favorite cooperative game?

[carrots]

my dd turns four next week and loves games. any favorites appropriate for her age?

[redhookmom]

W like Cowboy Roundup.

[mama-aya]

We're board game fanatics, and for DS we're big fans of cooperative games.

Our favorite new game is "The Yoga Garden Game". We all love it.
Our favorite of all time is "Harvest Time".

The kids really like Cranium Cariboo and Don't Break the Ice, but they're not my favorites, honestly.
Everyone loves Cranium Hullabaloo, though its not exactly a board game.
DS, 4, loves dice, dominoes, and marbles, and we make up all kinds of games with those.

And don't forget Twister!

Have fun!

[merpk]

Snail's Pace Race, put out by Ravensberger (sp?) games.

Noncompetitive, which we like. Everyone moves whichever snail the color-dice indicate, and you all root for all the snails ... lots of fun & cheering.

[root*children]

family pastimes has the best cooperative games IMHO. My 3.5yo loves Max and sorta likes Harvest Time. He likes Grandma's house and Secret Door, too, although they are a little too old for him. I think the age rec. on Grandma's House is 4 years, though.

You can find a few on ebay using the keyword "cooperative", and also if you order directly from http://www.familypastimes.com you can get free shipping. And since the original price is the same in catalogues and through them, it's a much better deal.... oh yay, and they'll send you free extra game pieces when you lose em. (can you tell I'm in love with their company?)

oh yay, and Memory is still a cooperative game for us as we just pile the matched cards into one big pile.

[PM]

Dd got Take a Hike! for Christmas. I love that it's all about nature & critters.

It's so funny! My dd has no concept of losing. If I say, "I won," she just keeps playing and then says, "I won too!" I was thinking last night about how it would be if we all had no concept of what it means to lose.

Puzzles are cooperative around here. I love to do them with her. She's pretty good! She can now do a 100-piece by herself.

I've heard good things about that Yoga Garden Game.

[octobersweethearts]

I agree that Family Pastimes makes the best cooperative games!

Harvest Time is great - especially for younger children.

I also love the idea behind Granny's House - players have to creatively use things they find along the way to Granny's house. Great for imagination!

Haba also makes some cooperative games, I know The Orchard is fairly popular.

[ekblad9]

I second Yoga Garden Game! I love it! I'm forever giving it for birthday gifts. Also we love:

Max

The Secret Door

We use Go Fish as a co op game

www.islandtreasuretoys.com has a million great games! Oh, we like Hanna Hazelnut and Pasta Pasta too but those aren't technically "co op" games

[napless]

We like Cranium Cariboo (OK, I do get tired of it after a while - but the kids love it.)

[Dov]

Our kids' fav is wizards, elves, and trolls... it's a New Game (I'm dating myself probably) based on rock paper scissors only when you're tagged, you just go to the other side instead of being "out"; this way you can play until everyone is exhausted and passes out (usually mama and me first).

[carrots]

thanks everyone
we ended up getting her twister and she still is a little small for it. she's not able to do all the reaching but we improvise
all these suggestions definitely give me ideas for the future.
can someone tell me more about cranium caribou? what is the idea behind it?

[memory maker]

Those games look great! I might be really out of it, but what makes a game a cooperative game? Thanks for letting me know

[ekblad9]

A cooperative game is when the players work together to get to the end. So no one really "wins" but everyone wins! It's really great. Esp for my 5 year old who can't take losing at all! Plus, it makes the competition against the game and not eachother.