Three Little Piggies

Please note: I am a participant of the Amazon Services Associates Program and have included “affiliate links” for all the toys. This means that when you click the pictures or links provided and make a purchase, I receive a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. You can read more about the Amazon Associates Program here. 

What you need to know: Three Little Piggies is a one player logic game for preschoolers. It comes with a game board, 3 piggies, a wolf, 3 uniquely shaped houses, and a booklet with 48 challenges that increase in level of difficulty as you go. There are two ways to play this game.

How to play: First, choose a challenge and set up the piggies as shown . Next you will have to arrange the house pieces so that they fit inside the board, around the piggies. Another way to play is to arrange the houses so that the piggies are “playing inside the houses”.Meaning you have to position the houses so that they cover the piggies. Take a look at an example below.

Here we set up the game as shown in the booklet. Now the idea is to cover the board with the 3 houses without moving the piggies.

Here is the completed puzzle. The solutions are in the back of each challenge in case you need some help.

Skills this works on: Visual processing and spatial awareness are needed to set up the game correctly. Visual-spatial skills, problem-solving, and logic are required to complete each puzzle. Games like this encourage concentration, independent play, and perseverance. Completing the puzzles is also a great confidence booster.

What else you should know: Once your kids have Mastered Three Little Piggies, look into Little Red Riding Hood, and Snow White for more unique one player strategies games by Smart Games.

My First BrainBox

Please note: I am a participant of the Amazon Services Associates Program and have included “affiliate links” for all the toys. This means that when you click the pictures or links provided and make a purchase, I receive a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. You can read more about the Amazon Associates Program here. 

What you need to know: This might be the most under rated game ever! For real, why doesn’t anyone know about this? It’s the best!

Okay, what you really need to know: BrainBoxes come in different topics and themes, which also vary in levels of difficulty. You can find one appropriate for kids as young as 4 to 8 and up. This Brainbox includes 55 cards, a sand timer and a die.

How to play: Choose a card and memorize as many details about the picture as you can in ten seconds. Then roll the die and hand the card to another player. The card has six questions on the back. You must answer the question corresponding to the number that the die lands on. If you answer the question correct, you keep the card. The person with the most cards after ten minutes wins the game.

Note: It’s not as easy as it sounds. You never know which detail the question will ask. So it’s important to really pay attention to everything on the card.

Here is an example of one of the pictures.

You may get asked any one of these questions. Do you think you can answer them after studying the card for ten seconds? Try it;).

Here is another example of a picture card.

and this is the back of the card with all the questions.

Skills this works on: Visual memory, perception, attention to detail, concentration, social interaction, following directions, counting, and working within a time frame.

What else you should know: It’s great for travel, fun for older kids to play with younger siblings, and overall just an excellent memory game for any age.

Tip: Ask your child to think of more questions that are not asked on the cards.

If you’d like to learn more about BrainBox and/or purchase, I’m including an affiliate link here.

Dotty Dinosaurs

Please note: I am a participant of the Amazon Services Associates Program and have included “affiliate links” for all the toys. This means that when you click the pictures or links provided and make a purchase, I receive a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. You can read more about the Amazon Associates Program here. 

What you need to know: Dotty Dinosaurs is a bingo like game that is both fun and educational. The fact that it involves dinosaurs makes it that much cooler;). It comes with 4 dinosaur cards, 2 dice, and 24 shapes and color dots.

The dinosaur cards are double-sided so you can choose to play by matching only colors (for younger kids).

or by shape and color (for more experienced players).

Skills it works on: Dotty Dinosaur encourage a quick reaction time, shape and color recognition, visual perception, turn taking, following directions, and sustained attention. It is recommended for ages 3-6.

You can purchase Dotty Dinosaurs here.

Silly Street

Please note: I am a participant of the Amazon Services Associates Program and have included “affiliate links” for all the toys. This means that when you click the pictures or links provided and make a purchase, I receive a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. You can read more about the Amazon Associates Program here. 

About Silly Street:Silly Street is a super interactive board game that incorporates different aspects of development, challenging social emotional skills, creativity, motor abilities, and more in order to progress on the game board. The game board is an 8 piece floor puzzle that needs to be constructed prior to playing the game.

Here are just a few examples of the instructions on the cards.

More about silly Street: This game was specifically designed to support the development of soft skills such as confidence, grit, communication, curiosity, and problem-solving.

Why I love it: For all the reasons above. This game touches on all aspects of development while being silly and entertaining for little kids. The challenges also break up longer periods of sitting that board games require.

Skills it works on: Turn-taking, following directions, teamwork, motor skills, empathy, grit, communication, and creativity. It’s a great game for building confidence in little kids.

Tip: Be creative with using the challenge cards. Try using them without the board game to make everyday routines a little more silly and fun. You can incorporate them as movement breaks during homework, while waiting in line at a store or during travel.

If you’d like to purchase Silly Street, I am including an affiliate link for your convenience here

Dentist Play-Doh Set

What you need to know: This Play-Doh set comes with everything you need (including a battery operated drill) to make playing dentist as fun and realistic as possible;). Kids will mold teeth, squeeze “toothpaste” through the toothbrush, and roll braces with the stamping roller. In other words, this play set is awesome!

Please note: I am a participant of the Amazon Services Associates Program and have included “affiliate links” for all the toys. This means that when you click the pictures or links provided and make a purchase, I receive a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. You can read more about the Amazon Associates Program here. 

Check out this tooth!

I’m also obsessed with these braces (I think i did a good job).

Why I love this: It’s different, and the tools are actually functional. You can create a mouth filled with “teeth and braces,” pick them out with the tweezers and even use a working drill (with batteries) to pretend to fill a cavity. Playing with Play-Doh also has the additional benefits of helping build muscles in the hands and exposing to tactile sensory play that children often need and crave.

Skills it works on: Pretend play, creativity, fine motor skills, sustained attention, problem-solving, and patience.

Tip: Encourage two or more kids to play together to incorporate communication, sharing, and teamwork.

If you’d like to purchase this play set, I am including an affiliate link for your convenience here.

Jumping Jack

Please note: I am a participant of the Amazon Services Associates Program and have included “affiliate links” for all the toys. This means that when you click the pictures or links provided and make a purchase, I receive a small commission on the toy at no extra cost to you. You can read more about the Amazon Associates Program here. 

What you need to know: Jumping Jack is one of my go-to games first preschoolers. The quick and straightforward nature of the game makes it intriguing and easy to learn for younger children who are first beginning to play turn-taking reciprocal games.

To play: Spin the spinner, and pull the amount of carrots shown, but watch out if Jack the bunny jumps players have to try and catch him to win the game. If nobody catches Jack then the player with the most carrots is the winner.

Why I love it: The anticipation of waiting for Jack the bunny to jump keeps kids focused and engaged with the game.

Skills it works on: Turn-taking, following directions, counting, reaction time, fine motor, and working towards a goal.

If you’d like to purchase Jumping Jack, I’m including an affiliate link for your convenience here.

Diggin' Doggies

Please note: I am a participant of the Amazon Services Associates Program and have included “affiliate links” for all the toys. This means that when you click the pictures or links provided and make a purchase, I receive a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. You can read more about the Amazon Associates Program here. 

What you need to know: Diggin’ Doggies is a simple board game for preschoolers (3+).

Theme of the game: The doggies walk along a path searching for and picking up bones with their magnetic noses. The goal is to collect 3 bones that match your doggie’s color and bring them to your doggie’s house to win.

Diggin Doggies come with a game board, 4 doggies

12 doggie bones,

and a dice.

Why I love it: Diggin’ Doggies is a great first board game. It is simple but works on many important foundational skills. The magnetic noses also make it interactive and spark curiosity and interest in little kids.

Skills it works on: Color recognition, matching, counting, 1:1 correspondence, following directions, turn-taking, and sustaining attention to reach a goal.

Tip: Play with the whole family for some bonding time. Also, check out my blog post on ways to encourage kids to play board games here.

If you’d like to purchase Diggin’ Doggies, I am including an affiliate link for your convenience here.