Mellissa & Doug have a large range of wooden toys for children of all ages. At Christmas time I buy the toys my children have asked for and opt for a few wooden toys, this year my daughter age three got the Mellissa & Doug magnetic fishing game.

I purchased this from Amazon Uk priced £7.99 and free delivery.
Mellissa & Doug magnetic fishing game is suitable for children three years and up not suitable for children under this age.

Mellissa & Doug magnetic fishing game comes with a wooden fishing rod, a wooden board with the shapes inserted in the board. As for packaging this game was wrapped in shrink wrap clear plastic with a mellissa and doug sticker slapped on it. It does not have instructions with the game, however it is simple to work out. I do love the fact the game is handcrafted and painted. There was some wood dust on the board when we opened it this was easy wiped off with a cloth.

Mellissa and doug magnetic fishing game board is all wooden. Wooden board measures forty centimetres wide and 30 centimetres high. It come with ten aquatic animals, these are colourfully hand painted with a small magnet on the top of each one. The aquatic animals are different shapes and sizes with the turtle being the smallest and the whale being the largest in the game.
The fishing rod is a thin pole with string attached at the end, hanging from the end of the string is a wooden magnet.

The idea of the game is to hang the fishing rod magnet over the top of an aquatic animal to catch it. The magnets are strong and you only need to hover over the top of the animal to catch it by a few centimetres. Once caught you can lift it up from off the board , take it off the magnet and place to the side. After all the aquatic animal are caught you can do the puzzle by finding the right place to put them back of the board. There are no pictures to show where to put them so the child has to work out which one goes where.

Aquatic animal include shark, whale, turtle, dolphin, squid, octopus, jellyfish, seahorse, crab and a stingray.
The good thing about the Melissa & Doug magnetic wooden fishing game is the child can play it by themselves without any help from an adult. It is a one player game, that suits my daughter as she is on her own most days. My daughter has played with the game everyday since Christmas, she has so much fun with it. She can play it properly but have seen her cheat a few times by letting the magnet flop of the board but she does it for fun. She has also learned the names of each aquatic animal and now says " look mummy I caught a jellyfish " etc. I though it would be easy for her to find the proper spaces for the shapes to go back into but no, she has to try them , turn them until they fit.

The game is educational, working on hand and eye coordination and fine motor skills. I would highly recommend the Melissa & Doug magnetic wooden fishing game, great value, high quality that will keep your child entertained and let them have fun.