Orchard Toys Review & Giveaway - Piggy in the Middle Game

Congratulations to  @mrswebster147.  You are the lucky winner.  Please either email or DM me your name and address for me to pass on.  Well done, Mich x

I do love it when I get an email from Orchard Toys asking me if I would like to review another of their products. Without a shadow of a doubt I know that I will receive a British made innovative and educational game or puzzle arrive in the post that will delight my children.

Piggy in the Middle is no different.  The object of the game is to achieve savings of £5 and reach one of the finish spaces.

You play the game by rolling the dice and moving around the board, if you land on a spend or save space you collect a card and it instructs you what to do.  You have to spin the spinner to see how much either you pay to the bank (you spend) or the bank pays to you (to save).  JJ adored being the banker, this was his big brother duty.  If you are really lucky you might get the piggy bank card and then you can claim all the money in the piggy bank (which will have got there by people landing on different coloured piggy bank spaces and having to pay 50p in the piggy bank). Once you have managed to save £5 you make your way up the board to any one of the finish spaces.

Without sounding a bore and as if I am the champion of Orchard Toys let me tell you why we liked this game so much -

• The packaging is sturdy and lasts, no silly broken corners after a few weeks.
• The board breaks into jigsaw pieces for small storage and again is a real sturdy card with a sort of laminate wipe clean cover
• There is a cute little red piggy bank with it (need I say more? lol)
• The game is good fun, it is advertised for ages 5-10 years and I played it with my just 4 year old twins and 8 year old and they all loved it.  The 4 year olds needed a bit of help with keeping track of the money but they got the hang of the game very quickly.
• The game really does bring the whole family together for some fun
• It teaches my kids how to handle money and ties in with the national curriculum for maths, how can I not like that?

The game took us a while, about 45 minutes but that might have been because we had younger ones playing with us and dh and I had to help them. It did not feel too long though, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Piggy in the Middle retails for £11.50 and I believe it is really good value for money. You can buy it direct from Orchard Toys HERE and I must also say they always ship really fast and package the item well.

Would you like to win your own Piggy in the Middle game? 

• Mandatory - leave a comment and let me know how I can contact you if you win (email, Twitter ID)
• Additional Entry- subscribe to my blog for email notifications, so you never miss a giveaway again!
Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner
• Additional entry - tweet 'I want to #win a superb game from @orchardtoys in @michelletwinmum's #giveaway http://bit.ly/nWnCL2'

Giveaway Terms and Conditions 

• The winner will be chosen at random
• Open to UK and Ireland residents only
• Giveaway closes at 12 noon on Friday 16th September 2011
• The winner will be contacted within 3 working days of the competition closing
• The winner needs to contact me within a week of my announcing the winner or I will draw again
• The prize is not transferable and there is no cash alternative
• The game will be sent direct from Orchard Toys

Disclosure: We were provided with this game free of charge for the purposes of the review.  I was not instructed what to write, the words are my own and I remain honest.

Review & Giveaway: Orchard Toys, 3 Little Pigs Game

 {As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, any affiliate links will be marked with #ad}

In July my girls will be 4, they are growing up so quickly and one of the wonderful things of them growing up is that we can indulge Mummy and start to play board games as a family. Red Dog, Blue Dog is great for a while but it is so nice to progress onto a more complex game and for the girls to still be able to 'get' it and play along.

We have had some fun days recently playing the 3 Little Pigs Game from Orchard Toys (#ad).  The object of the game is to move around the board and make your 3 houses and get safely home before anyone manages to steal any of your house parts.  This you can do by landing on a wolf square and spinning to see if you can steal a straw or wood house part.  You should hear Miss M, 'I'll huff and I'll puff and blow your house in' as she gleefully nicks a piece from her twin.  Then when it happens to her, what do we get?  Well, tears of course and shouts of 'It's not fair'.  So this game has been very good for teaching some lessons to 'little miss highly strung' - what goes around comes around.  It has definitely helped her to think about the fact that she stole her sisters part and there was no fuss and then her sister takes one of hers and boy the world has ended.

You may have guessed already, that we all liked this game.  It is the normal high quality that you expect from Orchard Toys. The board fits together like a puzzle and is very sturdy plastic covered cardboard pieces.  I would be hard-pressed to tell you a con for this game to be honest.  What is not to like?  I'll tell you something else I spotted when on the Orchard Toys website recently, that their toys are made in the UK, how great is that?  Supporting our economy and workers and being eco in avoiding all that unnecessary travel too.

As you can see from the photo we like to play games as a little treat for good behaviour before the kids go to bed.  It makes a nice alternative to reading on some nights.

I asked JJ what he thought of the game and he said 'It's great Mum, I'm gonna win next time'.  The game is marketed as being suitable for ages 3- 6 years and JJ is 7 and very bright, so actually the appeal is wider.  I think he likes it because of the sneaky tactics of stealing pieces from the rest of the family.  He nearly leaps for joy when he lands on the wolf spaces.

The 3 Little Pigs Game can be purchased for £11.50 directly from Orchard Toys or many good toy retailers also stock their games now too. 

   

 However, you could be lucky and win a game for your family, by entering my easy giveaway.

To Enter

• Leave a comment below and a way to contact you - email address or twitter ID (mandatory)
• Like Orchard Toys Facebook Page (mandatory) and while you are there, feel free to like mine too for an extra entry.
• For a final entry (max of 3) you can tweet 'Time to #win an @orchardtoys 3 Little Pigs game at @michelletwinmum 's giveaway http://tinyurl.com/6co2y6y'

Terms and Conditions

• The giveaway will close at 12 noon Wednesday 23 March 2011
• The winner will be contacted within 3 days of this giveaway closing
• The giveaway is open to those with a UK/ Ireland postal address
• The winner will be chosen by random number generator
• There is no cash or prize alternative
• Your game will be dispatched directly from @orchardtoys

Good Luck!

I received a free copy of the 3 Little Pigs Game to review.  This post is written honestly and I was not told what to write.

Congratulations @lilysmum2008 you are the lucky winner.  Please either email me or DM your address details.  Thanks a lot, Michelle

Review & Giveaway: Orchard Toys - Fairy Cottage Puzzle

First off I have to say that our family adore Orchard Toys. We discovered them when JJ was about 1, so for the last 6 years every Christmas and birthday there has been at least one new Orchard Toys game or puzzle added to our collection and I will tell you want is the best thing - the kids go back to them time and time again.  Some of the most favoured games in our house are the Shopping List game and Two by Two.  Two by Two JJ got when he was about 18 months old and it is still in fabulous condition.  So whilst it was more expensive than a supermarket alternative it is still fully intact, no rips on the box etc. A minor miracle in itself.

Therefore when we got the opportunity to review one of Orchard Toys puzzles I was over the moon.  I knew that the young ladies would enjoy it and they did. The Fairy Cottage Puzzle is a beautiful girly puzzle aimed at 2-5 year olds.  It has 15 large well-crafted pieces and is sturdy and stays together, even when made on a plush new carpet. I get so cross with puzzles that break at the slightest movement!

The puzzle was big enough that the girls could do it together and whilst 15 pieces is pretty easy for them now the picture is interesting and keeps them involved.  It was fun to talk about all the things we could see in the picture and the girls spent time counting the number of bumble bees, ladybirds etc.

This puzzle gets a full 10/10 on all counts - Design, value for money and interest.

...and you know what the best news is? I have one of these puzzles to giveaway to one lucky reader too.

To enter, all you have to do is -

• Subscribe to my blog, either by email, RSS feed or Google friends connect. All the widgets to help you do so are over there on the right -->
• and for an extra entry you can tweet this giveaway with @michelletwinmum in the tweet
• and for another extra entry you can follow my blog via networked blogs or like my facebook fan page and leave a comment to tell me you did so

The giveaway ends 12 noon Friday 10  December 2010. I will use a random number generator to pick the winner and will contact you within 3 days of the giveaway closing. Please leave me an email address or twitter ID so I can contact you if you win.

Terms and Conditions

• Open to all UK and Ireland residents.
• The prize is not transferable or refundable and there is not a cash alternative.

Good Luck!

Congratulations @lauracymft You are the lucky winner of this great puzzle. Please DM or email me your address so I can pass your details to Orchard Toys.  Thanks, Mich x