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The last day of term; the perfect occasion for a picnic with friends to celebrate the children ending yet another school year! Picnic packed, we headed out to our local park to make the most of the early evening sun and have a splash in the water park.

When out and about with the children, a picnic is essential to ensure that the children eat well and the cost is kept down. However, if your children are anything like mine, it’s the ‘keeping them in one place’ issue that always causes problems – especially when you want to catch up on some gossip with another mum!

Orchard Toys are one of my favourite brands of toys. Their games are educational, well made, bright, bold and appealing and timelessly span the age gap between my children so are a good investment!

When we were asked to test Orchard’s new Travel Games, we were thrilled. These little boxes are small, but perfectly formed and pack neatly into my changing bag as entertainment for my 6 year old. There are a wide variety of titles which span across the age groups (from 3 to 8 years old) and there are 6 titles to choose from.

Based around those ‘classic’ games we all grew up with, the titles encompass games such as ‘Snap!’ and ‘Snakes & Ladders’ but with a little Orchard twist to bring them up to date.

On this occasion, the children tested out ‘Jungle Snakes & Ladders’ and ‘Beetle Drive’. Given the choice, the girls went for the game they were more familiar with first and choose Snakes & Ladders. A series of 6 jigsaw pieces, the board is quickly put together and the girls wasted no time getting started. Apart from a few dice on the floor incidents, the girls played happily while we had a chat! There are enough pieces for 4 players and once finished, all the pieces again fit neatly into their little box.

 

Next the girls played “Beetle Drive’. Now, although this is a game from my childhood, nether my daughter or her friend had played this before. However, it was again quick to set up and instinctive to follow (this game has a spinner rather than a dice which meant far less dice chasing!) and I was stopped mid explanation of the rules when the girls declared ‘I’ve got it…’ and they had! Again, the game was happily and quietly played as they took turns to roll the dice, match the number to their coloured pieces and build their beetle. This game was for up to 4 players and the girls suggested that they could make it harder for themselves by taking on two beetles each!

We are off on a family holiday soon and these games will certainly form part of my ‘entertainment’ kit. They pack down into such neat little boxes that they will take up no room at all making them an excellent ‘size to entertainment’ resource for us. So any family reading this better prepare for a week of gaming- and not of the Playstation variety!

NB: Rachel received the travel games in order to review but all views and opinions are her own.