like:
*Nothing
RACE TO THE TREASURE:
General Game Play: Take turn picking a card. If the card is a pathway piece, add it to the board to help build your path to the keys and on to the treasure. If the card is a gnome piece, the gnome is one step closer to getting to the treasure first.
What I Love:
*Super cute graphics
*Visual Spatial map planning skills
*It's not boring for me
*My daughters think the bad guy Gnome is funny.
What I didn't like:
*Nothing
SUNNY AND STORMY DAY:
General Game Play: Read a book about Max and the sunny and stormy moments in his day. Then play a memory game where you match sunny and stormy moments from the book. There is also a baggie with chips to draw out to talk about your own sunny and stormy moments from your own day.
What I Love:
*The concept of sunny and stormy moments is really neat. It's great social awareness for children and I like that the word "moments" is used because it emphasizes the temporariness of the stormy things that happen.
What I didn't like:
*The memory game was not very original (even though there is a cooperative learning aspect to it of avoiding the cloud pieces as a group)
*The whole thing seemed forced as a game. Would have been better as just a book with a page at the end of how to utilize the skills from the book in everyday life.
*Overpriced for basically being a book.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Friday, October 7, 2016
Product Review: EQtainment Products
EQtainment products are designed to teach emotional intelligence concepts (often called EQ) to preschoolers.
Q's Race to the Top Boardgame:
This game is definitely more fun than most preschooler games. And it teaches concepts that other games usually skip over. The game is super simple: roll the dice, move the piece, draw a card of the corresponding color and do what the card says. Cards may have to answer a question or do a quick action. There are also a couple of short cuts and move backward spaces to keep the game more interesting. When I played with my girls (ages 3 and 4), we had great discussions with our kids while answering the questions and learning about some social skills and emotional regulation skills. The questions are the essence of the game. The board game part (rolling the dice to move up the path to the top of the tree) is simple a means to talk about the questions. But it works really well. I can't imagine the cards being super entertaining without the game part to "trick" kids into learning. Overall, it is a great game for preschoolers.
Q's Race On the Go Pack:
A cheaper way to get the board game concepts without the game part; just the questions. I like that it is small enough to fit in a diaper bag or purse. I wish it had new questions (rather than 90 of the 150 questions from the game). And I wonder how interested kids will be in talking about the questions without the board game to distract them from the fact that they are learning.
Q-Time Buddy:
My four year old liked it. The concept is great. But just about any stuffed animal would work.
Q's Coloring and Activity Book:
Cute way to keep the character alive for the kids and teach concepts through coloring.
Q's Race to the Top Boardgame:
This game is definitely more fun than most preschooler games. And it teaches concepts that other games usually skip over. The game is super simple: roll the dice, move the piece, draw a card of the corresponding color and do what the card says. Cards may have to answer a question or do a quick action. There are also a couple of short cuts and move backward spaces to keep the game more interesting. When I played with my girls (ages 3 and 4), we had great discussions with our kids while answering the questions and learning about some social skills and emotional regulation skills. The questions are the essence of the game. The board game part (rolling the dice to move up the path to the top of the tree) is simple a means to talk about the questions. But it works really well. I can't imagine the cards being super entertaining without the game part to "trick" kids into learning. Overall, it is a great game for preschoolers.
Q's Race On the Go Pack:
A cheaper way to get the board game concepts without the game part; just the questions. I like that it is small enough to fit in a diaper bag or purse. I wish it had new questions (rather than 90 of the 150 questions from the game). And I wonder how interested kids will be in talking about the questions without the board game to distract them from the fact that they are learning.
Q-Time Buddy:
My four year old liked it. The concept is great. But just about any stuffed animal would work.
Q's Coloring and Activity Book:
Cute way to keep the character alive for the kids and teach concepts through coloring.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Stories From My Children
My kids are starting to come up with their own stories to tell.
Caroline:
Chapter 3: The hidden garden of Jesus adventures.
One day Jesus found a garden. It was a magical garden and he thought it was his. It was really somebody else's. And it was really his, so he went inside and if you touch the flowers you will get shocked. He touched a flower and got shocked. and he found something in it. It was something to get out. So he went out and inside was another garden with beautiful rainbow flowers. And he got in another door to another garden. And what did he see? More shock flowers. He ran out the regular door and went straight home.
Chapter 4: The hanging magical garden
So one day Jesus found a magical garden in a tree. It was a treehouse. He went inside and what did he see? Somebody used to live in it. He didn't know what to do. But guess what? They found a new place to live so Jesus moved in. But Jesus didn't like it because it didn't have a bathtub. And then he really really didn't want to live there so he went home. The end.
*Side note: These are, according to Caroline, stories that her pink blankie wrote into a book and she was just reading the book to us.
*******
Daisy:
One day there was a smiley face walking on the lines. And then he saw the other guy had a baby in the crib. And then the voice singing there. Yes. And he says Thank you. Then in it that toy the pirate. Then them says nnnnooooo. Them says yes. Those slides are broken. The end.
So one day a smiley come to the smiley face home and he said yes. Must be lost. He was walking through the woods. The smiley face opened the door and he didn't say no again. He go in the woods. He go in them and knock on the door and go in the warm bed. Then the end.
Caroline:
Chapter 3: The hidden garden of Jesus adventures.
One day Jesus found a garden. It was a magical garden and he thought it was his. It was really somebody else's. And it was really his, so he went inside and if you touch the flowers you will get shocked. He touched a flower and got shocked. and he found something in it. It was something to get out. So he went out and inside was another garden with beautiful rainbow flowers. And he got in another door to another garden. And what did he see? More shock flowers. He ran out the regular door and went straight home.
Chapter 4: The hanging magical garden
So one day Jesus found a magical garden in a tree. It was a treehouse. He went inside and what did he see? Somebody used to live in it. He didn't know what to do. But guess what? They found a new place to live so Jesus moved in. But Jesus didn't like it because it didn't have a bathtub. And then he really really didn't want to live there so he went home. The end.
*Side note: These are, according to Caroline, stories that her pink blankie wrote into a book and she was just reading the book to us.
*******
Daisy:
One day there was a smiley face walking on the lines. And then he saw the other guy had a baby in the crib. And then the voice singing there. Yes. And he says Thank you. Then in it that toy the pirate. Then them says nnnnooooo. Them says yes. Those slides are broken. The end.
So one day a smiley come to the smiley face home and he said yes. Must be lost. He was walking through the woods. The smiley face opened the door and he didn't say no again. He go in the woods. He go in them and knock on the door and go in the warm bed. Then the end.
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