Mini Memory Game

My four year old daughter is no stranger to memory matching games played on the computer but playing with actual cards presents a different set of challenges. We were sent a Mini Memory Game from Ravensburger to review.

The theme of the game was Minnie Mouse from Disney Junior's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. This was instantly recognisable and hugely appealing to my daughter.

The game consists of 24 pairs of high quality laminated picture cards of approximately 5cm square.

Our first challenge was to lay out the cards face down. Using all 48 cards covered quite a large area. We took it in turns to turn over two cards and try and find the matching pairs. Obviously, this was an exercise in turn taking and paying attention. I have to confess that my daughter was better at finding the pairs than I was but if she got it wrong, it was difficult to dissuade her from having another try straight away! Some of the cards featured fairly similar images which did cause some confusion.

We did not get to the end of the game when we played with the full set of cards but it was a simple process to scale the game down to a manageable level of difficulty by reducing the number of cards used. Playing with a 3 x 4 grid gave her (and me!) a much greater chance of success and a faster paced game. She was always delighted when she found a pair - especially so when memory rather than luck was involved.

Playing with a simple 4x3 grid

I do like my children to play tradition games like this. I would not want to discourage them from playing memory games on the computer but I think there is a lot of value in escaping the virtual world and using real cards.

I particularly approve of the 'Mini' dimensions of this game. It takes up very little space in the toy cupboard and would be ideal for travelling.