Board games, still in my opinion one of the best gifts to buy!

Connor squeals with joy every time I even mention playing a board game. Mind you he's not exactly old enough to play most of them, at least not by the rules, but the magic of board games is the one on one time they really force you to spend with your kids or the other players. Board games are also by far my favorite gift to give friends and family who have multiple children as they are one of those gifts you never outgrow and are always appreciated. Some of my best memories as a child were spent over board games.

Finding board games that Connor can play is really the challenge. So it really comes down to looking for games that are fun to play regardless if you understand the rules, but will have a lifespan well past the preschool age range as we always look for toys that will have as long as a lifespan as possible in the household. International Playthings, one of our FAVORITE toy companies may not have been your first thought when it comes to board games but let me tell you they have some really awesome and fun options! Most of which are very unusual and attention getting even for the smaller players.

The first game we tested out for International Playthings is called Oopsie Daisy. We've actually had this game a month or two and Connor likes to refer to it as the "raindrop game" and I have to say it's actually a ton of fun and really quite challenging. The game comes with a plastic white daisy flower set on a spring and clear marble raindrops. If your playing this with younger players the only thing you need to be worried about is them putting the marbles in their mouth. You take turns putting marbles on the daisy attempting to get rid of all of your marbles. The only problem is if your not super careful putting the marbles on the daisy will tip sending the raindrops flying and you then inherit all those fallen raindrops. You can play it with or without the daisy chance cards which does require a little bit of simple counting skills. We opt to play it without for obvious reasons and just take turns putting one marble on each. As Connor gets older we can up the skill level but incorporating the cards which would then tell the players how many raindrops to put on each turn. I almost hate to admit this, but Connor is way better at this game than I am. Though honestly he actually likes it most when the raindrops fall as it makes a cascading sound that sends him into fits of giggles. Even Chris gets in on the action with this game as its really quite challenging but without being overly hard for even the little ones. You never really know which way the marbles will lean the flower. I highly recommend it especially for households who have children that span age ranges as it's honestly as fun for me as it seems to be for Connor! You can check it out for yourself and pick up your own Oopsie Daisy at International Playthings's website!

I have several other International Plaything's board games to review, check out the following posts for more games as well as a cool giveaway!