Invented and designed during the pandemic shutdown by 10 year old, Cybele, Candy Collections will be a soon favorite for family game night. The board game brings both educational features and fun to the table that will keep kids engaged and learning.
Cybele created the game to keep her two younger brothers occupied in the summer of 2020. Intended for 2-6 players, ages 5 and up, this game is great for teaching early math concepts such as one-to-one correspondence (rolling die and moving game piece), addition, and subtraction. Studies show that board games help children develop an early “number sense” that can predict long-term achievement in math. Skills such as number identification, counting, and number comparison (which number is larger/smaller) are all exercised in Candy Collections, making it a winner in the learning game too.
In addition to mathematical benefits, Candy Collections is fantastic for language, pragmatic development, and spatial awareness. Kids were observed to engage in verbal negotiations when prompted to “trade” or “steal” a candy from an opponent, “Mommy has more, you should take it from her!” The conversation was active throughout, as players made predictions and wished for certain number rolls, like “I hope I get a 3, then I get the Candy Jar!” They practiced turn taking, planning and helped each other out (as the older one read cards for the younger). Candy Collections is perfect for including younger kids as they learn spatial awareness when moving counters and their hands manipulate the piece as they move around the game board.
Not to mention, the six different character movers have really fun names, which we only discovered about the fourth time of play. Cool Kyle, Silly Sarah, Excited Emma, and Shy Steve, to name a few, were even used for pretend play following the game. They took on the personas of their names talking about their favorite candies and found Shy Steve hiding behind a candy cane mystery card. Candy Collections is a fun game created by a kid for kids, that is filled with learning and family fun.
