Hungry Hungry Hippos

Hungry for a game to keep your little ones occupied? They will be Hippo..tised by this game Hungry Hippos. I actually haven't got this game but one of my friends has and I was so impressed, Im geeting it for my daughters Birthday in March.

The Aim of the Game.

Hungry Hippos is designed with fun in mind and is best played with 2 to 4 players. Anyone can play from the age 3 and up, including us adults. I think possible a 2 year old could play but you have to be careful that they dont put the little balls in their mouths.

All you do is set the hippos up on the edge of the board and place all the balls in the central area. After the count of 3, you press the lever down behind the hippo to extend his neck. This action opens his mouth and gobbles up the balls in immediate area. The winner is the one who has the most balls in the little compartment under the hippo.

What the child ( and adult) get out of this game

FUN!!! With a capital F. Jessica loved this game and she wouldn't stop giggling. She thought is was realy funny seeing the balls bouncing everywhere. She kept pressing the level down really quick so she could get all the balls in her hippos mouth. I don't think that I have ever played a game with her for so long. She adored it.

Children get an awful lot out of this game including some important skills.

Language.

Jess started naming all the hippos which took me by surprise really. This game promotes new language into a childs life in fun ways They could name the hippos, learn colours and of course the interaction with other children in the game, helps them to communicate with others

Math

You can get your child to count how many balls they have got and who can guess who is the winner by asking them who has the highest amount. Children cam learn to count up to 10, learn how to add up and take away and what order the numbers come in.

Social

The sear pleasure of a child interacting with others are great. Children learn to take turns, share and generally be part of a social group. This leads on to children expressing themselves better and making friends too.

Manipulation

To assemble the balls into the central area takes very fine finger skills, known as "Fine motor skills". While pressing down on the lever to open hippos mouth requires a bigger movement and often the whole body jumps up and down. Large movements like this are known as " Gross (big)motor skills" This are important for everyday movement and with hand eye co-ordination helps the child to pick up small objects or move the whole boby.

Mental/Emotional

A child can express themselves through the actions of this game. They can be quiet aggressive, playful, or happy. You can teach you child also the although it is good to win, they also need to learn how to lose, with grace. Mentally the "feel good" factor is very high and all the above ways of learning all adds to this feeling. A child will get so much out of this game and the skills learned with take that child into adulthood.

Is it worth getting?

yes, yes, YES!! Like a said at the beginning, Jess really enjoyed this game. Her eyes lit up, she couldn't stop laughing and giggling and din't stop talking about it for two or three days. If you are wondering whether is was a one off incident,nope it wasn't. Jess' friend, William, got this for Christmas and we go and see him every week. Jess always asks his mum if she can play it, and will even play on her own!

If you are thinking about getting a fun, basic, yet really enjoyable game for 3 years olds, this is the one. Hungry Hippos costs £9.99 from Argos or any good toy shops.