TOS Review: Birdcage Press

It's the hot, sticky days of summer (or will be soon).  You don't feel like 'doing school', but you don't want to spend the day sitting in front of the TV either.  Might I recommend a round of Go Fish?  More specifically Go Fish Ancient Egypt from Birdcage Press?  What's that?  You've not heard of Birdcage Press?  Well, you are not alone. Before we received our most recent review product, I hadn't either.  But, believe me, you will want to!

Birdcage Press is a company that produces games for kids.  But, not just any old game.  These are games filled with beautiful, museum quality photos of REAL people, places, animals, artifacts, paintings, and more.  No cheese drawings of nursery characters on these games!

The founders, Wenda and James O'Reilly, decided one year to take their 3 daughters out of school and explore Europe in a VW van.  Loving these people already!  As they traveled, they went to various museums and landmarks, and Wenda wanted to find a way to help the girls remember what they saw.  So, she started making up little card games that, eventually, made their way into award-winning games.  

Birdcage Press offers a large assortment of games such as Van Gogh and Friends Art Game, Battle Cards: Military Jets, Wild cards: Who's Hiding, and Go Fish: Ancient Egypt.

We were sent for review Go Fish:  Ancient Egypt.  This was especially awesome since we were just finishing up a unit on Egypt.  The set includes 36 cards which break down into 6 sets.  Gods, Goddesses, Pharaohs, Mummies, Afterlife, and Symbols.  On each card is a beautiful photo and a description of the item on the card.  

Obviously, the point of the game is to collect sets of 6.  The one with the most sets at the end of the game, wins.  And, there was a lot of winning going on around here!!  It has been played by Mustang and Charger for days on end.  I played some and even DADDY got in on the action (that never happens I tell you)!  I have to admit that we got a bit competitive here!!   The game went with us in the car, and even to a few appointments.  I think the nurse was pretty impressed that the kids were playing a game about Egypt rather then running around in circles.  

As I mentioned (a few times) before, the cards are beautiful!  They are high quality, detailed, and really allow you to see the item.  A high gloss book is also included that contains information about the items on the cards.  

You can plan regular old Go Fish...do you have any 1's (for Charger who can't read), or do you have any Pharaohs.  OR eventually you can play-do you have the Goddess Ma'at, or another SPECIFIC item you want, to help your children memorize the names of the gods, goddesses, or Pharaohs of Egypt.  

Playing the game has lead to many more conversations about Pharaohs and Mummies for Charger.  And for Mustang, she was particularly interested in the goddesses.  They both enjoyed seeing some of the items they had already been learning about in the game.  

The Go Fish: Ancient Egypt card set retails for just $10.95 and would make an awesome gift for children ages 7 and up (though even our 5 year old enjoyed it).  

We really liked this game, and I would highly recommend them!  But, maybe you'd like to try another product?  Be sure to check out the crew blog and see what others had to say about some of the other Birdcage Press products.  

Thanks for stopping by!  

God Bless,

Lisa