FUN-Educational Games....there really are some out there...Who would've thunk it???

I was at our local big box department store with the kiddies the other day and we were browsing the toy section....really not too bad but the Princess is on a "Gimmie" kick lately so I really had to put my foot down. Anyway, I found a end aisle shelf with some games on it and since we will be doing the 15 hour + trip to see Nana & Grampie on the East Coast in about 3 weeks I decided to it out. The games I found were 1 To-Go game travel set of 6 games in a carrying case and the other a game called Can-Do-Roo (what?). I took them to the price checker and scanned them cause the sign said $10 above the shelf...feeling a bit frugal I need to know if it just the games under the sign...the games I found were on the bottom 2.
So....the To-Go Game travel game pack scanned in at.....wait for it.......$5 (CAD). (In my head I am thinking....Christmas, Birthdays, etc....) Putting the travel game pack in the cart, I scanned the "Can-Do-Roo" (must be regular price, like $15.00 right???)....well it scanned up at get this.......$5 (CAD) too?!!?!!!???!!!!!!! Isn't that wild?!!! So I put it in my cart and made my way to the checkout..

When I got home I read the directions for the "Can-Do-Roo" game....it is made by Patch Products, as it the To-Go Game. And the game is one of fun-education. You learn and have fun. What???? Does this really happen? Learning while you play games???? I remember theses games were frowned upon because when I received games that were dual purposed as a child I didn't play with them...but as a parent now I see every opportunity as a possible teaching tool. Can-Do-Roo is just that.

So what is the game????
Well, the game comes with a kangaroo stuffie with a pouch. In the pouch, there are 96 chips. The chips are colour coded:
blue- "hop to" chips (hop to the colour/ shape/ number {hop the number of times on chip- if number if
          greater than their age, if less than players age- give back the chip}
orange- "name it" chips (younger player names the  letter while the older player names something that
               starts with the letter)
green- "act & sound like" chips (act/sound like the animal)
purple- "give it up" chips (give up the chip to a player and it becomes a point for the receiver)
red- "stop" chips (game ends).
The goal is to collect the most chips before the "stop" chip is drawn.
The game's winner is decided by the number of points at the end (count the chips get 1 point per chip) or the first to collect a pre-determined number of chips (at the beginning).

The Princess and I decided to play while Cheeky Monkey watched....he laughed as we imitated animals, hopped around the house. The Princess had a blast while she learned her shapes, colours, letters, numbers, and pretend play. We must have played a half dozens of times in one day.  We will keep playing as often as we can a week...
Possible chip topics I am thinking of of adding in the future are other things that she can learn such as more shapes (cube, cylinder, pyramid, hexagon, pentagon, sphere); fruits, vegetables, numbers greater than the ones already in the game (such as the tens up to 100), exercises (ie: jumping jacks, hop on one foot, clapping,  backwards walking), build a letter; and later add in things such as sight words, addition, subtraction, and more as the kids age. The possibilities are endless with this game.

Here's the YouTube video found at www.patchproducts.com (Patch's website)

Anything Roo Can Do, You Can Do Too!™ (www.patchproducts.com)

From the information on the Patch Product website, they seem to want to make learning fun a priority when they develop their games. They have an entire line of educational products, from lacing cards, ABD recognition games, early learning centres (ie: math, phonics), and sorting. They also have pocket and tabletop charts, where they have sight word kits, and a counting pocket chart, to name a few. you should check them out and see what products they make, some may tickle your educational fancy. I know I will be on the look out for more of their games.

What a great way to start my adventure into beginning some unschooling for the Princess and Cheeky Monkey!!! 
Cheers,