The Very Hungry Caterpillar Match and Munch Game
Price: £12.99
Age Range: 3 years +/ pre-school age (suits 2 - 4 players)
Difficulty Rating: Very easy to use and understand - instructions are included but are not necessary.
Stockists: Waterstones, Waitrose, Play.com and Amazon
Important Note: Does include small parts which are potential choking hazards, recommended for 3 years +
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Match and Munch game is aimed at pre-school children, allowing 2-4 players to match foods and collect butterfly tokens. Presented in a beautiful Caterpillar case this game is great for travelling due to it's small size and portability. Includes 55 food tokens, 10 butterfly tokens, a score card and instructions, although the game is pretty self-explanatory!
Children can develop their matching and numerical skills as they trade, collect and match the food tokens. Food tokens include oranges, apples, pears and more! Be the first to match three hands and help the caterpillar grow into a beautiful butterfly. Liv has always been very interested in numbers and loves to count items, so this game really interested her and kept her engaged.
Visually the game is beautiful with illustrations from Eric Carle's book which are vivid and colourful and easily attracted Liv to playing the game. The object of Match and Munch is to be the first player to collect three butterfly tokens to win the game. Played very much like a game of "Rummy" each player is dealt 5 cards, they then decide which winning hand to collect with all remaining cards being placed in the middle. Each player then takes it in turn to pick a card and see if it helps them achieve a winning hand. The winning hand combinations are: 5 x oranges / 4 x strawberries and 1 x apple / 3 x plums and 2 x pears. The game is repeated until a player holds 3 butterfly tokens.
The cardboard tokens are very easy for little hands to hold and the edges are slightly rounded so that no-one hurts themselves. There is an advisory notice on the game due to the small butterfly tokens which could be a potential choking hazard for children under the age of 3 years. This was an enjoyable family game to play and we had a lovely surprise watching Liv play and count, although she did not fully recognise the rules of the game. The educational benefits of this game are very clear to see and Liv loves opening the caterpillar case on her own and counting the tokens. I really do feel that this game will improve her numerical skills alongside patience and sharing!
A fantastic family game whilst your child gets to grips with the basics and understands the objective and then a wonderful game for friends to play together! We could not recommend The Very Hungry Caterpillar Match and Munch game from University Games highly enough. A perfect gift for any Very Hungry Caterpillar fan and I will certainly be investing in more games from the University Games range!