It's all a game!
Playing games is a fantastic way to entertain your children – and yourself. Here at Supernanny we are big fans of getting the children away from the computer or television and sitting down for some family game time! Here are some of the best, old and new. All are playable with young children (as long as you’re careful with any small parts) and, because they’re such good fun, should also appeal to older siblings, friends and parents too..
Since it first went on sale in 1990, this game has performed consistently well and it’s easy to see why. This is a classic, with just the right amount of suspense for little ones, and fun for all. It was even recommended by Jo Frost herself on one of the Supernanny episodes!
All you have to do is make sure the pirate is screwed down into the barrel and then put your coloured swords into the slots. You can play this in two ways – trying not to be the one who releases the pirate, or trying to be the one who releases him (our testers’ choice). Either way, this is a game which is easy to understand, easy to play and was very popular with our three year old tester, his sister and the entire family.
5/5
Orchard Toys make lovely games for small children, and this is one of the best. It’s a great game for very young children, helping them search out the shopping that’s needed for their trolley, remember where particular cards are, patiently wait their turn to play the game, and (hopefully) learn that they can’t always win.
The joy of this game, which, once again, could be described as a classic, is that it’s so simple. Each player gets a shopping list and tries to fill their trolley with the goods that they need. They must try and remember where they saw the cards they need and the first to complete their list is a winner.
This was a huge success with all our testers, including a two year old, three year old and five year old. It makes little ones feel that they’re grown-up enough to play a “real” board game, but isn’t too babyish for older brothers and sisters. If they like this, by the way, they will probably also like another great Orchard Toys game, Tummy Ache.
5/5
Our two-year-old tester loved this game (although his older brother was loath to play it because he thought In the Night Garden was beneath him!)
It’s a lovely game, beautifully designed and very, very appealing for the huge numbers of fans of Makka Pakka, the Tombliboos and Upsy Daisy!
Simple to set up, players must take it in turns to spin the multi-coloured Ninky Nonk spinning top and see if one of the tokens you need for your playing card comes up. Good for improving your child’s matching skills, it also encourages them to mime washing their faces and cleaning their teeth.
Good fun and easy to understand, albeit expensive.
4/5
The dotty dinosaurs in this game need to find their missing spots? Players throw the dice to match shapes or colours and be the first to cover their dinosaur board. This is educational without being boring, and proved very popular with our pre-school testers.
4/5
This brand new game from Orchard Toys aims to capitalise on young children’s (especially young boys’) fascination with monsters! The idea is that youngsters will learn about colours and numbers as they race to build a friendly monster, and this is certainly true.
Our young testers enjoyed this game, but the littlest one did get a touch bored when his monster didn’t take shape as he might have liked. Still, there are a few different suggestions for how to play this one, depending on a child’s age, so it maybe he wasn’t ready for the more difficult one.
Nicely designed and good fun, though perhaps not quite as fabulous as some of the others!
3/5