I’m so excited to announce that I am part of the blogging review team for a FANTASTIC educational resource website called Educational Insights (this is a site you are going to want to bookmark, promise). Every month I’ll be bringing you at least one review and giveaway opportunity. I’ll be introducing you to some innovative and exciting educational products for young children, and you’ll get a chance to win, of course! Let the fun begin!

My very first review for the company is of a new game called Grandma’s Trunk. This is designed for kids in Kindergarten and up, and it is actually 5 games rolled into 1 (hooray for toys that can do more than one thing!). From the website, here are the 5 games that can be played with this set:

1. What Comes Next? Take turns placing the letter cards in the trunk in alphabetical order.

2. Memory Time Take turns repeating the sequence of cards already in the trunk, then adding one of your own and challenging other players to remember them all, in order.

3. Grandma’s Riddles Deal the cards, then read a riddle and race to see who has the letter card that answers it!

4. Letter Sequence Memory Deal the cards and take turns putting them in the trunk in alphabetical order, repeating the items already in the trunk and challenging other players to remember them all, in alphabetical order.

5. Grandma’s Adventures Place the letter cards in the trunk and take turns pulling them out to create a cooperative story: “Once upon a time there was a grandma. She saw an iguana.”

While most of these games are too advanced for Darah at this point, we are already playing with the set by looking at the letter cards and practicing the sounds each one makes (she LOVES practicing letter sounds at school, so it’s great to continue those lessons at home!). Since there are so many different things to do with this set, I can tell that it will be played with for several more years, which makes it an excellent value.

I’m very pleased with all the different things you can do with Grandma’s Trunk, and with the overall quality of the game. I’d say that at $14.99, this is a bargain price for a game that will really help develop reading, memory and story telling skills.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a copy of Grandma’s Trunk! Score!
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