Hooray for ThinkFun! So many kids have enjoyed “Rush Hour” over the last 20 years and now the preschool set can join in too. Based on the parent game, this preschool model requires players to place chunky vehicles–including a cars, an SUV, van, garbage truck and school bus– on the parking lot game grid, according to challenge cards, matching colors, shapes, and front/back orientation. Kids are introduced to problem solving and logic as they learn and apply rules that certain vehicles move in all four directions, only one direction, or can’t move once they are placed on the board. There are four levels of difficulty moving from simple matching to putting vehicles in place so the RED Hero Car can easily go down the path to the exit ramp. Hard challenges require children to move one or more of the vehicles or the safety officer in order to clear a path on the maze to exit and win. As any good preschool game, My First Rush Hour has an element of pretend play as the Safety Officer and Hero Car can go in any direction, managing traffic for the winning car to move. Kids can talk out the logic and work together on these tasks or work alone, tapping matching, spacial skills, logic and problem solving, all helping for reading readiness and the classroom.
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