Froggy Boogie - A Fun Game for Children

Recently Blue Orange Games wrote and asked me if I would try their new game, Froggy Boogie, and review it on my Olive Tree Genealogy blog.

Having ten grandchildren, I'm always happy to try a new game and this one looked like fun.  I've found that there's no better way to bond with my grandchildren than to play games with them. This fun time together also lets me brainwash talk to them about their ancestors.

The game arrived and my initial impressions were good. The game is attractively boxed with lots of bright colours and graphics.  The inside is beautifully packaged with each game piece individual wrapped in tissue paper.

Basically Froggy Boogie is a memory game. You place two different eyes in each frog (one with a stamp of a baby frog on the bottom, one without) then you place the frogs in the middle of the lily pads.

Choose your own game piece (a frog of course!), throw the dice and see what colours the dice display. That corresponds to the frog you have chosen. Lift one eye and if there is a baby frog on the bottom, the adult frog has seen you so you stay where you are. If there is no stamp, move ahead one lily pad. Put the eye back and the next player takes his/her turn.

The memory part comes in with every player trying to remember which eye on each frog has a stamp and which does not. Believe me it's not easy!

Frogs are in the middle of the lily pads and we are ready to play

This is some serious concentration between my 5 year old and 8 year old grandsons

Checking the eye of the frog. Stamp or no stamp?

My grandsons loved this game and we played it over and over one night. Even Grandpa got in on the action and agreed to play. We laughed, we talked and we shared lots of ancestor stories. Best of all my 8 year old grandson invented new ways to play after we played following the rules.

All in all I thought this game was a terrific one for the family to play together or for children to enjoy without any adult supervision. It's a good memory game as well as tons of fun. And I have to admit I loved the bright colours and cute frogs.

I'm sure you will think of many ways to incorporate genealogy and ancestors into the time you share while playing this game but here's something I did - I asked my grandsons if they liked the game. Then I asked them if they thought great grandmother xxx had any games like Froggy Boogie when she was a child. I reminded them when she was born and where. The 5 year old didn't really "get" it, but the 8 year old did and the conversation evolved. I also showed them some examples of toys that children in the 1800s had. All in all, a great lead-in to a genealogy teaching moment.

It is rated for 2 to 6 players ages 4 and up. The pieces are all good quality and made of wood. 

Disclosure: I received a free game for review purposes but my opinions are my own and I was not told what to say