Counting, Colours and Contrasts! (Paul Lamond Very Hungry Caterpillar Game)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Paul Lamond Very Hungry Caterpillar Game
Date:	27/01/09 (352 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun game for young children

Disadvantages: none

Both my daughters love the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and can virtually recite the whole book from memory. This was why when I saw the game of the book I thought it would make a very good Christmas present for my youngest and told my sister who was looking for some suggestions. I knew it was a good choice when on Christmas Day Natalie opened the present and immediately wanted to play the game. Already knowing the story was a great motivator for wanting to play the game!

Also, all the art work on the box and the board is exactly the same as the wonderful illustrations in the book so it all looked very familiar right from the start. On the back of the box there is a message from Eric Carle saying how important it is to share time with young children through stories and games. I fully agree with what he says and also by seeing his endorsement you know that it's not just a rip off on his book.

The game is described as 'a game of Counting, Colours and Contrasts'. The aim of the game is for players to move their caterpillar around the board, feeding it on the way, so that by the time it reaches the finish it will have turned into a butterfly!

The game is quite easy to set up although the first time you do have to make up some small caterpillar trays in which to collect the food. There is also a spinner to make up too but both of these are really very simple. The board is very bright and colourful with a stepping stone path that all the players have to follow. Every so often there is a feeding station where you can collect foods - these are divided up into fruit, picnic foods and a leaf - all the things that the caterpillar munches away at in the story. There are also occasional instructions to stop and spin either a sun or a moon which are the two pictures you can see on the spinner. However, it is much easier to spin a sun as there are four of these and only one moon!

At the start each player chooses a different colour caterpillar. The youngest player always goes first and they have to spin the spinner to determine how many moves they will make. If the spinner stops on a sun the player moves the number of moves on that sun but if it stops at the moon it does not move because caterpillars can only eat during the day! At the food stations there are little cardboard circles with pictures of the different foods on which have to be collected before you can move on. The player who collects all his food and arrives at the finish first is the winner.

It is really a very simple game but I have to say that both my three and five year old daughters love playing it. The first time we played we were a little bit uncertain about some of the rules such as whether you had to collect one of each food or if they could be the same and if you had to stop at all food stations. However, it was not difficult to decide amongst ourselves as to what the rules should be and then everyone enjoyed it very much.

There is not really much skill required for this game and I feel that adults playing with their children are soon likely to tire of it. However, for young children it's an entirely different matter if my two are anything to go by as they will happily play it again and again! It certainly helps with their counting as they need to work out the number of spaces they have to move but probably not as much with their colours because apart from choosing their colour at the start these don't really come into it. Moving the pieces will help with fine motor skills and also because they have to take turns, this helps with their social skills. It's also a very simple game to learn how to play so young children can start participating very quickly.

Overall this is an enjoyable game based on a lovely book. Everything has a good quality feel about it and it seems to be well thought out. The recommended ages are from three years but I suspect that older children would lose interest pretty quickly. It's also for between two and four players so quite ideal for sitting down as a family or for a couple of children to play on their own!

At the moment this game can be bought from Amazon for £5.99.

Summary: Feed the caterpillar and win the game!