Fun and games

Board games

Little World Games is a new range from LDA, aimed at three-year-olds upwards and designed to encourage collaborative play between two players or to be enjoyed alone. There are four games in the range with jungle, ocean, farm and space themes, and all the games include sorting, matching and counting along the route to finding the animals, discovering the coral and helping the aliens home. Each game has an integral peephole through which to view a tiny world, priced 5.10 each.

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New from Orchard is Yo ho ho!, a variation on Kim's game with some spite thrown in for good measure. Two to four players have to match pairs, remembering where they are as they go along, and if you turn over the Jolly Roger you can take another player's cards. You might need to referee this one! For four to eight years, priced 5.

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Travel the World from Early Learning Centre comprises four games in which players visit countries by land, sea and air. With plenty of geographical information, it's a good bet for when it's too wintry to go anywhere exciting. Suitable for five-year-olds upwards, priced 9.

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Less glamorous travel is the theme for Rush Hour, a multi-award-winnning game from Ravensburger. Rush Hour comes as a plastic tray with a selection of vehicles and an integral drawer containing 40 challenge cards and solutions for escaping gridlock. The cards are graded from beginner to expert and the game is aimed at eight-year-olds upwards. Should encourage lateral thinking! Priced 10.

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You're not taking games seriously unless you have a games compendium in your store. NES Arnold's Out of School catalogue contains a compendium of traditional games which includes snakes and ladders, tiddlywinks, Ludo, dominoes, draughts and others, priced 17.95.

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Card games

Wanted and Yummy are two new card games from Ravensburger, suitable for six-year-olds upwards. Wanted is a more sophisticated version of 'Snap' with four characters whose actions have to be correctly emulated each time they appear. Wanted contains 112 cards and is designed to foster quick reactions and reflexes - you will need to allow plenty of elbow room round the table while this game is in progress. Yummy, like Rummy, is a collecting game and should encourage patience and observation skills. Both games can accommodate three to five players and are priced 4.99 each.

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Puzzles

Orchard Toys stocks a large selection of puzzles, among which Streetwise Road Safety is an award winner. This puzzle measures 61 x 42 cm, has 100 pieces and is suitable for five-to nine-year-olds. Included with the puzzle is an activity guide with tips on teaching children how to deal with traffic. A percentage of the profits from this product are donated to the National Head Injuries Association. Priced 7.

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Fantastic Fashions, from Ravensburger, is an unusual puzzle for six-year-olds upwards which illustrates fashion throughout the ages and includes posters, tracing cards and an information leaflet. Priced 7.99.

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