After afternoon reading and rest time (my preferred variety of R&R), I gather the kids around the dining room table to play a game. It’s a fun way to pick up the pace after a snoozy, post-lunch slump. This week we played Clumsy Thief Junior, a cute freebie I got from Timberdoodle in exchange for this review. My kids all love it and don’t realize they’re practicing math facts. Wah ha ha ha… (That’s an evil laugh for the record).
Clumsy Thief Junior is designed for ages 5+ and is easy to pick up. Rules are simple. Cards consists of an assortment of fruits and veggies, with a few wild cards thrown in; the goal is to match like cards and create stacks that add to 10.
The fun part is being able to steal stacks of cards from your siblings other players. Stealing stacks goes on round after round of gameplay; there are raccoon cards which are not only adorable but allow you to steal any stack you want at any time. Watch out for the basket card too — that trumps the raccoon. It’s all very cute. My kids are very competitive and went nuts for this game.
I loved — most of all — even besides the addition fact practice, that the game is short. We played two rounds in under 15 mins.
I love my kids so much, but sometimes I don’t want an elaborate activity. As a mom, I just want something practical, to the point, easy to pick up and go, but still fun. Bonus if its educational and interactive, and I can count it as school. This is all the things.
By the way, even the youngest mathematicians in the family should find making pairs easy; each variety of produce consists of only one math fact per pair. So all the one cards and nine cards are plums. The sixes and fours are cabbages.
We enjoyed Clumsy Thief Junior, from Timberdoodle, and I think your family will too. It’s part of their Kindergarten curriculum kit.
