Toy Review: Haba "Animal Upon Animal"

I was contacted a while back asking if I'd like to help celebrate the 75th anniversary of Haba by reviewing some products. Haba are a German company who, in their own words, put the needs and wants of children at the forefront of their company's mission.  Their toys have won many awards, both in their home country and in the US as well and they design toys that are simple whilst being great value and high quality.  One of the most-appealing things about Haba toys are that generally they are quite non-gender specific, meaning that they have universal appeal.  Many of the toys are wood and they use regenerative beech and maple. All of their wooden toys manufactured in Germany are made from reforested timbers and they use non-toxic, water based lacquers on their products rather than paints.

What I like about the brand is that the toys are eye-catching and brightly coloured without being garish and many are very traditional in style with lots of building blocks, abacus toys and pushalongs. Many have a dual-purpose being both fun (very important!) and educational the same time!  I'm a big fan of toys that aid children's development without them being completely aware of it.

The first item I was sent to review was the "Animal Upon Animal" game.

This game is one of their bestselling games and has won a couple of awards in it's time. It's made of beechwood and coated in non-toxic stain. It's got a bright, eye-catching design and is aimed at children aged 4+ and suitable for 2-4 players .  The box includes 29 wooden animals and the idea of the game is to stack wooden animals on top of each other in a pile. Obviously it's not that straightforward as it all gets a bit wobbly and the animals are all different sizes and don't all have flat edges . The first person to pile all their animals (without knocking it all over...) wins the game.  

It's a fun game that helps develop skills such as dexterity and hand-eye coordination and is a game that adults can quite happily play along with children so good for some family time.  We all laughed and giggled a lot whilst playing it, wondering who was going to be the first to knock it over, and I won't like it got a bit competitive at times. I definitely feel at a disadvantage having bigger, more clumsy, hands than my children - I think tiny fingers help for sure!  My children are also big fans of the animals and continue to play with the shapes, creating role-play games and scenarios long after the game has ended which means they get another use out of it, making it even better value!

The wooden shapes are sturdy and durable, I think they'll definitely stand the test of time and the 10,000 knockdowns that they are sure to receive over the next few years.

Animal Upon Animal was a big hit in our house and I think the children will continue to have fun with this when they have friends round to play.