Nature Nuts New TOS Review

Wise Alec Nature Nuts Travel Game and Expansion set

                                                          http://www.griddlygames.com/



Nature Nuts can be purchased online or in local stores.  A listing of retailers can be found at the Griddly Games website.                    Suggested Retail Price $14.99



Griddley Games is also home to the Wise Alec Trivia game as well as other expansion sets/ travel games.  The other expansion sets feature sports and civilization themes.

Ages 8 and up
 

 As a family we really enjoy playing games, so when members of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew  recently had the privilege to use and review Wise Alec Nature Nuts card game I was thrilled.  My children were also very excited to play the game.  We have many games, including trivia games, but not many science or nature games.  So this was great for us to be able to try. Nature Nuts is a card game which comes in its own handy box featuring a magnetic closure.  Perfect for on the go game playing. All the cards and die fit nicely in the box. The directions are printed on the inside flap, which means no more lost directions.


Nature Nuts can be played with the board in the game Wise Alec or on its own as a trivia game.  You will find cards featuring the science topics of Animals, Plants, and Earth.  There is also a deck of Wise Alec Cards. Each of these decks has their own section inside the box.

• The animal cards feature questions about all kinds of animals and their habitats, their body design, habits, and what different groups of animals are called.  For example a group of kangaroos is called a troop or mob.

• The Plant cards have subjects such as the parts of plants, types of plants and where they grow, plant processes and plants benefits.

• The Earth cards features topics such as rocks and minerals, seasons, earth elements, astronomy as it relates to the earth, and some geographic features such as springs. 

Each of these cards has two questions: one with a 3 point value and and another with a 7 point value. 

The Wise Alec cards are where the fun with this game really begins.  From this deck of cards a player maybe instructed to do animal impressions, list a certain number of items in a category which all begin with the same letter, or perform a physical fitness activity.  For the most part these types of cards give you points to add to your total.  However, some Wise Alec cards subtract from your points.  These may say you forgot to recycle or mixed your compost or something similar which is not environmentally friendly.

The included die has color coded sides which direct the player to which card category to choose.  Also on the die is a color which allows the player on the right to choose your subject and another color which allows you to pick any category you wish.

Nature Nuts is a game which can be enjoyed by the whole family.  The rules allow flexibility for point tallying by suggesting different goals based on age or setting a time limit for the length of the game.  Information specific to Nature Nuts can be found at Griddley Games website through this link.

My thoughts about Nature Nuts

My 7 and 10 year old really enjoy this game.  The playing of it is easy enough that they are able to play it together themselves.  Some of the words did trip up the 7 year old, but he was certainly able to handle it content wise.  We've also enjoyed it as a family.  The option of choosing difficulty level really helps make it a game which puts the adults on the same level as the children.  When our family played we would sometimes read the higher point value question for the children if we knew it was something they knew.  Overall, I would say the questions are appropriately labelled with the point values. I really appreciate this in a trivia game.  So many trivia games don't have this kind of choice in questions and make it difficult for families to play together.  Nature Nuts levels the playing field for trivia game playing families.

Wise Alec Nature Nuts uses a lot of science specific vocabulary.  Both of my children are really interested in science, and this is a great resource for helping them learn additional terms and meanings in a fun manner. It has been challenging to find resources which include nature vocabulary in an exciting manner, so Nature Nuts has been a great resource to help fill in that gap.

I was a little disappointed in the quality of the cards.  They don't seem to be as sturdy as many other game cards.  It is also a little difficult to get them out of the compartments in the box.  However, this inconvenience would not stop me from purchasing the full board game or other expansion sets.

To see what other Crew Members had to saw about Nature Nuts and Civilize This you may check out the Crew Blog.

Disclaimer:  As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was given a Nature Nuts game set to use with my family for the purpose of writing this review.  I have not been compensated in any other manner and all opinions expressed here are solely my own.