Do You Want to Play a Game?

Playing a game with a three-year-old is a unique experience. It takes a lot of patience, imagination and a complete lack of concern for following rules. We got this great set of games from Goliath Games and Pressman Toy Company and my son couldn’t wait to rip open the box and try every single toy, regardless of those pesky age recommendations.

We got started with Googly Eyes, where you get to wear funny glasses and draw pictures while your team guesses what you are drawing. I can tell this one is going to be a lot of fun as soon as he can draw something more than a scribble. The glasses have three sets of lenses and we had fun trying them on and just trying to draw any kind of picture!

Next up we gave Sequence a try. It’s a game of both strategy and luck, played with a board game, cards and chips. My son made up his own set of rules for this one involving the color-coded chips while I quietly snuck the cards out of view before they ended up all over the house. I thought this one looked like a good one to stash away until he’s a bit older.

The last one we opened, and the one my son keeps pulling off the shelf to play again, is Rummikub. Must be something about all those little tiles. He’s convinced he’s quite the Rummikub champion and keeps telling me he’s winning every time he fills up one of the trays.

Another game of luck and strategy, players take turns placing numbered tiles in runs (consecutive numbers of the same color, like 2, 3, 4 in red) and groups (three or more of the same number in different colors, like a red 9, a blue 9 and a black 9), rummy style. The Joker tiles can be any color or number. The object is to be the first to play every tile on your rack. The “board” changes all the time as players adjust the tiles on the table.

As much as my son loves trying to play all these games, his ultimate goal is to throw all the pieces everywhere and create as big of a mess as possible. So you can see why Sequence was hidden away with all its little pieces. But he’s quite attached to Rummikub so it’s a good thing all the little tiles are an easy clean-up. We even make a sort of game out of that part.