Peter Rabbit is a mischievous, adventurous anthropomorphic young rabbit. He wears a blue jacket with brass buttons and loves his fruit and veg. You will remember him from the children’s stories by Beatrix Potter. He has been around since 1902 so you can’t have missed him. And at over 120 years old he is still hopping about causing mischief, especially in Mr. McGregor’s vegetable patch in the Orchard Toys board game Peter Rabbit™ Don’t Wake Mr. McGregor!
Peter Rabbit™ Don’t Wake Mr. McGregor! is a children’s / family board game that is rooted in the charming universe of the wonderful Peter Rabbit. It is a garden of vegetable collecting fun for kids. Peter Rabbit and friends must try to collect as many fruit and vegetables as they can without waking Mr. McGregor.
Peter Rabbit™ Don’t Wake Mr. McGregor! is a Teacher Tested board game for 2-4 players, age 4 and upwards where players race to collect the most fresh fruit and veg in this vegetable patch board game.
In the box:
- Six-piece Play Board
- Mr. McGregor Character
- 4 Character Playing Pieces and Stands
- 24 Fruit/Veg Cards
- 4 Trug Collection Boards
- Spinner Board
- Two-part Spinner Arrow
- Dice
- Instruction Booklet
Unlike most boards games, the aim of Peter Rabbit™ Don’t Wake Mr. McGregor! isn’t to see you can move around the board and get to the finish line first. Each player moves up their line in the vegetable patch to try and collect fruit and vegetables, the winner is the player that has collected most when there are no more left to play for.
Let’s hop to it and rabbit on about how easy it is to set up the game and play. It only takes a few minutes to set up ready for some carrot pinching play.
Setting up the game is a breeze. The game board is in six pieces and slots together just like a jigsaw, already getting your little rabbits in the mood to play and putting a hop in their step. Assemble the Mr. McGregor character and place him at the top of the game board sleeping side forward. Place the 24 fruit and veg cards, green side up, on and around the top of the board. Each player chooses a rabbit character and matching colour stand, placing the rabbit into the stand and then putting it on their coloured space at the bottom of the board so that each rabbit has its own path through the garden. Each player also takes a trug (collection basket board) and places it in front of them. If the spinner isn’t attached to the spinner board, attach it and place it when everybody can reach it.
With the set up complete, the young players are in for a blooming good time.
To play, the youngest starts first. They roll the dice and move their rabbit piece the same number of spaces up their garden trail. Easy enough, but they must be stealthy as not to wake the sleeping Mr. McGregor, he gets grumpy when the rabbits are taking his fruit and veg. If a player lands on a watering can, their rabbit falls in and sneezes. They must say “Atishoo” and then turn Mr. McGregor around so that the other side of the board is facing forward. When a player lands on the radish at the end of the path, if Mr. McGregor is asleep they can spin the spinner to see how many fruit and veg cards they can take and place them in their trug and then return their rabbit back to the start. But if a player lands on the radish when Mr. McGregor is awake, the rabbit is frightened away without collecting any scrumptious food and returns to the start.
Play continues until all the fruit and vegetable cards have been collected. Players then turn over their cards and count how many good ones they have (they don’t count any rotten ones). The player with the most good fruit and veg is the winner. And if they are lucky, their adult may give they a real carrot to munch on.
Overall, Peter Rabbit™ Don’t Wake Mr. McGregor! is a superb fun game for children and family play. It has a nice and large playing board with vibrant images and doesn’t take too long to play, holding the attention of its young players. And I do like that the dice is a larger size than found in standard board games, making it easy for small hands to pick up, roll and read the numbers.
The game pieces are also a great size, chunky pieces that are easy to handle, making them ideal for little fingers still mastering their motor skills.
It is a fun and simple board game, but it also has plenty of educational value. By rolling the dice and moving spaces on the board they are reinforcing their counting skills, as they do when spinning the spinner and counting their fruit and vegetables. They also add and subtract at end of the game when counting up who has the most, adding up their good food and removing the bad. It also encourages observation skills in where their player piece lands, does it wake Mr. McGregor or not and what is good fruit & veg and what is bad. And as with all board games, it encourages social skills, turn taking and patience.
It is definitely a game for the EYFS and Key Stage 1 age groups, but is also good for young children to play with their families.
A quick and fun game that it perfect for its young audience.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £12
For more information or to buy direct, visit www.orchardtoys.com. Also available to buy from Amazon here.
