Board Games come to life – Jumanji
Our 8 year old loves to play board games. If you’re in need of someone to play a game with, just ask Caleb – he’ll gladly jump in.
He also loves to read. He devours books and we frequently have to ask him to put down his book so he can get back on task. Like tonight for example when we had to remove the book from his non teeth brushing hand.
So when he found out that there was a book about a board game that comes to life – Jumanji – he had to get his hands on it.
After mom got home from the library he tore into it and read it over and over again. He got such a kick out of it that he was almost giddy telling me that I just had to read this book and that I would LOVE it. And when I couldn’t get to it right away, he patiently went to do other things – but checked back frequently to see if I’d read it yet.
But my need to get other things done didn’t stop him. Before I knew it, he had strategically placed the book where I was sure to get to it – right in front of my work pile.
I flipped it open, saw how short it was, and tore through it myself. And sure enough, it’s a delightful book.
Whenever I’ve heard the word “Jumanji”, the only thing I could associate with it is the 1995 Jumanji movie with Robin Williams. That movie came out the year our first child was born and I just remember thinking that Jumanji sure didn’t seem like a fun family movie for young kids. Instead I though how much it would terrify little kids.
The animals destroy everything in sight, the kids are scared out of their wits, the boy turns into a monkey, and people get sucked through the floor. How delightful is that?
So while I may have been a little apprehensive about Jumanji because of that movie – the book is just a quick and simple tale of a few crazy and harmless incidents of a jungle game coming to life.
With only 28 pages in the book (and only 14 with writing on them) it really is a quick read. But it’s enough to get kids to thinking about how funny it might be to have games they love come to life.
Imagine how cool it might be to have Ninja versus Ninja come to life. Or maybe Ticket to Ride and Mamma Mia! (bring on the pizza!).
However, as I look at the list of board game and card games we’ve reviewed, there are a ton that I don’t think it would be very cool if they came to life – including one of Caleb’s favorite card games – Thunderstone.
Here are some board games that would not be cool to have burst to life in our house:
- Thunderstone
- Bang!
- Castle Panic
- Forbidden Island
- Pandemic
- Bridge Troll
- Survive: Escape from Atlantis
No matter how much we love these board games, let’s just keep them as board games for now, thank you very much. I really don’t want goblins, orcs, and trolls storming this castle.
What board games or card games would you love see come to life?
