Tag: family entertainment

How to Play – Sophie’s Seashell Scramble

Part of the fun in raising Zoey is finding things that delight and educate her; I want to find fun, creative board games to play with her during our family game nights! This week we played Sophie’s Seashell Scramble by Educational Insights for up to 4 players! 

Zoey has loved this game since before she even knew how to play! She would pull everything out and play with the Sophie and the seashells, honestly it’s surprising that there are no missing pieces! Then we learned how to play the game together, and she loves it even more! She loves picking up the shells with the Sophie pincers; we find it super fun and easy collecting and replacing the seashells to the mats and back.

Let’s play!

IN THE BOX
  • A game-board (part of the box)
  • A Sophie pincer
  • A spinner
  • 20 seashells in five patterns
  • 4 seashell snack mats
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Remove everything from the game box, then scatter the seashells onto the seascape on the inside bottom of the box.
  2. Give each player a seashell snack mat.
  3. The youngest player takes the first turn. Play then passes to the left of that player and onward.
  4. On your turn, spin the spinner, pick up the Sophie pincers, and follow the directions below according to your spin. Then it’s the next player’s turn!
    • Pattern: Find a shell that matches the pattern (the color of the shell doesn’t matter) and use Sophie to pick it up and place it on your seashell snack mat.
    • One Shell: Pick any one shell from the seascape and use Sophie to pick it up and place it on your seashell snack mat.
    • Two Shells: Pick any two shells from the seascape and use Sophie to pick them up and place them on your seashell snack mat.
    • Big Wave: A big wave is crashing the shell-collecting party. All players lose a shell back to the seascape.
    • Hungry Otter: Use Sophie to take any shell from another player and place it on the matching space on your seashell snack mat.
    • Otto the Octopus: Take any shell from for seashell snack mat and place it on the table next to Otto. Spin the spinner, if you land on Otto or the pattern that matches the shell you chose you can take your shell back and take any other shell from the seascape. If you don’t land on Otto or the pattern that matches your shell, Otto tosses your shell back into the seascape.
  5. If you’re the first player to collect all of the shells to match the ones on your seashell snack mat, you win!

ENJOY!

How to Play – Hi Ho! Cherry-O!

Part of the fun in raising Zoey is finding things that delight and educate her; I want to find fun, creative board games to play with her during our family game nights! This week we played Hi Ho! Cherry-O by Milton Bradley! 

Zoey has loved this game since before she even knew how to play! She would pull everything out and sort the fruits by color or put the puzzle together, honestly it’s surprising that there are no missing pieces! Then we learned how to play the game together, and she loves it even more! She loves counting out the fruits; we find it super fun and easy collecting and replacing the fruit to the baskets and back. 

Let’s play!

IN THE BOX
  • A game-board
  • A spinner
  • A puzzle
  • 10 “apples”
  • 10 “blueberries”
  • 10 “cherries”
  • 10 “oranges”
  • 4 baskets
INSTRUCTIONS (CLASSIC)
  1. Place each basket in the game-board hole to the left of its matching color tree/bush.
  2. Each player chooses a tree/bush and places the matching colored fruit in each of the game-board holes.
  3. The puzzle is only for co-operative games so place it back in the box.
  4. The player whose birthday comes next takes the first turn. Play then passes to the left of that player and onward.
  5. On your turn, spin the spinner, then follow the directions below according to your spin. Then it’s the next player’s turn.
    • One Fruit: Pick one fruit from your tree/bush and put it in your basket.
      • Two Fruits: Pick two fruits from your tree/bush and put them in your basket.
      • Three Fruits: Pick three fruits from your tree/bush and put them in your basket.
      • Four Fruits: Pick four fruits from your tree/bush and put them in your basket.
      • Bird or Dog: Someone’s nibbling at your fruit! Take two fruits out of your basket and place them back on your tree/bush (if you only have one fruit, put that one back. If you have none, do nothing).
        • Spilled Basket: Uh-Oh! Take all of the fruits out of your basket, and place them back on your tree/bush.
  6. If you’re the first player to have all 10 fruits in your basket say “HI HO! CHERRY-O!” You win!
INSTRUCTIONS (CO-OPERATIVE)
  1. Place each basket in the game-board hole to the left of its matching color tree/bush.
  2. Each player chooses a tree/bush and places the matching colored fruit in each of the game-board holes.
  3. Break up the puzzle and place the pieces facedown near the game-board.
  4. The player whose birthday comes next takes the first turn. Play then passes to the left of that player and onward.
  5. On your turn, spin the spinner, then follow the directions below according to your spin. Then it’s the next player’s turn.
    • One Fruit: Pick one fruit from your tree/bush and put it in your basket.
    • Two Fruits: Pick two fruits from your tree/bush and put them in your basket.
    • Three Fruits: Pick three fruits from your tree/bush and put them in your basket.
    • Four Fruits: Pick four fruits from your tree/bush and put them in your basket.
    • Dog: Remove one fruit from your basket and place it back on the matching tree/bush (if you have none, do nothing).
    • Spilled Basket: Remove two fruits from your basket, and place them back on your tree/bush (if you only have one fruit, put that one back. If you have none, do nothing).
    • Bird: Turn one piece of the bird puzzle face up. Every time you turn over a puzzle piece, try to fit it into the bird puzzle. If you can’t do this leave it face up until it fits.
  6. The players win if they pick all the fruits and say “HI HO! CHERRY-O!”, before the puzzle is completed. The bird wins if the puzzle gets completed before all the fruit is picked.

ENJOY!