by Jamie Elizabeth

Created on: April 03, 2009   Last Updated: April 14, 2009

Candyland is the perfect board game for a young child because it is simple, fun, and engaging. The board is colorful and will grab a child's imagination as they travel along the fantasy world in the hopes of reaching the palace of King Kandy first in order to be named the winner of the game.

In order to reach the end of the colorful path and arrive at King Kandy's palace first, players take turn drawing cards from a pile. Players move according to which color card is drawn, and hope to draw cards with double colors, as that means moving an additional color square ahead. Each character that is represented on the board also has his or her own card. When the game is just beginning this is exciting; as drawing Queen Frostine and being able to move far ahead to her square will put a player well ahead in the game. However, as the game moves forward and there are more characters behind you than in front, drawing characters such as Plumpy and Lord Licorice can take you out of the lead and set you back a good bit. This backwards movement is what can keep the game going for awhile, and in some games it even becomes necessary to reshuffle the cards and start drawing anew.

The illustrations of these characters on the game board help to bring Candyland to life, and in doing so helps to spark children's imaginations. Each character is depicted in his or her own land, with colorful scenery behind them and a detailed illustration of the character themselves.

Children love the game, as it is creative, and the names and illustrations will help keep their attention, as does the constant surprise of what color (or character) will be drawn next. The use of the color cards helps to make the game educational, apart from its imaginative aspect, as it will help to engrain the colors in children's minds as they match them from the cards to the board and begin to learn the color names as they do so.

Candyland is a simple and fun game, and though it can be tedious for adults, it is certainly worthwhile for children to play. It teaches them the basics of game-playing and competition without many complicated rules and also offers the opportunity to learn colors and to engage their imaginations. For an additional creative bent, the game box comes with a short written history of Candyland that, when read to a child, can make the game even more exciting and may even encourage them to use the game's board as a basis for his or her own stories!

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