Educational InsightsLearning Resources The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game, 4 players, for Preschoolers & Toddlers, Early Years Strategy and Matching Game, Gift for Toddlers Ages 3+

This game was one of my daughters most coveted this Christmas after watching the YouTube demonstration it was all she would talk about for her Christmas list and she hasn't been disappointed.This game is fun, colourful and creative but also excellent for young children to develop game skills of taking turns, spinning the wheel and strategy alongside counting, colours and fine motor skills in using the squirrel shaped tongs to select the coloured acorns.My daughter is small for her age and has struggled with the tongs but this is also good for encouraging resilience alongside hand strength and by continuing to try she is more confident and we have had to expand her game selection!For grown ups this game is excellent for reducing chaos of lost bits in that it is self contained and self storing, the box is the game 'board' and everything goes back in it without having to align bits of plastic with inner packaging everytime, just scoop and shut the lid, job done.Overall, I'm a fan of Learning Resources products despite their higher price you get quality pieces, this was worth the investment for us and is an excellent choice for the preschooler/reception aged child but wil still get value for older primary aged children as its competitive with the forfeit spins and fun overall.

This game has been the biggest hit of Christmas! Our 2y 9month little boy is obsessed. It's the first game he's actually been interested in following the rules - he picked it up quickly and asks to play it multiple times a day. The game board and pieces are lovely, visually appealing and tactile, with just the right level of challenge for him to use the pincer grip to pick up the acorns with the squirrel. As it's based on luck with the spinner, everyone wins an equal amount so it's a nice way for him to learn about winning, losing and luck. He's still learning to be gracious when someone gets the Sneaky Squirrel and steals one of his acorns! My 8 year old very happily plays it too, as do the grown ups. An all round winner! I'll definitely look at other games from this company for his birthday.

My sons are 2.5 and 4 years of age and really enjoy this game. It is simple enough that they understand the basic rules and can master the manual dexterity required to play, and also makes them think a little about strategy. You can set it up and teach it in under a minute as well which is always a plus where impatient little ones are concerned. I like that the bottom of the box is effectively the board, it means that the game is all nicely self contained and bits are less likely to go flying everywhere - the shaped box is nice touch though it would fit into our games cupboard with more ease if it were more rectangular!The cardboard logs are sturdy enough though for the price tag and the Learning Resources brand I would have expected plastic ones to longevity. The disappointment for me, and the lost star, is the spinner - it is cardboard so easily bent with little ones enthusiasm, and ours actually came with a curve in the card and spinning arrow itself. Let alone the arrow lands on the same icon each time, if I use both hands to flatten it out on each turn we get more or a spin but it will always stop within the same half of the circle which ruins the game somewhat. I may contact LR to see if we can be sent a new one as the game is unplayable without me sneakily moving the pointer manually, something I don't want to encourage as okay practise whilst playing games!UPDATE - I did contact Learning Resources UK and they were happy to send out a replacement spinner, happy customer here!

This was one of our 3 year old's favourite birthday presents. It's an original, interesting game that is both educational and fun. So many of his other games (particularly his Orchard ones) are essentially memory, counting, or die-rolling games in one guise or another, so this makes a refreshing change. It does involve matching pairs in a sense, but does much more than just that.Children get to practice fine motor skills when using the squirrel-tweezers to pick up acorns and place them in their logs, and they also learn to start thinking tactically when choosing which colour acorns to pick from the tree or steal from someone else's log (and whose log to choose to steal from). Our son and his playmates love to "blow" acorns back onto the tree, choose which colours they would like, and - best of all! - to sneakily steal each other's acorns. This is one of the first games our son always asks to play and I think it's going to be a good while before he tires of it (particularly as none of his other friends has it, so it also has novelty value whenever other children play with him).

We had this game on our wishlist for a while, and finally gave in and bought it....my kids (3 and 4) absolutely LOVE this game! The older one quickly grasped the gameplay and now can supervise his sibling while they play together. It is a delight to look at and the components are really well made. Yes, it is a game for younger children, but older kids might enjoy the odd game. My kids have yet to tire of playing it!We also bought the card game Raccoon Rumpus at the same time and they have equally enjoyed playing it together.Great game for teaching children the mechanics of a board game, taking turns and losing to chance! All in all, a great family game and one we will be enjoying for a good while yet. Highly recommended.

Lovely game, great quality, soft plastic colourful acorns, lots of fun for little ones.

Bought for my granddaughter’s third birthday. To be honest, she didn’t really have the concentration to play the game but her sister absolutely loved it. And for once, it’s quite good fun for adults too. Just as well because we played it nonstop!I was slightly concerned about some of the aspects of the game and how a young child would cope with them. Maybe we were lucky, but my granddaughter took it in good part when she had to return all her playing pieces to the box or when someone stole acorns from her. Good lessons to learn.