HARRY POTTER SPELLCASTERS GAME

Thanks to Goliath Games who sent us their HARRY POTTER SPELLCASTERS GAME to try out. We had lots of family game time fun pretending to be wizards and witches practicing for our Hogwarts exams. Instead of being in the drafty castle of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry though we were flicking and swashing the replica Harry Potter wand that comes included with the game on our comfy backyard patio.

In this charades style game players need to guess what spells are being cast by whoever is wielding the wand. A number of spell tiles are laid out for everyone to see. The first spellcaster then secretly pulls from a blind deck a card selecting one of those spells to cast. That person waives the wand to duplicate the pattern displayed on their card to cast a particular spell that is a mystery to the game's other participants.

The first person to recognize the spell being cast from the tiles on display laid out before them wins the round. That person picks up the tile for the spell they guessed and becomes the next Spellcaster.  When someone successfully guesses a spell the caster keeps the card otherwise it gets put back into the draw deck. The game goes on until the last card from the blind deck is drawn. Whoever collects the most spell tiles and cards wins the game.

Recommended for 3 - 8 players aged 6+. A typically game lasts about twenty minutes. HARRY POTTER SPELLCASTERS GAME includes 32 spell tiles and spellcaster cards, a plastic wand and play instructions.

Can you master spellcasting like your favorite characters in J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Do you know the difference between accio and incendio? When to swish instead of flick? Cast and recognize spells to earn Hogwart's Barnabus Finkley Prize for Exceptional Spell-Casting or in the Muggle World bragging rights among your family and friends.

Make Art with the Pups from PAW Patrol

Coloring and doodling are one of my kids favorite activities so they were thrilled when Nickelodeon rolled out a new creative drawing and artwork app featuring characters from a show they adore called PAW Patrol.  Available for $3.99 on ios devices (iPad, iPhone, iTouch) the PAW Patrol Draw & Play app allows kids to use their imaginations in making some PAWsome creations that can feature their favorite rescue pups - Chase, Marshall, Rocky, Rubble, Zuma, Skye, and the newest pup to join the show Everest, plus the boy who serves as their leader, the tech-savvy Ryder.

PAW Patrol Draw & Play lets children select a background with themes from the show and they can place stickers of the characters and their rescue vehicles on the create their own creative scenes.  What is nice about these stickers is that they are animated and include sound effects to enhance your child's play with the app.  Additional special effects that can be used for creating Paw Patrol themed illustrations or just monkeying around creating your own drawings include magic wands where the lines you create have special properties (green turns into blowing leaves/ black transforms into flying bats / grey has sparkling stars / red has leaping hearts / orange has twirling fruit), bouncing balls that rebound around the frame of your picture and can be controlled by tilting your device in the direction you want the objects to fly, and surprise blocks that if you tap on them they show a special animation of one of the pups in action.

This app expands beyond just the PAW Patrol theme too...if your child wants to be creative and design their own unique master piece it provides plenty of tools for them too.  Chalk, crayon, highlighter, charcoal, pencil, spray paint, and paint brush are all options to allow children to express their imagination.  A nice touch is that you can utilize your device's camera to add your own photos into creations for extra personal touches.  Saving artwork is no problem either with the ability to either save to "My Gallery" section within the app or send the image to your device's Camera Roll where it can than be text, messaged, or e-mailed to where ever or who ever you'd like it to go.

PAW Patrol Draw & Play gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval because it allows children to explore their imagination not just through its connection to these popular rescue pups but also via the creative art tool elements of the app which are good enough that they could be a stand alone product. The list of drawing tools that range from charcoal to magic wand to spray can all work really well and are very impressive.  My kids spent a bunch of time both playing out their own PAW Patrol episode scripts with the show themed backgrounds and stickers as well as making artistic creations that had absolutely no connection to the Nickelodeon series.  What is nice about this app is it really isn't a mindless game where kids are running through a course, shooting at things, or gathering objects but rather an opportunity to stretch an important muscle, their brain, as they think out scenes to display featuring the pups (note scenes they create are two dimensional and while they have animated special effects don't contain video or dialogue story telling sequences) or design drawings, paintings and illustrations for grandma and grandpa to display on their fridge.  PAW Patrol Draw & Play is well-suited for preschool through first graders and can occupy hours of a child's time making it perfect for a rain day or a long road trip in the car.

Some of the key features to be aware of:

• Easy to use interface with 8 different brushes for drawing and painting;

• 22 Animated Stickers;

• Splatter Tops, Magic Wands, and Surprise Blocks to create amazing effects in your pictures;

• eCards to customize and send to friends and family;

• Picture ideas to help jump-start your child's imagination;

• Animated Tutorials;

• Airplay;

• Parental Controls.

PAW Patrol stars a pack of heroic rescue pups.  Together they work hard to show the people of Adventure Bay that "no job is too big, no pup is too small!"  In partnership with Spin Master Entertainment, the series features a curriculum that focuses on citizenship, social skills and problem-solving.  PAW Patrol is the number-one preschool series on Nickelodeon and airs weekdays at 12 p.m. (ET/PT).

DISCLAIMER:  I received this app complimentary from the developer to review but did not receive any financial compensation for this post.  The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own.