Summer of 2008 has been all about heat waves and thunderstorms, both extremes forcing me and the kids inside lots of days by noon. Thank goodness for Netflix, Pillsbury croissants and board games!

We received Briarpatch I Spy Memory Game to test and it’s been a lifesaver… all three kids enjoy the game in different ways. The first and easiest game is Memory. Everybody loves it, simple, easy to understand game that does not require reading.  I also love it because the images on the card are of real objects, not obnoxious characters! Girl2006 can name most of the cards so it’s nice to build vocabulary, of course she has little to no ability to remember where the matches are but she tries! Girl2004 and Boy2001 play with ease and it’s great for them to play amongst themselves.

Another game you can play with this set is the I Spy Fun with Riddles Game. This is recommended for children 6 and up. It’s quite fun to play, boy2001 and I play when the girls can’t focus on memory anymore. This is my personal favorite way to use this set… the perfect mix of memory and reasoning.

We’ve also tried the I SPY Riddle Memory Game which is much more challenging to follow for boy2001.  I’m working on encouraging boy2001 to try this more. My kids are really enjoying it, I would recommend to any parents to open up the game and seperate the cards before presenting to kids. It’s an easy process but you know how it is when kids want to “help”. I highly recommend I SPY Memory and Picture Riddle Game for fun with a purpose sessions.

Reading Required

Suggested for Ages 4+

What do you spy?

Boy2001 was beyond thrilled when I told him he’d be reviewing GoPets Vacation Island! on his Nintendo DS!  I guess most kids would be, right? on top of a new game he got extra time to play, usually he doesn’t get to play during the week unless there’s a day off from school.  It was a real treat. 

 At first he was totally lost with the game.  It took him about an hour to figure out what he needed to do and the concept of taking care of the pet.  He likened Vacation Island! to his Tamagochi (which he still loves off and on).  He understood the concept of collecting shells and being able to buy stuff for his pets.  He also understood the social aspect of adding friends a la Facebook, Mashable, Gather which really surprised me, guess he’s been observing more than I thought!  There is a wireless feature to the game which we didn’t have time to get into, can you believe he’s still got a week of school because of all the snow days?!

From a mom’s perspective, I like the fact that there are some little games that keep him busy for just a few minutes at a time.  I also like the idea of taking care of something and even considering the financial aspects of keeping a pet (spending shells).  Boy2001′s favorite part is cooking the food at the amusement area.  Kids choose a recipe, then they are given a virtual stovetop and wok, they have to follow the recipe as it appears on the screen.  Controlling the flame, slicing and dicing the food images and adding them to the wok with condiments but the most important part — the stirring, he really enjoyed doing that so the food wouldn’t burn (a common complaint when mommy cooks!)

He really enjoyed reviewing GoPets Vacation Island! it was a very positive experience.  The only bad thing he did mention was that he didn’t like the bow on his pets tail because it looked too girly.  I didn’t investigate how to get it off but I’m sure it can so I’m thinking it’s just slightly over his head age wise… Something tells me he’s going to get lots of summer vacay time with the GoPets and be a pro by the time school’s back in session!

*I will provide an update in a few days about the wireless feature* with a link here.