Cranium Balloon Lagoon for big and small kids !! (Cranium Balloon Lagoon)

Member Name: takeachance

Product:	Cranium Balloon Lagoon
Date:	21/10/08 (143 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Whole family fun

Disadvantages: The music is annoying after a while

Please note following is Hasbros jargon and my review does follow... Hence first paragraph tells you what is should do and second paragraph what it does do in my opinion .
Cranium balloon lagoon is aged at 5+
It claims to develop counting, matching and spelling skills
Product Dimensions: 998g
Boxed Weight Product: 1.8kg
Item Model Number: CRBAL
ASIN: B0007sv7ho
Product Description:
Step right up to Cranium Balloon Lagoon, a wondrous carnival of fun for kids! The game's exciting sights and sounds make spelling, matching, and counting fun - so kids learn as they play. Spin the colourful merry-go-round to choose an activity, start the musical timer, and jump into one of the four exciting Balloon Lagoon activities; fish for letters at Letter Lake, match treats at Snack Hut, spin a picture puzzle at Tumble Tides, or flip frogs at Frog Pond. With each success, kids collect balloons and move closer to victory.The first to collect 15 balloons wins! Each game lasts about 15 minutes, but kids love to play again and again, making Balloon Lagoon the perfect game for filling a few spare moments or a full afternoon! The rules and assembly are easy, and reading is not required, so kids can enjoy the game on their own, though we guarantee you'll love to play too!

Okay jargon over and my first hand experience of this...... My neice got this for her fourth birthday, I looked at the box saw age 5 and thought I dont think that this is going to be much fun at all! But she pestered me to open it for her and I must say it was very easy to put together and the pieces are large, plastic and bright just as youd expect for a young childs toy. In fact looking at it im pretty sure that perhaps the 5+ age is a bit generous and may be because of a few smaller parts, ie the balloons that act as points and the dice maybe?
I read the instructions and sat the game on the floor as its fairly large and the four games are fairly far apart for short arms. The first game I decided to play to help guide the children, my 4 year old neice played as did a 7 year old and a 3 year old. Picking who we wanted to be caused a few arguments as everyone wanted to be the whale !!(easiest way to describe this is choosing who you want to be in monopoly for example the dog, boot , ship etc)
The pieces are large blue rubber and have holes on top to add the ballons as you win points. The first player pushes the roundabout (like a spin top) and the delightful music starts (the music is delightful until around 3 hours later when youre wishing the batteries would die ha ha ) Whichever of the 4 games you are playing you need to try to finish before the music stops. The frog flipping was a huge winner although I must admit that i found it the hardest of the 4 games! You need to see how many frogs you can flip into the pond in the allocated time! The music is a good idea as if it was timed with a timer I would envisage arguments - there is no arguing with the music!
I have to say the kids picked it up very easily even the 3 year old, although she was perhaps the first to wander off but not before a few rounds of this! it was a huge hit ! To summarise great fun for all the family young and old and I have bought it for my three year old for christmas. Under a tenner at the moment at The Entertainer its got to be worth a shot!

Summary: Excellent game, hours of fun for under a tenner