Wonder Forge Richard Scarry's Busytown, Eye Found It Toddler Toy and Game for Boys and Girls Age 3 and Up - A Fun Preschool Board Game,Multi-Colored

I bought this as a Valentine's Day present for my 4 1/2 year old daughter and she loves this! She loves the Richard Scarry book "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go" (and specifically Goldbug) and this game has many of the same signature characters in it. In the box, you get the board which is in 3 pieces that you lock together like a puzzle, a timer, 4 large character movers, a spinner, 10 mini plastic orange magnifying glasses, a cardboard boat and cardboard food, and Goldbug mystery cards. I like that this game is a cooperative game in that there isn't one winner - you work as a team to find the objects on the board using the timer, which is great for the preschool set. To play you spin the spinner and if you spin a number, you move that number of spaces. If you spin Goldbug, you take a Goldbug mystery card and search for that object as a team all around the huge 6 foot long board (this is not a table game because of the size) and try to find as many of that object as you can together, putting a magnifying glass on the ones you find before the timer runs out. Everyone moves the number of spaces per object found. For instance, if you find 4 wrenches, everyone moves 4 spaces forward and then remove the magnifying glasses. If you spin "Pigs Eat" you take away one of the cardboard foods on the picnic blanket at the end of the board. At the end of the board path, there is a cardboard boat and all players have to get on before the boat can move to try to make it to the Picnic Island before the pigs eat all the food. We really love this game and it's great quality time and builds cooperation skills, thinking skills, and searching skills. The board itself is made pretty sturdily but you do have to fold the board to put it back in the box, so over time it does have the potential to get torn or split. I wish that they'd make the board thicker and just make it more than 3 puzzle pieces so you wouldn't have to fold it. I love that all the familiar characters are present and searching for the objects for Goldbug mysteries is actually quite challenging, even for adults, because the board is so busy with so many images on it. My daughter doesn't find it frustrating or overwhelming because she usually ends up finding more than me! Because there are so many objects to find, you really can't memorize where they are which keeps it challenging. I originally thought it would be better if the objects on the mystery cards would be printed in color instead of black and white, but I think they did that because the object isn't always the same colors on the board. Overall, this is made really well and lots of fun for our family to play!

Busy Town has quickly established itself as a family favorite and our three- and five-year old absolutely LOVE it. They're not quite old enough to play it without supervision, but after a few weeks with this game, I wouldn't be surprised if they're playing by themselves in the next 6 months or so. Right now, we play it as a family - the goal is a "team victory" and it's far less competitive than many other games. Even our 20-month old cooperates and helps out, often holding the timer or "removing a piece of food from the picnic blanket" when the game calls for it. We've purchased or received three other boardgames for our family in the last couple of months and none have been as enjoyable and educational as this one. There are two that I would recommend against: (1) Chutes and Ladders Disney Princess was beloved for a few days by our daughter, but has been largely forgotten; and (2) Candyland - The World of Sweets Board Game is not as durable and while the kids enjoy it, mom and dad do not. The other game that we WOULD RECOMMEND is Sequence for Kids . The kids love the Sequence game and there's enough strategy involved that mom and dad stay engaged. It's probably a little bit too advanced for our kids and the overall educational value is probably not as high as Busy Town, but it's also a five-star recommendation from us and we're enjoying it immensely. Educational value on Busy Town is high as the game is good at getting our kids to count the number of spaces they need to move, doing basic math for determining how many they need to get, searching for certain objects, and building vocabulary as we talk about the different objects on the board. The board is huge - stretching out 6 feet - and everything is very durable. We lay it out on the floor and all move around as we're searching for the objects. Highly recommended for 3-8 year olds and for family play!!

My 3-year old daughter loves this game. She hasn't a clue how to play it, but she gets excited whenever she sees the box, and wants to play it right away. The game is actually pretty simple. It's cooperative play, though everyone gets their own character and turn to spin the spinner. You move your character the number indicated on the spinner, pig Will and pig Won't eat one of the picnic snacks, or you spin a Goldbug search to draw a card. Everyone searches for the item indicated until time is up, marking their finds with the little plastic magnifying glasses, and you move spaces equal to the number of finds. The goal is to reach the picnic before the pig brothers eat all the picnic snacks. You can modify the rules to suit younger players. We forgo using the timer and magnifying glasses, and spins that land on the pigs only sometimes cause them to eat (they kept winning the game!). The searches are surprisingly difficult; Busy town is really busy, and there are a lot of places where objects like buckets can find. If you're playing with a really young child, you might find that when you squint, a flower pot can be a bucket. After all, buckets and flower pots have a similar shape, and both hold things. You can bring in discussions about how things are alike and different this way. Fun game for the little ones, with replay value for a good number of years (the searches are hard!!). I am not generally a fan of the "everyone wins" philosophy, but it works well here and for this age group. ADDENDUM: It's now 2019 and my kiddo is 7. She still likes the game, and has great fun playing it. It's especially a favorite when stone of her friends on the spectrum come over - simple rules, details to pore over, and co-op play are fun for everyone.

I am a huge fan of board games, so I purchased several games for my three year old son for Christmas, in the hopes he will share my addiction and play more advanced games with us when he is older. I think this game is very cute. Below is a summary of what I like about this game. - The game is well made. The pieces stand up well and, even though my toddler loves to drive the pieces around the Busytown board when not playing the game, they seem to be holding up well. - Unlike many other games for small children, there are choices involved. For example, there are a couple of places where the road splits and players can choose which way to go. One path is shorter, but the longer route has the potential for a short cut. - The game is cooperative. I love cooperative games like Pandemic, Shadows Over Camelot, Forbidden Island, and Forbidden Desert and I'm glad to find a cooperative game to play with my kids before they're old enough to play the more complex games. - The outcome of the game can be affected by the players. So many games for small children are purely luck-based. In this game, whether we win or lose really comes down to how quickly we can find the named objects on the game board. It is still entirely possible to lose from just bad luck, as is the case with every cooperative game I've played so far. - My son happens to be a big fan of the TV show Busytown Mysteries and that helps this game appeal to him. I really can't think of anything I dislike about the game. So far, it has been the most enjoyable board game to play with my toddler and the quality is excellent.

Cooperative games are a fairly new invention in modern board games. They really started with adult family games like Pandemic and then have now started appearing more and more in the younger children's market. It is a welcome trend. Competitive games are great for teaching social skills like remaining happy when losing, but cooperative games have an even more positive effect I believe. Teamwork is a more important skill to practice and you can still practice losing happily if your team doesn't beat the game. This game works kind of like a where's Waldo adaptation. Richard Scarry books have often featured a find Goldbug activity in them and this game turns that observational practice into a timed team event. First of all the board game is HUGE! The space is filled with loads of Richard Scarry type drawings illustrating an entire town. Players are trying to move all their character pieces to a picnic. To do this they end up having to find as many examples of randomly selected items as they can before a timer runs out. The more objects everyone finds the further the characters can move. Players place small plastic magnifying glasses on top of examples of whatever item they are looking for. If the all the characters don't get there fast enough the ants will cart away the picnic food and the board game wins. My children (5 and 8) have had this game for about a year and a half and enjoy it, although there are other more strategic games they enjoy more and pull out more often now. I also enjoy playing this game with them. It holds all of our attention when we play. Practicing observational skills is important for preschool children especially, but older elementary school aged students will also enjoy playing it with their preschool siblings. After preschool and kindergarten it really loses its possible educational benefits. Three to five year olds are the real target audience for this game. I would recommend this for preschool or kindergarten classroom use. The components should hold up fine for that use and it will be a hit game with them.

Since buying Richard Scarry's Busytown, we have played the board game as a family at least three times a week! My four-year-old enjoys spinning the wheel to take a turn, counting the number of spaces her character is allowed to move, and giving away picnic food to the pigs. Most of all, she likes searching the board game for hidden objects. The game board is more than six feet long. It comes in three pieces that connect like a puzzle. At first, we tried playing the game on our kitchen table. This did not work very well when going on a Goldbug Mystery in search of a hidden object -- so we now set-up the game board on the floor. This allows us to more easily search for hidden gems (without having our little one sitting on or laying on the table in search of objects). Although the game board comes with a sand timer, we currently do not use it. We have found that it often takes us longer to find an object than the sand timer allows. So, we modified the rules and currently take our time looking for hidden objects as a team. We like that this is a team game, so all of the payers win or lose the game together. This allows everyone to celebrate a victory together or learn from a defeat. Overall, this is a great board game that is teaching my daughter patience, how to take turns, and simple math, among other things. I intend to buy this game for others as a gift.

This is a fantastic game. My 2 year old absolutely loves it and so do I. It's not like one of those boring kid games (think, Candyland) that just go on and on and are ridiculously boring. This is a pretty fast moving game so it's able to hold a 2 year old's attention span. We also love that it's a cooperative game so we don't have to worry about one person winning and someone else being the "loser." The object of the game is for everyone to get to picnic island before the pigs eat up your picnic food. Everyone takes turns spinning and moving that many spaces on the game board. There are also spaces on the spinner for "pigs eat" and "goldbug mystery." Our favorite part is the goldbug mysteries where you have to search for a particular item on the game board and place a magnifying glass on each one you find. At the end of the minute, you count up how many you found and everyone moves that many spaces. The only negatives with this game are the hourglass is hard to pay attention to when you're searching for items in the goldbug mysteries (we use a phone to time a minute instead) and that it's a 6 foot board so it does require a good amount of space to play. Overall, this is our favorite game and I wholeheartedly recommend it. I can see it being a family favorite for a long time!!

This game is a regular "pick" by my children (ages 3 and 5) for game night - which is almost every night at our house. It is a great game for preschoolers. It's not too long (think CandyLand or Chutes and Ladders marathons) and is simply fun for both the kids and adults. Simple concept - spin, move your piece towards the ferry; once everyone has arrived at the ferry you head to Pig Island. I call it a "cooperative" game, meaning you work together and win or lose as a group. Well, either the pigs win if all the food is gone, or the team wins if you get to the island before the food is gone. (For the record, I do like games that have winners and losers at times too because I think it teaches kids a good life lesson that you don't always win - and how to be both a gracious winner and a gracious loser. Check out Hide and Seek Zoo for a great game for preschoolers that has a winner.) But I also enjoy the game that promotes working together and harmony. As for Busy Town, my kids love it when they land on a gold bug mystery card and everyone gets to look for the item on the long game board and actually I enjoy that too. You would think as many times as we have played it, that we would know where everything is, but there are plenty of cards with items to hunt for so it hasn't been an issue at all. Love it and highly recommend for families. We've had kids as old as 10 who enjoyed this game and wanted to play again and again but simple enough for my 3 year old to play.

My 5 & 3 year olds love this.

Brilliant ! Blast from the past for parents & children alike. We played with 2 adults and 2 teenagers & really enjoyed it .Simple instructions & easy to understand so looking forward to playing with much younger family members . A game is quick too - ideal for preventing boredom ! Working together helps you to progress- proper teamwork . We loved seeing Lowly worm , Bananas Gorilla & the rest of the gang

Got this today and played multiple times. Very exciting game even for me as an adult. My 3-year old learned the rules in the first round and loved it. Looks sturdy and beautiful. The long board makes it interesting for kids as they have to walk alongside the board to spot the shapes while the clock is ticking. I typically buy games based on friends’ recommendations. This one I bought based on online reviews. I am glad I bought this. Update: The board tore apart along the folding lines on two spots. It is a design flaw as it easily tears apart along those lines. We can still use it though. We just put the pieces beside each other. Would still give five stars overall.

Un juego rápido, divertido, emocionante, todos los disfrutan, desde los peques hasta los abuelitos. Instrucciones fáciles de entender y aprender y, lo que más me gustó, es que no es un juego de competencia, sino de cooperación. A mí hijo se lo regalaron de cumpleaños y nos gustó tanto, que compramos otro para regalar.

Me encantó que es un juego que no se basa en la competencia, fomenta la paciencia y la ayuda mutua. A mi peque y mi esposo igual les encantó, esperamos disfrutarlo más cuando la bebe igual pueda jugar con nosotros. Lo recomiendo mucho.