Educational Insights Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel ~ Review ~

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Educational Insights® is the manufacturer of unique, innovative, and modern products that deliver the highest quality educational content in ways that are relevant and appealing to kids, parents, and teachers alike.

Educational Insights, the maker of Classroom Jeopardy, GeoSafari, GeoSafari Jr., Hot Dots, Hot Dots Jr., Playfoam, and many more, has been going strong for almost 50 years. In my last Educational Insights review I talked about the contributions their products made to my life at a young age. Now Educational Insights is contributing to the lives an education of my own children.

Educational Insights recently sent us their Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game to try. Well, try it we most certainly did. Big Brother has played this game almost every day since we got it over a month ago! Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel has just the right balance of simplicity and challenge that Big Brother needs at just shy of 4 years old. Here is a brief description of the game from the Educational Insights website:

Your forest friends are hungry and they need your help! Spin the spinner, squeeze the matching colored acorn with your Squirrel Squeezers, and place it into your log. Be the first to your log with delicious acorns and you win! You could also spin “pick an acorn,” “steal an acorn,” or “lose an acorn,” so be strategic, little squirrel!

2 to 4 player game

Includes 1 set of Squirrel Squeezers, 20 colored acorns, 1 game spinner, and game board (doubles as packaging!)

Develops matching, sorting, strategic thinking, hand eye coordination, fine motor skills, and pre-handwriting skills

When we received the game the Squirrel Squeezers, which look like a huge pair of squirrel shaped tweezers, were broken. I contacted EI and they quickly sent out a replacement. Their customer service has been wonderful. While reading through product reviews on their website I came across a couple reviews where the customer noted that something they received was broken or failed to last very long. An EI representative always responded to the review and urged the customer to contact them so that they could fix or replace the product.

While we waited for our replacement to arrive we had fun playing the game without the squirrel squeezers. It was great at helping Big Brother to be attentive to what was going on in the game. He needed to keep track of what color acorns he already had so he’d know what colors he still needed to get while also keeping track of what colors I had so he’d know what color to steal from me if he got the chance. I also found this game to be a good exercise at sportsmanship. If the spinner lands on the sneaky squirrel the player that spun gets to steal an acorn from another player. To most 3 year olds having another player steal one of their hard earned acorns is not cool. Whenever this situation came up we, as parents, were able to model appropriate ways to express disappointment at loosing an acorn while still being a good sport about it. Big Brother caught on quickly and later even attempted to console a friend he was playing the game with.

When we received the squirrel squeezers I realize just how big a role they play. Big Brother does not have the best fine motor skills. I’d venture to say that he may be a little behind many of his peers in this department. Using the squirrel squeezers was, and continues to be, a challenge for him, but it is helping him develop both strength and coordination as we play.

Buy It:
You can purchase the Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game from Educational Insights for $19.99.

Disclosure: I was provided with the above mentioned items by Educational Insights at no cost to myself in order to facilitate a review. All opinions expressed are my own and are entirely honest.