This game was greeted with great enthusiasm by both of my kids, partly because its has a really cute wooden bunny, and partly because they are beginning to get the concept of "new toy!" in general. (uh-oh!) This is the toy and what is included in the box...mine got torn open too quickly to take a good picture but this Amazon photo shows it nicely.
My kids were quickly engaged in a heated debate over who got to play with the bunny when I pointed out the play cards and tried to show them how we could use them. They were curious, but went back to freestyle playing with the blocks and bunny. Later I tried my daughter, who is the puzzle-master of my twins, at it alone.
Does she look like she likes it? :) First try she nailed a match between the cards and the blocks and I thought we were on a roll. My little genius! Well, she had several misses after that, even with assistance, then another hit. She took to saying "ta-da!" when she thought she got it right - but seemed to take equal glee and "ta-da!"'d away when she got bunny balanced on the blocks freestyle as well.
Either way she was having good fun. As with most activities with kids that just-turned 2 this one didn't last super long. My son had a shot at it another day and also got several good matches, I think even more than my puzzle-loving daughter - so apparently this toy is appealing to different styles of thinkers.
Final verdict - great toy! For now their attention span with the game is pretty short but I really think they will grow into doing the matches more. They were ridiculously proud of themselves when they got it right and they are liking more kinds of puzzles all the time so its a natural fit. I love that they can use this game in multiple ways and that the challenges will be good for them for quite a while. Also love that its a game that they can work through the challenges alone and get a sense of accomplishment - kind of Montessori. I'll be bringing this game out regularly. Small, sturdy, attractive, and mentally challenging game for little ones - fantastic!
Tip - I did find that putting the toy up on a raised surface, like a table, was better than playing on the floor because it gives you the same view of the blocks that is presented on the cards. Even better - propping the card up against something so they could look at it in the same plane as they were working in.
(Full disclosure - this game was provided to me free of charge by SmartGames to test out.)
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