peaceable kingdom – Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs..

Wyatt is always asking me what I am doing when I blog. I tell him I am blogging but he better understands it if I refer to it as “work”. So I am working. Lol. I thought it would be fun to ask for his input on what I should blog about, and his response was games. He is really into playing games right now, so it was not a big surprise. Books and games, that is what we do these days! It works though, it has been such a weird summer for us.

Note: This post does contain Amazon Affiliate links. I will make a small commission if you were to purchase anything from the link, at no extra cost to you.

Anyway, back to games. These are Wyatt’s current favorites! Some of them are super simple, that pretty much even the youngest child could play, but they work really well for Wyatt’s occupational therapy and speech therapy goals. Good thing he loves the games she chose – so much, that we had to buy them for home. One especially has grabbed his attention… Pop! the Pig

I can’t tell you how often everyone, and I mean, everyone, in our family has played this game with Wyatt. His speech therapist introduced this game to him, and we have all had to play it a million times. But it helps him so that is good! We have him follow the same requirements his speech therapist wants from him, multiple words strung together, so every time we play, it is just more speech! Win! Basically, you roll the dice, find the burger that matches the color, read the number on the back, feed the pig, and push down on his hat that number of times. As you feed him and push on his hat, his belly gets fuller and fuller until his belt pops! Then you just push his head to deflate him. (I wish it were that easy for me to flatten my belly!) I told his therapist that we had to buy this game because he loved it so much in her office, and she told me that so many other families have told her that as well!

He loves Pop! the Pig so much, that last weekend Billy and I picked up a similar game, Chompin’ Charlie. This one is actually a little better at honing his fine motor skills, because the acorn game pieces are pretty small, and it’s a little difficult to stuff them in the squirrel’s face. He loves this game, but misses the more physical part of pushing down on the pig’s head from the other.

Next is Pop-Up Pirate – a variation on a theme here. Another simple game but one that allows him to work those fine motor skills. You stick the pirate down in the barrel, and take turns shoving swords into the barrel in the slots until the pirate pops out. And he really pops up, higher than you expect so don’t have anyone’s face over the top! We actually bought this for Wyatt for Christmas because he loves pirates so much. It was more about the pirate than the game, then it became a favorite. Wyatt loves the anticipation and when the pirate pops, and we like it because first, he loves it, and second, it is a quick and fast game to play when you want a quick and fast game!

This next game was a reward for summer reading, in June. It is called Ghost in the Attic from Peaceable Kingdom and it is so fun! The best part is that it glows in the dark, so it is super fun to play at night, or camping. We are going to take it on our family trip at the end of the month so that Wyatt and Mermaid Girl can play together. It is a cooperative game, which means everyone plays together toward the same goal. We are actually big fans of all the Peaceable Kingdom Games, even though Wyatt is sort of outgrowing some of his earlier ones. We play them now mostly because they are old favorites.

Outfoxed is another favorite! He got this for Christmas and it is a cute “whodunit” type game for kids. This is another one we are taking with us on our trip!

Finally is the game My First Dragon Adventure, an adventure fantasy type game by the company Jumping High Five! They are a brand new company just getting started, and they are so sweet! We also have another game by them called Candy Train, which is also fun, but Wyatt just happens to love the dragon more, even though he is a huge train fan these days.

And there you have it! Wyatt’s top favorite games of the moment!

For Wyatt’s birthday this year, I ordered him his first board game, Hoot Owl Hoot by Peaceable Kingdom. We had gone on a little mini family trip (right before all the COVID-19 really blew up here in the US) and I thought playing a board game together one night would be a fun activity for our trip. It turned out to be a good move, and one that Wyatt loved too, thank goodness. He wanted to open it and play right away, so we set it up and started playing, before we even had breakfast – Billy and I did have coffee though, I can’t function in the morning without tea or coffee. I don’t think I could have even handle a preschool level game before coffee…

Anyway, we enjoyed Hoot Owl Hoot so much that we ended up adding a few more Peaceable Kindgom games to Wyatt’s birthday wish list. My dad bought him Snug as a Bug and I recently bought him Count Your Chickens for Easter, and we are having so much fun playing them. They are great to have right now, while we are sheltering-in-place, and also are great for play based learning for Wyatt. Overall I am very happy with them!

They all have very simple objectives, that are easy for kids to understand. In Hoot Owl Hoot, the point is to get all the owls back to their nest before the sun comes up. With Count Your Chickens, Mother Hen’s chicks have flown the coop and you need to get them all back home. And Snug as a Bug in a Rug you need to get all the stink bugs under the rug before they stink up the place – a concept that Wyatt finds hilarious.

Hoot Owl Hoot:

I think the game board for this game is so inviting! The rainbow swirl of colors leading to the big nest in the middle, the night sky, and of course those cute little owls. Players simply play a color card and move to that space – although if you have a sun card, that card must be played, moving the sun one step closer to dawn. This is a cooperative learning game, meaning that everyone works together on their turns, making a strategy to get all the owls to the nest without leaving one too far behind. I loved that concept, especially as this was Wyatt’s first time playing a game. It made everything so much easier, and teaches him about turn taking, which seems to be something we will need to continue working on… lol. It teaches skills like working together and problem solving as a team, such great and needed skills!

Count Your Chickens:

Ok so this game board is pretty cute too, with all of those adorable farm animals and bright colors. It makes me feel springy! In this game, you spin the spinner and move to the animal that the spinner lands on, counting the spaces as you go. Then you gather the same number of chicks as spaces you moved to the coop. This is a great game to work on counting skills, as you can count the squares and also count out the chicks. Again, this is a cooperative game, with no winners or losers. Everyone plays together, and wins and loses together.

Snug as a Bug in a Rug:

Snug as a Bug in a Rug is all about colors and matching and comparisons, like big and little. Before game play starts, you roll the die to see which attribute will be matched – color, number, or shape. Then for play, you simply spin the spinner, and find the matching bug. Once you do, you slip it under the rug! Another cooperative game, where the goal is to beat the game, not each other.

My husband teased me a little over the cooperative aspect of these games, and told me that of course I would find the most “hippie” games for Wyatt, although he did think it worked out well for our kiddo and is finding the cooperative part beneficial. I know this is a world that does often focus on winning and losing, and sometimes that is a reality yes that kids need to learn, that they may not always “win” but learning to cooperate, collaborate, and work together are also important to navigating life as well. I think our current situation in this country illustrates just how important it is to work together! Wyatt is learning to take turns, something he is kind of struggling with, and to play together as a team, skills he can take with him anywhere.

One other awesome bonus to these games – they are environmentally friendly! The plastic is corn based, and there is very little of it. The ink is soy, and the wood is FSC. They are 100% green which is fantastic, so I can feel good about that too. They are sturdy, attractive, and affordable at less than $20 each. I found mine online at Amazon and Target, but I imagine they can be found at other retailers as well.

Overall, we love these games. Wyatt loves playing, we love the family time and the learning, and I am planning on ordering more to add to our collection!