Review: Shelby’s Snack Shack Game from Learning Resources for early maths skills fun

When Big Girl had a friend over the other day, they wanted to play a game–a numbers game. I don’t think any of them thought of it as being educational though. The big draw was a cute dog.

We had received Shelby’s Snack Shack Game from Learning Resources (£20) to review after four-year-old Big Girl picked it out from the website when I showed her different products I had been recommended for her age group.

Since the game arrived she’s not only played it with us, but she’s also using Shelby for pretend play, putting Shelby to bed on a cushion and feeding him a variety of play food. I think the design of this game really appeals to little ones, making it a great pick for a game with an educational angle.

Shelby’s Snack Shack Game comes with four dog bowls, a tweezer shaped as Shelby–ideal for building wrist strength and developing fine motor skills–lots of tiny dog bones and a spinner. There’s a charming illustration on the inside of the box, used as the board where all the bones are spread out.

Each player spins and the aim is to get as many bones as possible – an easy game even for young players. With one spinner featuring numbers from 1 to 5 and the game including 40 bones, it is good for counting and number recognition for numerals 1 to 5, and it can also be used for introducing addition and subtraction.

If Big Girl plays Shelby’s Snack Shack Game without me, she will count the bones. If we play with her we can use it to talk about how many she starts with and how many she adds, making it good for introducing addition with numbers 1 to 5, the numerals covered in the game.

I also don’t mind if she just wants to play with Shelby though. Playing with tweezers and counting the 40 bones is a fab game too!

Tags: Game, Learning Resources, Maths, Number recognition, Review, Toys