Are You Listening? *Giveaway*

As you can probably tell, I'm a bit of a nerd.
Aside from finding great nerdy things for myself, I tend to seek out nerdalicious things to share with my nieces and godchildren.  My goal is to make them the coolest little nerds you ever did see.  But I want them to have fun at the same time.

I came across the Noodleboro Playskool games on a recent trip to Five Below.  I like to keep games and books at my house for family members that visit, and I thought these would make for cute additions to my arsenal of activities.  There was a Pizza Listening game as well as a Manners game.  I grabbed the Listening game to try out.  What attracted me to these sets was the fact that each came with game pieces, a music cd, and also a book!  A complete activity set for $5!!

I knew I liked it, but would it pass the niece test?

Stinks is my 4 year-old niece.  Every Friday, I bring her books and activities for our own personal storytime.  She's a small package, but she has a powerful punch in terms of what she likes and doesn't like, so I was glad to see this smile when I opened the box.

To play the pizza game, the adult player is  the customer, and the child is the pizza maker.  Their job is to listen carefully to your order, make the pizza, and deliver it to you.

Sounds simple, right?

Well, sort of.

These are  toppings cards.  I chose three toppings for my pizza, laid the cards face-up on the table and told Stinks what I wanted on my pizza.  After I placed my order, I turned the cards face-down.

Next, it was her turn to make the pizza!
She had to remember each of the toppings I'd said and shown her, then find them in her toppings.  Once she had them all on the pizza, she could close the box and "deliver" it to me.

The first couple of pizzas were easy for her so I started to add more toppings, or change my order while she was preparing the pizza to see if she was really listening.  After a while, she began to repeat everything after me to make sure she had it right!  I was really impressed with that.

For each successful order, she was able to move her chef's hat up a space until she made it all the way around the pizza board.

I was happy overall with the game, and I really enjoyed how easy it was for us to catch on and how many ways we could change the game's difficulty.  The toppings were traditional things like tomatoes, but also things like smelly socks and rotten eggs which Stinks thought was hilarious.

The attached book, "Listen While You Work", was a funny little tale of how not listening can be disastrous for two boys placed in charge of their local pizza parlor.  The song mentioned in the story is also on the CD, along with quite a few other catchy little tunes.  The story itself was alright, but it did hold her attention.   I will say, though, that depending on how you choose to play, the game can begin to feel more like Memory than Listening, so I suggest you change it up and try it a few different ways to see what works best for you and your little people.

I was truly pleased with this game!  It has made for a nice treat on our Friday nights.  So much so that I'd like to give you the opportunity to try it out as well!  Enter to win a brand new, never touched box for your home or classroom!

Listening Game Giveaway Entry Rules:

• Leave me a comment below about how you use play to reinforce learning.

Bonus Entries:

• Follow MissHootieHoo on Facebook
• Mention @MissHootieHoo on Facebook or share the page.  

Be sure and let me know if you do the bonus entries!
Giveaway closes on Thursday, September 22.
Good Luck!!