This is the second board game from Educational Insights that I have purchased (the other was Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel) and I absolutely love the educational concepts and high quality pieces. You get the cute cut out shape box, which doubles as the playing board when you lift the lid, a pair of Frankie the Cat tweezers, a spinner, 4 place mats that show you the shapes you need to collect, and several foods of each shape (circle, square, rectangle, and triangle and one of each shape for the crescent, star, oval, and heart). I like that there is no assembly required because the company already attached the food cards to plastic pegs for you, so you can play as soon as you open it. The game is intended for ages 4 and up, but my 3 year old can play just fine. Also, it's for 2-4 players, but ours came with a fifth place mat by mistake I guess.
The concept of the game is that you need to be the first player to help Frankie the Cat deliver all five courses of the meal using your shape recognition skills. My daughter already knows her shapes pretty well, so this is a really fun way to reinforce the concept of shapes as well as teach strategy skills for collecting the harder to come by shapes first like the crescent, heart, or star, for example, and also the strategy of taking the shapes you need from another player if you spin that option. To play, you spin and use the Frankie the Cat tweezers (which also helps with fine motor skills) to pick up the shape indicated. You can land on a circle, triangle, square, or rectangle and must take that shape; if you already have it, you can't do anything on that turn. You can also spin two "Chef's Surprise" options that allow you to pick a food that matches any of the four shapes pictured that you still need. You can spin a "Yuck! Fly in my Soup" option, which means you have to put back one of your foods. There's a lose a turn option as well as a "That Looks Delicious" option that allows you to take a food from another player that you need. One round can last about 10-15 minutes, especially if you keep losing your foods or keep spinning shapes you already have.
I love how it takes this early math concept and makes it so fun that kids don't realize they are learning. Even at 3 years old, this game holds my daughter's attention through several rounds, up to 30 minutes all together. I love how thick the cardboard playing pieces are so I don't worry about them getting bent and torn like most other board games on the market. I continue to buy games from this company because of the educational value and the high quality construction. This game has become a family favorite of ours and we play it almost on a daily basis. Awesome learning game!
I am an early childhood special educator. I love educational insights board games. This game is very cute and engaging to my 3-4 yr old students to teach shape, color, turn-taking and following directions. However, I gave it 4 stars ⭐️ because I am also teaching healthy food choices. I wish that choices of food are healthier rather than candy or doughnut.
My daughter started playing this game at 2.5 years old, and it is currently her favorite game. We have the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel game (works on colors), Sophie's Seashell Scramble (works on patterns), and Shelby's Snack Shack (works on counting small numbers). She loves them all, but this one is her favorite. This one works for learning shapes, and she has gotten great with her shapes because of this game. The pieces are well-made, and the spinner is not as flimsy as our Sneaky Squirrel spinner that we have to bend back into shape every once in a while. It takes about 10-15 minutes to play.
Such a cute game! All of the pieces are high quality and I love how the bottom part of the box is part of the game so clean up is a breeze! Even the box is very durable so once the box is closed we know all the pieces are in the box and we won’t lose any pieces. This game teaches about shapes and helps kids work on their fine motor skills. I also love that my kids (ages 2.5 and 4) are learning to take turns. Obviously I had to help my 2.5 year old with it but this is the perfect game for my 4 year old since we have been working on shapes a lot lately. I like how this game incorporates food items she is familiar with to teach her different shapes! What a fun way to learn! I always love when my kids are learning while playing but they don’t even realize it! Highly recommend!
We got this for my oldest when he was four. Now he's six and half, so the game has seen some use. All three of our kids love this game (ages 2, 4, and 6). I like that there is no reading necessary, meaning they could technically play without me if they didn't end up trying to strangle each other. The only issue we've had is that they broke part of the spinner off because they pull up on it when they try to spin it. The other half of the spinner is still there, so we'll keep playing until it falls off. The other game pieces have held up nicely.
Feature Product
- Spin the spinner to place an order and use the Frankie Squeezer to pick up the matching food...
- Place the pieces of your 5-course meal first, and you win in this fun, foodie game
- If you're lucky, you'll spin a "chef's surprise," but watch out for pesky flies and greedy guests-they'll slow you down
- Helps children learn to identify geometric shapes-a beginning math skill-and develops fine motor and pre-handwriting skills
- Includes colorful game board (inside box lid), 1 Frankie Squeezer, 20 food game pieces, 4 placemat player boards, game spinner, and guide
- Winner of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Seal and the Parents' Choice Silver Honor
- Game play helps develop social skills, like taking turns, as well as good sportsmanship
- Part of the award-winning line of Educational Insights preschool squeezer games-including the best-selling Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game
Description
A shape-tastic recipe for fun! Business at Frankie's famous food truck is brisk! Customers just can't satisfy their craving for this cool cat's unique, shape-inspired menu. Kids take turns using the fun Frankie Squeezer to fill orders while they practice identifying geometric shapes, a beginning math skill and develop fine motor skills. It's a simple recipe for fun, but watch out for greedy guests, slippery banana peels and other hazards. The first to deliver a five-course meal is the winner!
Love this game. I work as a pediatric occupational therapist and this game incorporates so many great things! The pincher cat is the only item I wasn't too fond of, it doesn't stay open very well, therefore pinching is kind of difficult to complete using them. But the kids have to match shapes with food and decide between items. plus it's cute and fun! love it and definitely recommend it.
I ordered this for my not-quite 4 y/o nephew, and we played a few rounds together. I was worried that it might be too simple for him, but he loved it. The objective is to get all five shapes of food onto your "tray". The person who is up spins a spinner, which will point to a shape, which allows the player to pick up the correctly-shaped food of their choosing from the pool, or to "lose a turn", "put something back", or "steal something from another player's tray." My nephew did have a bit of a meltdown one round, when I stole something from his tray. I think for my nephew the game could help him improve his manual dexterity (using the frankie squeezer to pick up and put down peices), and to practice not always getting what he wants.
This is an adorable game. Our 3.5 year old loves the shape matching and the fact that it is food based. The tweezers are a bit cumbersome and harder for him to use. He has some fine motor delays and receives supports for that so it is perfect for us to keep working on his hand strength and coordination. WE highly recommend this game. Super cute. No reading necessary and short enough to hold an active 3.5 year old boy's attention.
My 4.5yr old loves this game . It's great for learning shapes. Even my 18m old will sit in a couple rounds to pretend and eat the food. We have their other game , the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel and might actually like this better . Love that they figured the completely discarding all you efforts on the spin dial isn't kid or town friendly , so glad it doesn't exist in this game ! :D
I got this game for my newly turned 5 year old daughter. She loves all the ones in this collection. We have 4 of them now. Each one is semi the same but with a different skill. It is enough of a change that my daughter and her preschool friends love playing these games any chance they get.