Review: Garden Games Jumbo 4 Connect

Would we like to review a Giant Connect 4? You betcha!

I knew the boys would love this, and they predictably did. Adam, at 6 1/2, is into the game and wants to play it properly. Particularly he wants to play it and tell me where to put my counter so he can win. He hasn't yet realised that his mother is a ninja at Connect 4 and she can read his every move. Maybe I ought to let him win more.

Luke, at nearly 5, hasn't really got the hang of the actual game. Instead he spends hours making pretty patterns out of the counters. But he enjoys it and is very proud of his creations. Sam prefers to wing the counters across the room but then he is only 1 so we'll forgive him just this once.

That's not the half of the way in which the boys like to play with this giant garden game. The side bits are very effective guns whilst the bottom part (which holds the counters in place) is in fairly constant use as a lance. The joy is that putting the game together is so easy that even the boys can manage it. Locating all the counters from their various hiding places is less quick, but at least the game comes with a bag to store them all in.

From a grown up point of view, this game also works well if you have an outside space to put it in. It's too big to live inside really. That said, it will store neatly, with the counters either making a pretty pattern in the game or stored neatly in the proper bag. It is well constructed and solid enough to bear the nature of an inquisitive toddler.

Overall I do like this toy and we will get much more use out of it in the summer and when the boys are a little older and both understand the concept of the Connect 4 game. Retailing at £ 99 from Garden Games it is a little dearer than I would like, but most things are. A well made toy, with ample scope for creative play* as well as learning a classic strategy game, I'd recommend.

*I'm on a mission to look at the boisterous behaviour in a positive light. Can you tell?

This is a sponsored post for which I received a Garden Games Jumbo 4 Connect Game retailing at £99 to review and keep