HABA Orchard Game - A Classic Cooperative Introduction to Board Games for Ages 3 and Up (Made in Germany)

This is the first “really” board game we have played. We do have a bunch for toddlers but this one feels like you are playing an actual game.No cheap but worth it.

I am SO happy with this purchase! My LO is 21m and I have been desperately waiting for her to become old enough for ANY board game, just ANY! I am a big boardgame fan myself and we haven’t had a chance to play any boardgame since she was born, with our lives full of baby duty and work. I started to try boardgames with her since she was 18m old. And 18m is probably the minimum age you are able to find any boardgame that’s suitable for. But I had no luck. Even with the Thinkfun Roll and Play which is marked for age 18m+, she showed no interest except throwing the cards around. I kept trying but even today she would lose interest within a minute when her dad and I play the Roll and Play with her. But this HABA Orchard game is a hit!! She still couldn’t quite get the rules, but the fact that she got to pick the toy fruits from the trees and put them into her little baskets (she owns two while my husband and I got the other two) after the dice was rolled to a certain color kept her focused and interested throughout the game. She was also so eager to finish the crow puzzle that her little hand is always holding a piece of the puzzle. I guess she still doesn’t have the concept of win or lose, so collecting fruit and finishing a puzzle are both the fun for her.We did not buy the My First Game version of Orchard because I think this one will last longer when my LO gets older. And she stopped putting any non-food into her mouth quite a few months ago already and she’s able to spit out the fish bones when she eats fish. We don’t have much concern of choking hazard on her and we won’t let her play this by herself anyways. If your LO does not have choking concern either, you can easily convert this game to the My First Game version by alternating the rules a bit (just take two fruit pieces every time instead of one). I think for young toddlers this makes more sense since the game will be much shorter this way and they can easily stay focused and interested throughout such a short game.

This game is always a huge hit with young families. My grandson loved playing it when he was little, and I have gifted it to several families since then. Part of its charm is that it enables the whole family to pull together as we race to beat the greedy raven.😀

I'd read about Orchard and had been considering purchasing it for awhile, but wasn't sure about spending the money on it. Finally, we decided to get it for our sons (2.5 and nearly 4) for Christmas. My husband and I were both REALLY happy that we did.Negatives first:1) It's true that the baskets are not very durable. One of ours is a bit smashed already (the one year old got ahold of it), but we'll find a replacement if necessary.2) The puzzle for the crow is a bit difficult because the pieces don't stick together, but not a big deal.3) and this is VERY nit-picky, I wish the cherries were a bit neater on their place; once I gave the stems a little twist and that fixed it. BUT, my kids don't care at all and they work just fine.The positives:1) the fruit is beautiful! I love the little wooden pieces2) my sons were easily able to get the rules of the game and don't need to be coached through the game at all. In some other games, we either have to go over the rules for each turn EVERY turn or forget about them, and that takes all the fun away.3) it teaches fair play (gently stopping the 2 year old from rerolling if he gets a crow)4) and turn taking.5) good for reinforcing colors6) and counting (2 fruit for the basket, and of course, we love to see how many of such and such fruit we have)7) working togethershall I go on?Best of all, the boys love it!And my husband and I both enjoy playing this game with the kids and our 11 month old (when we got the game) even likes in on the action and will sit in one of our laps and will "roll" the die on our turn.My mother, who is a kindergarten teacher recently purchased the game for her class center time after playing with our boys.All in all, a winner.

I think I am the one who loves this game the most at this point but I keep my hopes high. I have 1 yr old and 3 yr old. I bought it to play with the older one when the younger child naps. Unfortunately, the 1 yr old now naps just a little longer then her older sister so we do not really have time to enjoy this game and have all the fun you can get from it (pick the fruits, count them, separate by color, count again, learn more about taking turns, you also can make it more interesting for older kids by assigning some score to each fruit picked, and so forth). It does have a lot of small pieces so it is a no-no when the 1 yr old is around.My 3yr old does love the game and asks to play with it, but as I mentioned earlier we have little time to play with it.I am looking forward to the younger child growing up and joining in with us. I imagine a lot of fun at that point! Overall, highly recommended!

Got this for our son’s 3rd birthday. He got the concept very quickly and loves to play it with his sister. All the fruit pieces are well made and cute. Our daughter likes to collect them in the basket. Really fun and an easy cooperative game for all ages!