a.j.harman

'Games from the Deep, Dark Wood' is a charming set of four brand new games designed for 'The Gruffalo' the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

Each game takes moments to learn and plays in around 15 minutes. The games are designed to be accessible for children age 4 and upwards.

'What's  a gruffalo?' is a memory game where players are racing to be the first to complete a picture of The Gruffalo. Each player has 10 tiles with parts of the picture. A card is turned over and players have to find the matching part. If they pick the correct tile they can put it on their board, if not - remember what it was as you will need it later.

'Oh help! Oh no!' is a dexterity game about hiding mice in the wood. Each player has 5 mice and there is a large central picture of the deep, dark wood. A card is turned over to show which part of the wood players need to hide their mice. From a distance flick your mice to land in the right place on the board - in the rocks, on the path etc. If the mouse lands in the right place then you leave the mouse there. If you miss take your mouse back for this turn. The player to hide all 5 mice first wins.

'The deep, dark wood'. Make a path through the deep, dark wood. Each player is given 6 cards each showing a part of a gruffalo or a part of the wood. Place cards that match at either end of the growing path. If you cannot place a card discard one from your hand and choose another. The frst player to place all of their cards wins.

'His eyes are orange...' Is a set collecting game. Players aim to complete sets of three cards which the mouse uses to scare off the fox, owl and snake. Pick up two cards from the five decks showing, or swap a card with another player. Once a set is made read out the line (His eyes are orange. His tongue is black. He has purple prickles all over his back') and take a mouse token. The first player to get 5 mouse tokens wins.

For more information look at www.yaygames.uk

or watch the short intro video with the link below.