Lucky Ducks

 Finding things to do with my toddler can be difficult.

With my 23 month old, I certainly do plenty of sensory activities, pretend play, and crafts with her; but when family game night rolls around, it's challenging to keep Lauren occupied or involved.

Turner enjoys games that are a bit advanced for Lauren and Lauren doesn't understand the concept of most of the games. She either just wants to play with the game pieces or look at all of the cards. From board games to card games, little Sis was getting left out. That meant that one parent was trying to distract Lauren while Turner played his game with the other parent. Not quite the 'family' activity we were hoping for.

On a mission to find a board game or card game that we can all enjoy, I'm happy to report that I have found several.

Without further ado, the first toddler friendly game added to our family game night:

Lucky Ducks

 

Several years ago, my mother-in-law found this game at a garage sale and picked it up for Turner. I know it's still available in most stores or you can find it for around $15 on amazon.com. Turner has enjoyed this game for years. Sometimes we follow the game directions when we play with Lauren and sometimes we make revisions.



 

Each player selects a color card of choice. The red button in the center of the pond turns on the game. As the ducks swim by in the motorized pond, each player selects a duck of their choice.

 

 



 

The bottom of each duck has a colored sticker. If a color that matches the player's card is selected, they can set it down. If the player selects a color that is different than their card, the duck must return back to the pond. The first person to collect all three ducks of their color wins.

 

Another way I play this with Lauren is to give her all of the color cards and let her choose ducks until she's filled up all of the cards. She loves selecting the ducks and the best part is that it's an easy and  fun way for her to learn colors.

 

The Lucky Ducks game is simple, fun, and educational all at the same time. That's a win/win in our book! Now, when family game night rolls around, Lauren isn't left out. We not only have a game that she can participate in, she actually has an opportunity to win the game, and the rest of us enjoy playing it as well.

 

Look for more toddler friendly games in future posts!