Those of you who follow the blog or Facebook page probably know by now that we have an almost continuous animal theme going on at all time.  Both my kids are fascinated by almost anything linked to animals, they love reading about them, learning about them and doing any kind of activity linked to any kind of animal.  So I was thrilled when Oaka Books sent us their Predators and Producers Board Game.  Let me say right at the outset the game is aimed at children in Key Stage 2 (UK school years 3 to 6) and my youngest is not quite there yet but he is obsessed with learning about animals so this game really suited him. (Even when I unpacked the box the first time and had a quick look at some of the questions I knew he would be able to answer enough so he would not get despondent).

The game arrived in a lovely box which is perfect for storage (Big points for me as I hate it when you order something and then need to find a suitable storage box or container for it).

Included in the set –

• one sturdy Board that folds out
• question cards (the cards are colour coded lighter blue for lower key stage 2 years and darker blue for upper Key stage 2 ages – so you can stick to one set if you like of combine them – we combined the two and it worked perfectly).

• Dice and 5 playing pieces (my son especially loved that they were things like cars and boats)
• The Cocoa Beans and Banana cards – the Cocoa Bean cards are worth 5 points and the Banana Cards are worth 10 points each

The objective of the game is to collect as many Cocoa Bean and Banana Cards as you can (you get these by answering the questions correctly) while making your way to Rainforest Rob (the person in the very top square).

Now I must admit that as we started looking at the questions in more detail I realized that the game covered a lot more topics that I expected.  It is not just about animals, life-cycles, food chains and their habitats.  The game also covers Plants, Photosynthesis, Skeletons and Muscles, Teeth and Eating and Circulation.  And I must also admit that we have covered these topics with the kids but not in as much detail as animals.

But we played the game with all the question cards mixed up so there were some questions that my kids did not know but there were also lots that they could answer.  And it worked perfectly.  The first day we played it with the kids they did not want to stop (we ended up playing it 3 times on the first day).  They liked the fact they could answer a number of the questions and with the ones that they did not know we often ended up talking a bit about it.

I love this game.  It is a great way to revise facts and to learn some new ones.  We are not huge board game players but this one was a massive hit with my kids and with me because it really was learning / revising in a relaxed manner.