Candyland

For Christmas this past year, Santa gave Nicholas the game Candyland. Remember this game? It's been around just about forever. I happened to think this was a great choice of game on Santa's part, because it involves taking turns, recognizing colors, and otherwise involves very little strategy whatsoever (unless, of course, you are trying to find a way for the kid to win.)

Nicholas has never been able to complete a game. He loves the board and the colors and the pictures of candy. (Who doesn't?) He also loves the little colored game guys that move around the board. But he isn't so great at taking turns, or patient enough to wait for the game to finish. We have played a few half-games, though.

Yesterday we pulled out the game board while Nathan was awake, something which I've avoided, as Nathan likes to eat the game cards and run off with the game guys. Nathan was thrilled.

Jamie tried playing with Nicholas, but the first thing my son did instead of just picking a card was turn over all the cards until he found the candy cane card. "I pick this one," he said. Jamie just looked at him, unsure of how to proceed, while Nathan moved all of the colored gingerbread guys to the end of the board.

Jamie picked up a card with a yellow square on it. "What color is this?" he asked. "Yellow!" said Nick. "Lellow!" said Nate. "Very Good!" said Jamie. He picked up another card with a blue square. "What color is this?" "Bue!" shouted Nate.

Well, both Jamie and I were impressed. "Yes! You're right! Very good, Nathan!" We shouted, and Jamie handed over the card. Next Jamie picked up a card with a red square. "What color is this?" he asked.

"Bue!" shouted Nathan. "Bue! Yep yep yep!" and he reached out and took the card.

From then on, every card was "Bue!" and followed by "yep yep yep." I had to abandon my delusion that he could recognize colors. And after a few more tries we had to pack the game up, especially as Nicholas had lost ALL interest whatsoever and was plying with cars.

But hey, it was worth a try.