Charlie and Lola

I’m a big advocate of family game night and in general of playing board/card games with children. There are so many lessons that come from game play such as handling both success and losing. It is also a great time to teach about rules, taking turns, and other social skills.
It’s important to choose simple games with toddlers, think as simple as you can get. For this reason, I like the Rix and Marina brand board games.

Charlie and Lola is an award winning book series written by Laren Child. The series is about a little girl named Lola and her big brother, Charlie. The books have been adapted for television and air on Playhouse Disney.

The Charlie and Lola Mix and Match is another fun little game by Rix and Marina games. It’s your basic matching game with cute pictures. This is the perfect game for our toddlers. We have been doing matching activities for a long time in our home now and always welcome new and different matching games to build on concentration and memory. Some matching games are too complicated for 2 year olds but this one isn’t and can be easily mastered by your little one. My little girl absolutely loves this game and I think it is because of the super cute pictures such as bunnies, cakes, mermaids, and more! I know there are a lot of matching games to choose from out there but I think this one is super cute.




Lola’s pink milk fun is cute and is appropriate as a first game for little ones. The little sistr on the show adores pink milk. To play the game, you have to collect three pink milk cards and then race to the center of the board, while avoiding tigers who also want the pink milk. The tokens are stand up cardboard of the main characters Charlie, Lola, Lotta, or Marv. I liked the game because it is very, very simple. It is just basically moving your token, getting three cards, and getting to the center. It’s exactly the type of first board game you are looking for your little one. Of course, you’ll have to help your little one move around the board unless they’ve mastered counting. It is for ages 3 and up. The game comes with a game board, die, 4 game pieces with stands, and instructions. It retails for $9.99.

Rix and Marina also offer a Go Fish Game featuring Charlie and Lola. The goal, like all Go Fish games is to get as many pairs as you can. We did not play this game as Go Fish is supposed to be played and found it too advanced for a 2 year old and I believe it is more appropriate for the age 3 and up crowd. What makes this Go Fish game different is how very cute the pictures are! Some of the cute pictures for example are Charlie holding tomatoes, pink milk, and fish sticks! (Sorry no pics of this one). We play this one as a matching game as well rather than as go fish but I like that she can eventually grow into playing it like Go Fish.

Finally, they have a Charlie and Lola Dominoes game. You basically mix all the cards up, place them face down, and play them like Dominoes. I definitely found this one a bit advanced for my little toddler but looks like fun for the preschool age. What I like about this is the two sides to choose from. You can either match Charlie and Lola characters or you can do the colored dots which would help strengthen color and counting skills.

You can't order directly from the Rix and Marina website but these games sell at Target, Barnes and Noble, and several online stores.

Want to win the Domino and Pink Milk Game?

Official Rules: Official Rules: Go to http://www.marinagames.com/ . Browse around and find your favorite product. Come back here and tell me what your favorite product is. IF YOU DO NOT LIST YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS ,IT ISN'T ON YOUR BLOG, AND THERE IS NO WAY TO LEAVE COMMENTS ON YOUR BLOG I HAVE NO WAY OF CONTACTING YOU. If I don't hear from you within a week, another name will be drawn and you forfeit your prize.This contest is open only to those with a United States Shipping Address .This giveaway begins 12/11/2008 and ends 12/18/2008 11:59 PM Central Standard Time.The name will be chosen by Randomizer.org.

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