REVIEW: Eric Carle’s ABC Game

Sharing, turn-taking and a little bit of patience evade many children between the ages of three to five, but encouraging these qualities through the medium of board game is a possibility.

The Eric Carle ABC Game from University Games, will not only help to develop these skills but also introduce preschoolers to letters, capitals and lower case.

Forget the phonics for once, we all need to know the alphabet – try phonics out on an optician or call centre.

Little ones will take turns to move around the board and learn to match little and big letter cards according to which space a spinner sends them to.

This gentle board game is illustrated with the delightful images of The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Eric Carle’s ABC book.

This game is striking in both simplicity and appearance and thankfully, mainly free from plastic.

Most of the components are quality card based, with just a spinner arm and the base of counters being plastic.

Of course, some adult engineering may be necessary to make sure little ones have a chance to win, lose or ditch the competitive edge altogether.

Chopsy Baby reporter Debbie Adams, tested the Eric Carle ABC game out with four-year-old daughter Megan and four-year-old friends Maisie and Oscar on a play date.

Debbie says: “This is a lovely game, with its pictures and general overall quality. My daughter has independently forged ahead with her reading and attempts at writing and whilst I don’t want to push her too hard outside of school, this game really appealed to her sense of fun and interest in literacy.

“I was really surprised how well all three children played together – with adult supervision – without it turning into a punch up over turn-taking.

“You don’t need to be an Eric Carle fan to appreciate this game. It’s simple yet challenging and would be a beautiful Christmas gift for a nursery aged child. Top marks.”

£10.99 at Amazon
www.amazon.co.uk/University-Games-Eric-Carles-Game/dp/B001AXC96Y