These games arrived, and became an instant hit with 4 year old, 8 year old, mom, and even dad (and 2 curious cats!).  Beautifully designed, intelligently created, and holistically inspired, Wildcraft! is a cooperative board adventure game that teaches edible & medicinal plants, and is packed full of little details that offer extra value.  Well deserving of Mothering's pick as one of the best natural games of 2008!

For Ages 4 to adult -- 1 to 4 players. 

Wildcraft! includes a 20x20 inch game board, instructions, 4 player pieces, 52 plant cards (which can also be used as a concentration game), 52 trouble cards, 25 cooperative cards, and a spinner. It also comes with a downloadable story to enhance the story of the game.

	• Made in the U.S.A. • Box/board made with 100% recycled chipboard. • Printed with vegetable oil based inks. • Water based coating on paper, no varnish. • Forest Stewardship Council certified paper. • Shipped direct from factory for a lower carbon footprint. • All material is 100% recyclable.

The Story...

Grandma needs huckleberries to bake a pie. You and your cousins embark on an adventure up the mountain to collect berries as well as herbs she uses.

Will you all harvest the right plants to help with the trouble you run into along the way?

Will you make it back before nightfall?

The only way to win is by helping each other out.

 

Wildcraft! teaches you 25 important edible and medicinal plants and their uses in mostly first aid situations. (Wildcrafting is the harvesting of wild plants)

It also teaches team work, for you will rely on each other's knowledge of plants and good fortune to make it to the Huckleberry Patch and safely back to Grandma's.

Wildcraft! is a great introduction to the world of edible and medicinal herbs for children of ALL ages.

It's a beautifully illustrated, nature based, cooperative game created in the tradition of the classic board games.

Naturalist and artist Beatriz Mendoza uses vibrant watercolors to create a colorful and playful world for Wildcraft! The plant cards show the level of detail needed for identification in the field.

The game board...

The plant cards...

26 plants are featured on 52 cards.

 

Plants include Nettle, Yellow dock, wild mustard, huckberry, dandelion, comfrey, cottonwood, caledula, echinacea, chamomile, field mint, wild rose, St. Johnswort, horsetail, yarrow, herb robert, elder, burdock, cattail, coltsfoot, valerian, plantain, white willow, chickweed, jewelweed, catnip

 

The trouble cards...

There are 52 trouble cards. The icons on these cards match up with the icons on the Plant Cards. That's how you know what plant can help with your trouble card. This way, even little kids can play!

 

Wildcraft! connects players with nature

Wildcraft! brings you through several ecosystems while you are going up the mountain. Plants on the board are positioned in the ecosystems they would naturally grow in. Therefore, players are learning about plants, where they grow, and what to use them for on several levels. 

Wildcraft! fosters a connection to nature. Before you know it, you and your kids will be identifying plants in the park or yard... and you'll find yourself saying, "Hey! That's chickweed! I can eat that AND use it to heal a wound."

 

Wildcraft! teaches about plants and their edible and medicinal uses

Well, this is obvious, but we wanted to mention that the game teaches plant uses on a food and first aid level. Chronic health issues are not addressed. How to properly use the plants, when to pick them, and what parts to use are not addressed in the game.

Wildcraft! keeps it simple and keeps it safe!

 

Wildcraft! is great for younger players

Being the game is "icon" driven, once your child has played once or twice, they can play on their own.

No reading is required. Older kids and adults will get A LOT from this game. However, even if your 5 year old isn't reading, they are "patterning" on what the plants look like and what you can use them for. You can also make up simpler rules for the wee ones.

And NO prior knowledge of plants is needed

What do kids love most in board games????

Hint: Remember the slides, short cuts and ladders in Candyland or Chutes and Ladders? When you were a kid playing board games, weren't these your favorite parts?

Well, Wildcraft! has waterfalls to slide down, logs to cross and deer trails to wander down.

Wildcraft! is a cooperative board game

Draw a cooperation card and you get an opportunity to help out a fellow player! You can give them an herb they need for their ailment OR bring them up to your space. This is a cooperative board game.

Where's the competition in this??!??

Well, if you were out hiking in real life, wouldn't you help your friends out? Would you leave them behind? Of course not.

Wildcraft! builds strategic thinking for team work.

Cooperativegames.com, who sells cooperative board games, had this to say about cooperative versus competitive play...

"The concept behind most games in our society is based on an adversarial model - players take on roles as enemies. One player winds up as the "winner" while the other players become "losers". The winner is often viewed as the good or smart person and the loser as bad or even dumb.

According to many sociologists and psychologists, this concept is counter-productive and unhealthy. Competition was virtually unknown to the Zuni and Iroquois in North America and to the Bathonga in South Africa. The Mixtecans of Mexico regard envy and competitiveness as a minor crime. From kibbutzniks in Israel to farmers in Mexico, cooperation is prized and competition generally avoided.

Cooperative and non-competitive play, based on problem solving and working together towards a common goal, benefits everyone. This concept is becoming more and more accepted in public and private schools throughout the United States and is very commonplace in Europe."

That is a great explanation as to why Wildcraft! a cooperative board game was created!