Playing Candyland with my 3 year old

Ah, Candyland. Such a classic first game for little kids! I remember it when I was little. And I remember it being way more exciting way back when. The gameboard was way prettier, I think.

Jon got a new version for his birthday a few months ago and we've played it a few times.

As this was the first board game he attempted to play, we thought we'd try and teach him the rules:

• Put your game piece at start
• Take a card and move it to the next color. If there are two colored squares, move two pieces. Counting practice!
• If the card has a picture of something, move your piece to that card

Simple enough, yah? Well, Jon wanted to make his own rules. He enjoyed moving the game piece to the correct color, but then he decided he wanted to move it to a different space. On his next turn, he wanted to move the piece to the lollipop. Then, he wanted to trade game pieces.

So ah...we need more practice with this one.

Candyland is good for teaching:

• Colors
• Taking turns
• Following game rules

That's all I can think of. Mainly, I think games such as Candyland are good for little ones to simply get used to the idea of playing a board game. Gotta lay the foundation for future, more involved games.

If you're searching for Candyland for your kid, keep an eye out for sales around November-December. Hasbro also offers promotions from time to time. I've seen the game as cheap as $1.79 with coupons at Target, for instance. Don't pay more than $5 for a new version.