Recently, I have been unpacking the fantastically colourful and fun games from Orchard Toys. This UK publisher of games for children is both educational and is a must for any household with young children. Focusing on toddlers to children entering primary school, Orchard Toys has plenty of games to choose from, and in this blog, we’ll be looking at some of the best for 4-year-olds.
Shape Skills – Insey Winsey Spider
Many of the games from Orchard cover a variety of educational benefits. Insey Winsey, based on the children’s rhyme, has your little coloured spider trying to traverse the waterspouts through rolling custom shape dies. Insey moves to space with the designated shape, with the spider first to the top declared the winner!
Insey Winsey is a great opportunity for children to learn a little bit of dice rolling luck. As adults know, the odds do not always turn in your favour, and this racing-style game benefits from the mechanic. Additionally, you can play with the number dice instead of the shape dice, making it into a counting and maths-style game. While the gameplay elements remain the same, it adds some variability to the game and new skills for children to learn.
Of course, games are social spaces, and all Orchard games promote this interaction. As this game is for older children compared to others, they will be getting used to waiting for opponents to take turns and steal victories away too. Combining these maths skills with shape sorting skills also helps develop vital observational skills needed later in school education.
Colours – Mucky Trucks
Cleaning is something nobody enjoys, but mud and smiling trucks just might get your children around the table. Mucky Trucks is a colour game where a die is rolled to determine which truck is cleaned. Once all your trucks are clean, then a winner is found. Appropriate for children aged 3 to 6, this more advanced game has all the elements of an exciting, tense match!
With an element of chance, with the opportunity for a mud splat to be applied to a car, this colours game makes for a great birthday present, just as a child turns three. Children will be calling out the names of colours and having to match correctly the different hues and shades. A great place for learning and watching. Building skills like concentration, analysis, and interpretation, Orchard has really provided so much hidden learning in such a tiny box.
With cute Cars the movie, eyes on the trucks and a lovable elephant who cleans them, children will love the rolling and flipping nature of the game. For any children who love
their vehicles, this is an obvious addition to any collection. Plus, it can be played with family and friends alike, as up to four can play at once.
Imaginative Play – Shopping List Game
The absolute classic of a game is the shopping list game. New grannies and parents will smile with fond memories of this one from years gone by. This game has been a favourite and hit since its inception over 25 years ago. Taking an everyday activity like shopping, this game is good for children as old as seven years old to bring out and play. Plus, you can add clothes and fruit and vegetable expansions just like adult board games.
When you’re out and about with a child, there is nothing better than describing the world around you. And The Shopping List game brings that to your floor or table. Scan your list and match the lotto cards as quickly as you can. But this has a spin of remembering where each item is placed; flip over something that isn’t on your list? Play passes onto the person next to you.
Socially, this game is fun for all at the table. Those skills of remembering will come in handy as they age. And imaginatively, children can think of farm shops, supermarkets, or even shopping malls as they collect their lists. If there is a must-have Orchard Toys game, then this one is one of those close to the top of the list.
Spelling – Match and Spell Game
Enter yet another top game, in fact one of the top five best sellers according to Orchard Toys. Now nearing school years, language skills are developing fast, and it’s time for simple spelling. Children will have to recognise letters, sound them out, and say the words written down. While a more obvious lesson, Match and Spell has all the engaging elements of any Orchard Game.
This game is great for growing independence as children can easily play solo. Whilst other discussions will be ongoing as you see your child flourish. Patterns and rules for the English language will be deployed as they progress to the blank side of the board. In this more complex game, children will have to know which letters spell cat or milk without the aid of the board.
Perfect for pre-schoolers, Match and Spell will have children well on their way to reading and writing skills required in education. Older siblings can take responsibility for teaching, whilst parents can help with phonics and sounds. It’s great that this game expands as the child learns, offering a long-term teaching partner for at least two years.
Social Skills – Goose on the Loose
A board game to discuss now! Families will be filled with laughter as you chase those geese round the pond. With 3D pieces and lots of goose honking, this game uses
colours in a social setting to drive the learning along. Like many of the games, the hidden benefits lie just beneath the surface. The aim is to collect one of each goose colour on your personal board in this simple but fun roll and move game.
Goose on the Loose is more like the classic children’s games of old, from Ludo to Game of Life. Goose on the Loose has more educational benefits than some of the old games but is no less fun because of it. As you roll your coloured die, you’ll be moving around the board, collecting your gooses. Parents will enjoy this one as much as the children, as you whittle away precious moments together.
With other skills like colour perception, observation, and matching skills required, this game is a social one. Conversations will, of course, flow in this game as it has a wide age range, meaning it will be coming back to the table for years to come as well. Goose on the Loose is a must have Orchard Toys game!
