Thanks to Peaceable Kingdom for providing product for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.
My girls both seem to have an affinity for board games. Little Layah has been eagerly playing the likes of Candy Land for almost a year now, and she’s still just shy of 3! Darah’s interest developed right around the same time last year, only she was 4 1/2. It has been a little bit tricky finding games that both girls can successfully play, but we’ve certainly found some over the past year.
One of the things that has become very obvious to me, though, is that the older child is more focused on who is going to win, and therefore, who is going to lose. We have had MANY lessons on good sportsmanship during our board game sessions, and we now end every game with shaking hands and congratulating the winner, as well as every other player on a good game. This strategy has been helpful!
But I have still been on the search for a game that didn’t focus on “every kid for herself” and on being the first or the best as an individual. Oh, and it still needs to be fun (sorry…I’ve found quite a few very dull “cooperative” games out there). Dinosaur Escape has been the game I’ve been looking for, friends!
Dinosaur Escape allows every player (2-4 at a time can join in) to participate in the same goal: get the dinosaurs safely to dinosaur island before the volcano erupts! The volcano is noted as one face on the dice, and every time it gets rolled, one more piece of the volcano is built. Meanwhile, players work to move the dinosaurs out of the deserts and to uncover the coins that have the dinosaurs on the other side of them. That’s the ticket to dinosaur island. But watch out for the T-Rex! If he gets uncovered, all dinos have to move back to the desert and work their way back to the other terrains.
The game has an element of memory to it, but all players can work together to try to remember the locations of various cards. My kids aren’t able to remember all of the rules without an adult present, but as long as we are on hand, they do a great job of playing. I do have to remind them that they don’t “own” any of the dinosaurs and that they can move any one that they want, and that it is a game where either they will both win or the volcano will win. Since it is such a break from the norm with games, it is taking a while for that to sink in, but when they win, they do celebrate together. I love having a game in our stash that focuses on teamwork! And they ask to play this one frequently, which tells me that they are very intrigued by it and find it to be fun.
This is a game I’d definitely recommend, especially if you’d like to have a game that’s not as likely to induce feelings of competitiveness between siblings. You can purchase it online for $17.99.
I’d love to hear if you have another cooperative game that you’d recommend to others!
