Peaceable KingdomMermaid Island Award Winning Cooperative Board Game for 2 to 6 Kids Ages 5+

A suggestion for our granddaughter. The age, value, ease, design, was right. She loved it.

Granddaughter loves it

Very fun and cute game

Made an excellent gift but needs some work on being more memorable and a little more difficult (if this was a video game, itd be rated E for everyone, but not in a good way). She wished it was more challenging/riskier to win/play.

This game is the perfect game to play with my family! My daughter is 3 and my son is 5 and we have a great time working together to build the puzzles before all the shells get washed away! Would recommend this game to any family!

Fun collaborative game. Helps little kids learn to play by game rules.

I first saw Peaceable Kingdom's cooperative board games as a preschool teacher, and knew that I wanted to get some for my children as they grew. I chose Mermaid Kingdom for my 4 year old who loves mermaids. We have been playing with it for over a year (she's now 5), and she still enjoys it. She has also taught her 2 year old sister to play, and it's simple enough that they can play together without adult input.Basically, the players work together to advance 3 mermaids along the board using a spinner. They have to get the mermaids to their kingdom before the sea witch (who has her own "slice" on the spinner). There are also "wands" that players can choose use if the sea witch is closing in. In terms of strategy, it's not too challenging-- it is geared for preschoolers, after all. I found it really helpful for teaching my girls how to take turns and move game pieces without the anxiety that winning or losing seems to cause them. As they get older, I imagine that they will start to use strategy and social cues to move their mermaids more intentionally (even now they talk about how the mermaids "feel" about being left behind or how happy they are to be together sharing a space. This would probably be a good opportunity to discuss friendships and feelings with them, but I haven't taken the time yet).The game is bright and appealing, without extraneous packaging or pieces (ie, it is easy to clean up). We have had it for a year and a half in a home daycare setting and it has been relatively durable. We did lose one part of the spinner, and the company was exremely pleasant to deal with and quickly replaced the spinner.Incidentally, although this is a cooperative game and is very fun and useful as such, it can also easily be modified into a more traditional competitive type board game for individuals or teams once your child is ready for or interested in practicing good sportsmanship. Or if grandpa just can't wrap his head around cooperative play. ;)

Great game that encourages teamwork!