I was just telling you this morning about Sophie loving her new Nintendo 3DS but, here at The Madhouse, we also love getting back to basics and rediscovering some of the more traditional games and pursuits. I've told you before about the Slow Toys movement that I love (I'm all for toys that need imagination rather than batteries to work!), as well as Bear Grylls' campaign to get kids back outdoors having good old fashioned fun and adventures. Well, one of the simple toys that I remember from my childhood at my grandparents' house was an old basket filled with battered old packets of cards held together with fraying rubber bands ! When Cartamundi asked if we'd like to try out some of their card games, I thought it would be the ideal way to resurrect this tradition.
We got four different card games to play with and review - Farmyard Donkey, Pairs on Wheels, Happy Families and Jungle Snap. All very simple but the girls absolutely love them and keep asking if we can play on a daily basis.
I think they love the fact that it can all be put out (and put away again) with a moment's notice so I'm more likely to agree to play a quick game when we're short on time than if they ask to play a long-winded board game. They also love the fact that the games are quick to play so there's no time to get bored. Their particular fave is Snap because it's so fast-paced.
Other games are good for teaching them to concentrate though, which is why I like Pairs. The fact that you can also use the brightly coloured cards as reading cards, for Juliette to practise her reading on, is just an added bonus.
What I haven't had time to do yet is show the girls how to use the two packs of normal playing cards to build castles. I have fond memories of doing that with my grandparents so it will be great fun to do it all over again with my own cards. I remember how gratifying it was to create a big construction using the whole pack of cards, then knock the whole thing down at the end !
star rating : 4/5
RRP : 99p each
for more information : www.cartamundi.co.uk
Disclosure : We received some packs of playing cards from Cartamundi in order to write an honest review.
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Its nice to see kids enjoying traditional games still :) my daughter loves playing snap
ReplyDeletePierre has been cracking us up - he keeps winning at snap because he yells snap every time he puts a card down, whether or not it's a pair !
DeleteLooking for more card games for Grace, these look nice and large, that's what we want. So going to find these out. Thanks for review
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