Game Review: 3 Little Pigs
I’m reviewing the 3 Little Pigs cooperative table game for young children today.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary game for review from Timberdoodle. All views expressed are my own.
3 Little Pigs
The 3 Little Pigs game can be played cooperatively with very young children or with competitive rules for kids who want more of a challenge. Cognitive benefits include spatial reasoning, fine-motor skills, color recognition, counting, strategy, and cooperation. It is recommended for 1-4 players ages two and up.
What’s Included
The 3 Little Pigs game includes a 6-piece board puzzle, a sturdy cardboard folding house, and an instruction sheet (in 8 languages). Other pieces are made of wood, including: 1 color-coded die, 3 pigs, 1 wolf, and 6 flower tokens.
How to Play
The objective is to help all three little pigs make it home before the wolf. Each of the pigs and the wolf has a separate path to follow. The pigs’ paths consist of six colored dots, while the wolf’s path has seven black dots.
Gameplay is determined by the die. If a colored dot is rolled, then the pig that has that color right in front of it can move to that dot. On black, the wolf moves forward one space.
If the flower is rolled, then a flower token is turned over to reveal the wolf or the three pigs. If it’s the wolf, he gets to move forward one space, and if it’s the pigs, then all three of them get to move forward one space.
For cooperative play, all players work together to help the piggies get to the house before the wolf does. With competitive play, each child chooses a pig and tries to be the first one to get to the house.
My Thoughts
3 Little Pigs is an adorable children’s game with quality pieces and a sturdy box. The chunky wooden pieces lend themselves well to free play, which is always a plus. My favorite part is that it’s based on the classic folk tale, which opens up all kinds of storytelling options. It would be a fun game for a librarian to utilize during preschool story time.
I love that the rules allow for either cooperative or competitive play. The game can easily be played in 10 minutes, which is great for little learners (and grown-ups who aren’t all that entralled with marching little piggies along stepping stones). The rules are simple, so it’s very much open-and-go without having to spend much time at all learning how to play.
I incorporated it at Vacation Bible School this year to tie in with our “under construction” theme. I expected to use it in cooperative mode as a time filler while waiting for everyone to arrive, but the early elementary kids quickly realized it could be competitive, and so they played it that way.
If you’re looking for a quality game for young children, I highly recommend 3 Little Pigs.
More Reviews
If you’d like to see my reviews of other games for very young children, check out these posts:
