A bedtime book is a no brainer at night but lately, our family has engaged in a little game play before lights out. Our littlest one is 2.5 years old which makes complicated board games frustrating and boring to him. He does want to participate though so I've been on the lookout for something age appropriate for him and fun for our 4 year old. Heck, I want it to be fun for all of us! I struck gold with The Orchard board game by Haba.
First of all, the quality of the materials is second to none. As I've come to expect from Haba, the orchard fruits (cherries, apples, pears and plums) are all made of wood. The game comes with small wooden baskets for each player, a sturdy board, and a raven puzzle. Each player rolls the dice and the object of the game is to pick all of the fruits off the trees first.
The best part of the game is that you can turn it into a cooperative game for the whole family. Rather than play against one another, you can work cooperatively as a team to pick all the fruits before the raven comes to eat the fruit. In this way, everyone wins (all fruit is picked) or loses (the raven eats the fruit) together.
Because of our great experiences playing this game, I've since purchased several other Haba games to play with the kids. You can buy The Orchard game for about $36 here and elsewhere.
(Images: Janie Lee)
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OMG - that's awesome! My husband and I were just playing Candyland with our 3-1/2 year old, and wishing there was a "Fruitland". This should fit the bill!!
It's also called Hi Ho Cherrio. They sell it at places like Target and Meijer. There's no reading involved, just counting to 3.
Orchard is great. And yes, high quality.
Why do board games have to be so junky?I know they weren't quality when I was a kid but now they are SO MUCH WORSE.
Other great games that are high quality and not grossly branded: Animal Upon Animal (Haba), Slips And Ladders (eeboo), and Four in A Row "Connect Four" (widely available in Wood).
Hi PineTree:
This is not Hi Ho Cheerio although the concept of the game is similar. Hi Ho Cheerio is mostly plastic and we found the small plastic pieces hard to keep track of.
Janie
We have My first orchard here (Mon premier verger), specifically for 2+ year old children. My son (2 and half) loves it. Haba makes great board games.
Hisss is a big winner at our house but it is recommended for 4 and up.
http://www.gamewright.com/gamewright/index.php?section=games&page=game&show=51
We love Orchard. It's the first boardgame my boardgame addicted husband introduced to our son. Even now, at almost four years old, our son still loves it. Our favorite part -- it's cooperative. When you're three it's really hard to lose while someone else wins. This way everyone wins or everyone loses. It's great for learning turn-taking too.
A few of his other favorites... CooCoo the Clown, Kids of Catan, Kids of Carcasonne, The Magic Labyrinth, Figurix, and Socken Zocken.
As far as find-them-anywhere games, we've enjoyed Guess Who and the Rush Hour puzzles.
-Abby
We LOVE how much cooperative play is emphasized in HABA games. Orchard is a great one for sure. You should check out Socken Zocken and In The Country. The first is a matching game that is sooo much fun. The second is a blast as a before dinner game and it might be our most favorite game ever.
We have Richard Scarry Busytown Mystery game that my 3 year old loves to play. Its the same sort of team game and it involves looking for pictures of an object on the gameboard, like a banana or a mailbox. Its not wood or anything but its more fun than candyland.