Paws for Game Time.

Maddie, Jamie, and I just finished 3 rounds of Maddie's favourite game: "The Littlest Pet Shop Game". Maddie loves anything that has anything to do with Littlest Pet Shops and she is forming quite the collection. She probably has about 30-50 of the little guys by now as well as two carrying cases (one is actually Jamie's...but I don't know if Jamie realizes that), two "Get Better Centers" (ditto), and one big "Round and Round" play-park thing-y. Oh, that and a bunch of Littlest Pet Shop puzzles, too.

The game is for ages 4 and up but I think it would be good for younger ones, as well, because it would help them with number recognition (you spin a little wheel to tell you how many spaces to move: it's labelled with numbers 1-6) and counting (moving your chosen Littlest Pet Shop character around the board). The goal of the game is to get your pet all the way around the board, collecting certificates along the way for health, beauty, and dress-up, and then to the winner's circle in the Littlest Pet Shop Show. The first one to the winner's circle wins the blue ribbon.

Maddie and Jamie like the game because they get to pick out their little pet to play with, the game is pretty easy and straight forward, and hey it's quality time with mom and/or dad. The thing I like best about this game is that it is the characters who are actually trying to get to the winner's circle - not really the kids. So, when someone wins I make a big deal about having my little pet go over to their little pet and yell and cheer and congratulate them. It's a great way to model good sportsmanship and the kids have caught on to this pretty well. There are no fights after the game is over and everyone just ends up cheering and happy. Pretty good. We give it two paws up.