Acorn Soup Game. The first game that I'd like to start with is The Acorn Soup by the Peaceable Kingdom. The game is designed for toddlers, starting from the age of 2. The main idea is that a child should follow the instructions from the recipe card and cook an imaginary soup with the given ingredients.
I know about these types of games from the times of my grad school, where I studied second language acquisition. One of the approaches that were considered highly effective for the development of conversational language was a product-oriented method (a "soup" in this game).
It means that kids should come up with some tangible physical results from their work. The catch is that the products/props/objects used in the play force children to use language to describe and explain the process.
From this perspective, cooking is ideal. It has ingredients; it contains rules and a sequence of steps.
A child learns from this game how to:
- understand and follow given instructions, both verbally and visually,
- identify steps and follow those steps through
- get the result (imaginary soup)
- be able to describe what they are doing with the help of language.
The language of the game is straightforward. Just a few sentences, but it's more than enough for two years olds, and the most significant part is that it doesn't require reading. Besides, this game with cooking could be played in any language of the household.
How to play Acorn Soup?
Video by Peaceable Kingdom
Stone soup
The second game that we played was Stone Soup by the Peaceable Kingdom as well. Despite the similarity in names, the game is different, because it is a cooperative memory game. There are pairs of cards, and we need to memorize the position of the cards to match the pair. We never played the way how it's supposed to be played. Instead, we played the same way as with Acorn Soup. We cooked an imaginary soup out of the ingredients. From language development perspectives to memory, games do not add up much to the development of language.
Anyway, they have one advantage - you spend time with your child interacting and doing some new stuff.
Stone Soup: A Cooperative Game by Peaceable Kingdom
Sunny and Stormy Days
The next excellent game is Sunny and Stormy Days by Peaceable Kingdom. This game has a lot of props that come in one box. It has a book, a little bag, several tokens, and sequence cards with the situation, and all is connected to the book with a story about a little Hedgehog.
This is a cooperative game, plus a memory game, emotions, and feelings discussions. It also scaffolds talking about past events, which is essential for the training of the past forms of irregular verbs (if your language has them). The game is supposed to teach kids how to deal with different events during the day. That can be both positive and negative at the same time, depending on perspective. I recommend watching the video by Ryan and Bethany board game reviews for a better understanding of how to play. They did a great job describing this game and its details. There is one condition - to enjoy this game to the fullest your child better be able to speak.
However, from my standpoint and our experience, it is a fantastic game for toddlers' language development.
I bought this game when my daughter was two, and she was blown away by it. There were so many pieces! They occupied her for many hours every day. She revisited this game all the time and literally spent hours just playing with the pieces, going through them one by one putting them together, matching the colors, and putting the puzzle together. Therefore whatever I paid for this game was worth it.
That was the first game from the Peaceable Kingdom company I bought. Since then, I started to pay attention to that company's products. It seemed they produce very niche-specific educational language-boosting products for toddlers.
The idea of talking about feelings with a child came from exposure to this game as well. I suddenly realized how it positively affected her language development. I don't mention, that talking about feelings also has a lot of other advantages such as the emotional intellect development that includes
- the ability to identify emotions
- practical tips on how to handle stressful situations
I also like that the game teaches and supports a discussion of the daily event. It makes the child recall events and put them into chronological order. From a language perspective, it's beneficial when toddlers master past tenses. I highly recommend acquiring this game and using it every day until your child loses interest.
Sunny and Stormy Day by Ryan and Bethany Board Game Reviews
Bunny Bedtime
Bunny Bedtime is, The-make-a-choice-game from the Peaceable Kingdom. The recommended age is 2 + years old, and like most of the products by the Peaceable Kingdom, it has lovely props that attract kids immediately.
The pieces or tokens are not checkable and handy in other games as well.
What I like about this Kingdom approach is that their games set a high bar for toddlers and challenged them to master new skills.
Try something new, make logical decisions, and have fun at the same time. I wouldn't come up with something like this by myself, and I'm very thankful for the company producing fun games for the little ones.
Bunny bedtime teaches how to make a simple choice between two options as well as organizational skills where the bunny needs to follow the order of events.
The game was exciting, but it was easier, at least for my kid.
Compared to the previous game and I'd say that bunny but times should be given at around the age of two, you probably can maximize the linguistic use of the game according to the peaceable kingdom.
The game helps to develop
- different social-emotional sides of your child as well as
- independence through the choice-making
In terms of language development playing, this game will help your child to
- learn and practice basic phrases associated with a bedtime routine.
- identify when adults offer to make a choice
- learn how to verbalize her preferences by choosing one or another type of object and activity.
We played this game a lot, but as per usual, my child also played with their pieces separately. She could use any part of the game in a way she wanted since the purpose of the game is to be used and loved by a kid and my kid youth and love it.
The game Monkey Around and the book "Stop monkeying around."
The game Monkey Around and the book "Stop monkeying around" is a wonderful combination of two things I found from different places.
I'm not sure if they were connected somehow with each other, but initially, I bought a table game and inadvertently found the book. "Monkey Around" is a game of action from the Peaceable Kingdom.
There are cards with actions, and you and your child are supposed to act it out. It is an entertaining game. We played it a lot! The most exciting part is that kids are way more willing to do silly actions rather than adults. The more people you involve in the game, the better.
Stop Monkeying Around Book
The book is not included in the game. It was a separate purchase from
I don't remember where. I bought it just because it looked almost identical to the game. Regardless of the superficial similarity, the book is different. It tells a story where a little monkey didn't know how to make friends and randomly played with different animals. For a while, the little monkey made one adult animal upset, and his mommy monkey taught him to play by himself. The story with a happy end was very topical for my 3-year-old. She was the only child and had trouble making friends, the same as a little monkey from the book. Reading and discussing the book helped her realize that it's okay when other kids don't want to play with her.
From a linguistic point of view, the book provides
- some age-appropriate phrases
- the communicational pragmatics of interaction with others
The game
- boosts the confidence in acting
- teaches those silly simple things can be very entertaining
Books and games worked as a bundle, promoting the development of social skills in the group and individually.
I highly recommend using this game and the book, due to the combination of the fun and information of value.
What are your best language developmental games?
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