We like educational games at our house - games that teach critical thinking skills to little ones - and we are pleased that Rapelli fits that bill. Playing the game reinforces color matching, counting, and even rudimentary logic! It's terrific for the youngest budding mathematicians (aged 3+).
The game comes in a sturdy cardboard box - complete with a bamboo handle for easy carrying. Included are: one large bamboo tube (the "game board"), eighteen caterpillars in six colors, one action die, and one color die. The "game board" and pieces are made of eco-friendly bamboo with water-based paints.
My three and a half year old was immediately drawn to the colorful caterpillars. "They're so cute!" Not until after we had placed the caterpillars in the bamboo tube and started playing, did I realize that this was her first real opportunity to play a board game that involved rolling dice - and taking turns! She loves the game and keeps begging to play it again!
Depending on the number of players (from two to six), each one chooses one to three colors of caterpillars which start out with only their cute little smiling faces showing on the outside of the bamboo tube. The first player rolls both the color die and the action die to determine which color of caterpillar and how many sections of that caterpillar he will move either forward or backward. There is also a "wild card" allowing the lucky player to pull out the specified color of caterpillar completely! The winner is the first to collect all his caterpillars. We did end up making some additional rules as we went along. For example, if the color die specified a color not currently in play, that player got to roll again to try for another color option.
Basic addition skills can be developed as the youngest players realize that when the action die has three forward arrows, it means that three segments of the caterpillar must be advanced - in addition to however many segments of that caterpillar have already been emerged from the tube. For us, this new game is reinforcing basic mathematics our daughter is learning in K-3. "What do two and three make?" and so on.
Rapelli's element of strategy makes it an engaging game for all ages as it quickly becomes apparent that the choice of color to advance will very probably not be your own! Consequently, if you get opportunity to move an opponent's caterpillar backward, you'll want to choose the one that has emerged the farthest from the tube. If you have to advance an opponent's caterpillar, you'll want to choose one that is just beginning to show rather than the one that is almost out of the tube, etc.
An added bonus for our family is the fact that the instructions are in five languages, including Spanish and French - of great interest to us! With Christmas less than two months away, I recommend Rapelli as a great addition to any young family's wish list.