Educational Fun (Orchard Toys Farmyard Dominoes)

Member Name: DavyMichelle

Product:	Orchard Toys Farmyard Dominoes
Date:	04/07/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy, Sturdy, Excellent Quality, Educational and Fun

Disadvantages: None Really

Orchard Toys Farmyard Dominoes are a great way to introduce young children to taking turns, playing games and recognising animals, colours and matching pairs. They cost £5.87 from Amazon, and being a popular toy you might well be able to pick this up cheaply second hand like my daughter did.

The box itself is good quality, and designed to last, so you can safely store your dominoes in it while not in use. Inside the box you'll find a large amount of sturdy, chunky cardboard dominoes. Each domino is large enough for a young child to grasp and handle easily, right from about two years of age if you've got a bright kid you want to introduce these to early. The recommended age is three to five years really, and I'd say that's about right.

Printed on the dominoes are a range of colourful farmyard pictures including horses, sheep, pigs, chickens, dogs, tractors and cows. Behind each animal is a brightly coloured block of colour, and the matching pictures always have the same matching colour behind them to help make the pairing process easy for young children.

To play the game, you deal out seven dominoes each and leave the rest in a pile, just like you would if you were playing regular dominoes. Then each player has to try to fit one of their dominoes to one end of the gameplay. This starts by the youngest player choosing a domino to place in the middle. If a player can't go at any time, because they haven't got a match for the current gameplay, then they have to take another domino from the pile. Play finishes with one player putting the last of their dominoes out.

The grandson is four and finds this is a really enjoyable way to spend ten minutes playing with an adult. He found the concept easy to understand, and learned how to play in just a few tries. Matching up the animals is easy and fun, as is competing to try to win at something. This makes the game an excellent concentration exercise for kids who otherwise have a tendancy to let their attention wander when you're trying to do activities with them!

I think these are an excellent buy for playgroups, childminders and parents everywhere. I think the price tag is a little on the steep side, but in fairness you do get excellent quality for your money. A set of these will easily last more than one child, even with a bit of rough play. These are good for encouraging social skills in youngsters as well showing them how to match things up, so for the price you're getting a good educational activity that's also lots of fun.

Summary: Highly Recommended