Future ecologists, conservational biologists, and animal enthusiasts are already roaring about the fun learning and strategy in SimplyFun’s newest game, SavannaScapes.

SavannaScapes is a board game for 2-5 players that features incredible diversity of animal life and builds curiosity in children. Players explore animal ecosystems, gaining new knowledge of the biological community of living things and their environments.

Players choose an animal footprint as their token to move around the play area, selecting different species tiles and placing them next to others to match them with their needs. An animal’s demand may differ based on their habitat and environmental needs (such as rainfall). Point tokens are earned each time a player meets the needs of their animals.

During gameplay, our toy testers were keen on acquiring certain animals. Naturally, the African lion was highly desirable amongst players! As we all continued to play and learn, we read about Keystone Species and the huge effect that they have on protecting the balance of the ecosystem. With this new information, players were racing to get the Dung Beetle, Carpenter Bee, Lappet-faced Vulture, and the Egyptian Fruit Bat too.

The Serengeti-Mara Fun Facts Booklet became a part of the learning and playing process. Players took turns sharing a fun fact each time a tile was played, which helped better understand the ecosystem (not to mention practice decoding and reading fluency!). We read about the four various habitats and the attributes that make each one unique.

SavannaScapes is a wildly entertaining game that enlightened young learnings about the different roles that animals play in their environments. Our game testers frequently made connections between species’ behaviors and their contributions to the ecosystem. This game sparked new learning, fascinating facts, and an appreciation for the world around us.

Available at SimplyFun