Play by Nature With The Chicken Game by Janod

What an adorable game this is!  The Chicken Game by Janod is a French designed educational game meant for preschool children ages 3- 7 years of age.  Help your chicken make its way to freedom!  Be the first to arrive by steering clear of the hen house!  

This game comes in a great little cardboard carrying case with a nylon strap for a handle and magnets in the top keeps it securely closed.  It keeps all the pieces stored neatly together, there is less of a chance of losing any pieces and it is easy to tote around or take with you on a trip.  We love games that comes in a container that the designers also put some thought into it.  The game is meant for 2-4 players and takes about 15-20 minutes to play - perfect for a preschoolers attention span.

The large cardboard pieces fit easily together and when all 10 are assembled, they form a curved form like the letter S.  The illustrations are of chickens, eggs, a hen house and other beautiful pictures.  The first piece has a circle at the end and then the path continues with lines creating boxes for moving your chicken piece.  The boxes are numbered from 1 to 26 and at the end is another circle where the winners bring their chicken home to roost. There is a wooden dice that has various pictures on each side that show kids where to move their chicken.  There are 4 wooden chicken pieces that are distinguished with the colors of their tail and feathers on top of their heads - blue, green, yellow or red.

To play this game, first it needs to be set up.  Assemble the 10 puzzle pieces to make the game board.  The players then pick their chicken and place it on the start space - the hen house.  Before throwing the dice, each player must make a chicken sound with the youngest player always starting first.  If the dice lands on the color yellow, then the player moves his/her chicken to the nearest yellow space.  If the dice lands on the hen house symbol, then the player is sent back to the nearest hen house.  The other images on the dice are the color blue,the color purple, the color red and the color green,  Players who land on a +2 space advance 2 spaces forward.  Players who land on a -2 space go back 2 spaces.  The first player to reach the final space wins.

Get your cluckers ready and have fun!