Wise Alec Junior and Wise Alec Nature Nuts Card Games #Review #griddlygames

     For the first time ever my family is going camping.  My husband thinks I am crazy for wanting to go on a 3 day weekend with the kids, but I think it's awesomeness in a suitcase... or five.  Check out what The Big One is bringing.

      Yes, that is an old-school suitcase.  I love it.  I'd be able to lock it if I had a key.  Anyways, the list:
     Notebook and pen/pencil for writing and drawing, Chapter book for a rainy day, tablet for geocaching and such with headphones, sparklers, goggles, toiletries, sweatshirt, sneakers for hiking, 2 spare outfits, bathing suit, pillow, sleeping bag, and a card game.  Yup, everything she could possibly need including blanket, pillow, and entertainment, all in one tiny suitcase.

     What I love best is that even though she is bringing things to help her zone out and ignore the family, she's also bringing an educational and cooperative game that the whole family can enjoy.  It honestly warms my heart a little.  What is this game?

     It's called Wise Alec Nature Nuts.  It comes in a nice magnet closure box that fits just about anywhere that you would want it to.  It comes with four categories of cards and a die.  You play it this way:  You roll the die and whatever the color is decides what you do next.  Either you answer a question on a certain color card, answer a question on your choice of card, answer a question on someone else's choice of card, or do a random action/question on a Wise Alec Card.  Each question card has two options, three points, or seven points.  Obviously the seven pointers are more tough.

     We tried out this game with The Big One, Baby Bee, Streaker, and Myself.  We realized pretty quickly that some of the seven pointers are pretty hard, and not suited for the younger age group.  Truth be told, even I didn't know some of them.  But a child currently in school with these things fresh in their mind could definitely know them.  For instance, do you know the four main parts of a flower?  They are calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistils.  I knew two of those, but Caxyl and Corolla?  I never knew!

     The kids had a lot of fun playing, and especially with watching me make a fool out of myself by doing yoga poses and acting like a monkey.  Not sure why I'm the only one who got action cards... pretty sure it was rigged *wink*   I'll definitely be looking forward to playing it again when we go camping.  And in case you're interested, Streaker won.  It was a close game.

     The game that Baby Bee is taking camping is Wise Alec Junior.  It's for the younger age set.  It comes with four types of cards and four ways that you can play.  The games that you can play are  Memory, Matching, Charades, and Storytelling.  Memory is pretty self explanatory.  It;s the game where you flip over two cards and see if they match, if they do, you keep them and go again, if you don't, the next player takes their turn until the cards are all gone.  My grandfather called this game Spit in the Ocean.  It was a favorite back then with us kids.
      Matching is like another game I know, Slap Jack... you place all the number cards down so they can all be seen and reached and then flip over the green character cards slowly, one by one.  The first person who can count the characters and slap the correct number card keeps both cards and the winner has the most cards at the end.

     The next game you can play is Charades.  It's pretty simple and definitely meant for young kids.  It used cards with words like "Push up" and "sit" that kids have to act out and guess.  We created teams.  We learned that Baby Bee can wink with both eyes REALLY well.  I'm super jealous.
     Streaker's favorite game was Storytelling.  She actually loved it so much that she asked me to print out her own story board and set of story cards.  You take all the cards that you have collected while playing the other games, and you use them, along with the reversible story board, to create a story.  Baby Bee's story was about a basketball that went AWOL and ended up causing havoc in a chef's kitchen.  The firefighters had to come help, then later celebrated at a job well done.  She had help from The Big One for that.
     We will definitely have a lot of fun with these when we go camping.  What do you take camping with you?  Any fun games?  Let me know!
     To learn more, check out Griddly Games on Facebook, Twitter, and their website.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.