Keekee the Rocking Monkey

By Blue Orange Games
Price $24.99
Age 3-6 yrs.

Kids take turns adding balls to Keekee, a wide-eyed monkey with outstretched arms rockingly balanced on a giant banana. Keekee wants to juggle, and the children's task is to help him by adding juggling balls, one at a time, to Keekee's arms, hands, head, and along the giant banana. As the game progresses and the easier spots fill up, it becomes more and more difficult to add another ball without any of them falling. The mere sight of Keekee elicits huge smiles on children's faces, and in the few seconds it takes them to glean the object of the game and Keekee's role in it, those smiles widen even further. Players not only develop dexterity (an unintentional nudge or imprecise placement can send balls tumbling), they also, through cause and effect observed during game play, gain a keen sense of the mechanics of balance. They soon have the ability to eyeball Keekee and the accumulated balls and predict the consequences of placing the next ball here, or there. Preschoolers find the game exciting and stimulating, and its colorful, charmingly designed all-wood components add significantly to the fun. A rocking good time. For 1 to 6 players.