Cow Cents is for children age 6 and up and is focused on practicing money and adding, in a fun way. The graphics are bright and fun, and the materials are high quality and sturdy. In a nutshell, each player gets 5 coin tokens, with money values clearly marked, on their play board. Two goal cards, each displaying a money goal (like $1.65), are placed on a game board, and each player takes turns putting down a coin token next to a goal card, trying to match the value exactly, and taking a new token from the bag. If a player can add a token to exactly meet the goal on the card, she gets to take all of those tokens. If she goes over the total (sometimes you have to, if you have no other coins to play), the coin tokens get distributed to other players. Once in the game, you can jump in and steal the pot, using your cow token.
I played with my 10-year-old daughter, who knows money values already but adding isn't quick and easy for her yet. Cow Cents was great practice for her, in a fun way. She's very competitive, so she really liked trying to meet the goal and get all the coin tokens. Since she's a bit older, she was able to use some strategy when deciding which coin tokens to play, because she could see my tokens and knew I would win depending on what she put down. We worked together on the addition, counting out loud during the game. She ended up winning (fair and square!) and was pretty proud of herself, and I really loved the fun math practice for her (sharpen up those math skills for school!).
If you enjoy playing board games with the kids, Cow Cents is very quick to learn, fun, and great practice for the kids. It can take a long time for kids to learn how to add quickly on the fly, and Cow Cents helps them master those skills. It's especially appropriate for kids in 2nd to 5th grade, who are learning higher level addition and adding by 5s, and need lots of practice to add quickly in their heads.
I received complimentary products for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
