My kids and I play with board games every weekend and one of our all-time favorite games to play is The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game from Educational Insights. Take note that I am using the term “board game” loosely because it does not have a game board, but a big tree, a roulette, several logs, and a lot of colored acorns.
The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game can be quite complicated at first, but when we have played it several times we have gotten used to the game without having to peak at the instructions. The objective of this game is quite simple. Each player has a log containing five holes of different colors; the first one to fill his or her log with color-matching acorns wins.
But to get there requires several stages of procedure. Before the game, all acorns are placed inside the tree-shaped bowl. Then, the roulette called “squirrel spinner” is given to the youngest player, who spins first. Each area where the arrow lands corresponds to specific directions. For instance, stopping on a color means the player grabs an acorn with the corresponding color from the tree using a tweezer called “squirrel squeezer” and places it with in the log with the matching color.
If it lands on “1” acorn, the player can choose any acorn to place in his or her log, as long as the colors match. If the spinner stops on “2” acorns, the player can choose any two acorns.
If the roulette lands on the sneaky squirrel (illustrated by a squirrel holding the acorn), the student can steal any colored acorn needed in his or her log from another player’s log. If it stops on a sad squirrel, the player loses his or her turn. However, if the spinner lands on the squirrel storm, the player has to put back all acorns on his or her log to the tree and skip a turn.
Despite the complex rules, The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game helps my preschoolers with matching skills, as well as developing fine motor skills, pre-handwriting skills (because of the handling of squirrel squeezer), social skills (interacting with other players), and strategic thinking. Like any board game, it helps my kids become good sports if they lose, which will come in handy once they become big enough to play sports.
Because of the game’s nature, the time it would take to finish a session could either be really fast or really slow. There is a completely new experience on every game we play.
Please note that this game has small parts that puts your children younger than 3 years at risk of choking if swallowed.
The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game is available on Amazon with a listed price of $21.99.