The Colour Monster Board Game – A Review

We absolutely love playing games in our house. And recently, E has been introduced to different board games. So when we were asked to review the Colour Monster board game, we did not hesitate to accept. This is what we thought.

#AD – gifted – We received the Colour Monster Board Game to review.

The Colour Monster Board Game – A Review

this Idea!

The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas is a popular children’s book that explores emotions. In the original story, the colour monster wakes up feeling confused. He feels all of the emotions at once

• happy
• sad
• calm
• angry and
• scared.

A little girl helps him sort out how he feels using different colours to describe his emotions.

The Board Game

Similarly, the board game uses the same colours as the book to discuss emotions.

All the players of the game have to work together, travelling around the board to pick up the coloured pieces/ emotion tokens. If a player picks up a token, they have to describe a time when they felt the emotion that the coloured token portrays.

For instance, as we played the game E picked up the green piece, depicting ‘calm’. She struggled to think of a suitable situation when she felt this emotion. But it meant that we could discuss the whole concept of being calm, which is quite a new emotion to a four year old.

Expressing emotion is an important but tricky concept. It can help in cases when your child is feeling frustrated, when they hit, bite or yell.

In contrast, she picked up the black token, which portrays feeling ‘scared’ and she talked about a time when she woke up and saw a monster. So she called for mummy and daddy.

As a four year old she is just setting out discovering her emotions, so we talked a lot as we played the game together.

Winning And Losing

Once you have discussed the emotion, there is then a chance to pick a jar in which to place it. The object of the game is to get all the emotions in the correct jars before all 3 ‘mixed emotion’ jars are found.

Unlike many board games, all players playing work together, so either everyone wins or everyone loses.

Typical game time is 25 minutes, and the game is for ages 4+

I can see how it will really help as we get older. Primarily it will help E to identify with and express her emotions more clearly. Even a couple of hours after playing the game, we were still talking over some of the things that had been said.

The game encourages cooperation, and works on a child’s storytelling and memory skills.

So what was our Verdict of the Colour Monster Board Game?

E really loved playing it. And I absolutely love the concept of discussing emotions. It is a large part of a child’s development to be discovering and talking about their emotions and gaining some control over them. I think that it is a fabulous idea to be discussing both positive and negative emotions in a fun and relaxed setting.

Furthermore I cannot wait to play it with other family and friends too. This will bring a totally different dynamic to the game.

The game is really beautifully crafted. The play pieces and dice are quality and the perfect chunkiness for little fingers. The board and pieces are attractive and well made.

I must admit though that the game leaves me with a couple of small niggles…

• The game cover calls it The “Color” Monster. Whilst I appreciate that this is a worldwide game, I am waiting for the day when E picks up on the fact that “color” is not the correct spelling here in the UK.
• Also, the actual spots on the board were a little hard to discern. They could be clearer.

But in reality, none of these points detracted us from playing the game. We still had fun, and played the game with no issue. E has asked to play it again soon, and has even started to associate her emotions with the colours.

Find the game here in the UK. 
And here in the USA.

Disclaimer: I was given The Colour Monster Board Game for the purposes of this review. But all thoughts and opinions are my own.

See our other toy reviews –  The Zuru Rainbocorns

or Zimpli Kids Gelli Worlds Fantasy Pack Review

And see what I think are the best games for 4 year olds.

Finally,  see some of our favourite toddler books

And please do pin this post for later