Learning Resources Avalanche Fruit Stand - 42 Pieces, Ages 3+ Toddler Learning Toys, Fine Motor/Grip Game, Develops Color Matching Skills, Preschool Toys

This game is fun. We have had it for almost a year. It helps to work on taking turns, colors, counting to three, strategy (collect one of each fruit, not just your favorite color of fruit), fine motor skills, and being a good winner/loser. They use this in my children's preschool too. The stand is adjustable, with the picture showing the steepest level. You can re-Velcro the ribbon to make the stand less steep, so that it's easier. It is cardboard. My kids are not gentle, but are supervised when using games. It held up just fine for us, but I wouldn't say that it's very sturdy. Then again, the stand isn't interesting, so when they have taken the parts to play with it's usually the fruit to the play kitchen or the tongs for bug-collecting. Those parts are sturdy. Definitely a fun & educational game for the 2+ year old crowd, with the educational value (but not the fun) going down as the kid gets older.

Our 4 year old is having some difficulty with fine motor skills, so we decided to try this game from Learning Resources. The object of this game is to be the first to gather one fruit of each color without causing an avalanche on the fruit stand. The game is a lot of fun, and is adaptable in difficulty to challenge a wide range of kids because the slope of the fruit stand is adjustable -- you can make it less steep for youngsters, and quite steep for older kids. The tweezers included have a very good amount of resistance for muscle development, and feature depressions in the sides that show kids where their fingers should go. Even so, the tweezers are easy to use. The fruit pieces and game board are constructed from high quality materials. In all, this was a terrific purchase, and now our fine motor exercise is fun and part of our normal play!

I like it. Simple. Easy. But fun for kids under 5. And the fruit is heavy duty- there isn't huge avalanches but little ones every once in a while that make it fun and unpredictable. The little guy loves it and it helps with fine motor skills. Although the fruit is nice, the spinner came "broken". The arrow doesn't always stay on, but that's minor to me- it still works.

My toddler seemed like she needed to increase her grip strength to prepare for writing so I purchased this game. I was debating between this and the pie sorting one and picked this because I thought the tweezers were smaller and that would give her a better hand workout. As it turns out, the tweezers are the same size--pretty big. Other than that, the game is well made. The spinner works well, the food is well crafted and the box to set it up in is sturdier than expected. We don't play by the traditional rules--we just play that we keep spinning and taking fruit until the Avalanche cart is empty. It's an entertaining enough game for adults, fun for children, and good quality while giving little hands a workout. I'd definitely buy this again.

I bough this game for my pediatric occupational therapy office. I really like this game because it encourages kids slow down and plan their moves while also supporting the development of fine motor skills. Kids love to play games and finding a good game to work on specific skills is always a win!

The fruits, tongs and spinner are fantastic and durable. In a class of 20 preschoolers the container will not last long. The top is constantly falling off and I'm worried I will have to figure out an alternative container myself. Otherwise, the kids love the game and the challenge. The tongs are not easy to squeeze but, I like that fact to strength the hand muscles.

I'm a speech language pathologist and my students love this game. It's great for categorizing, fine motor, colors, and reinforcement. The fruit are made very hardy and I can imagine using this for years and years. Edited to add: Now that I've used this game for a few months, I feel like I have a few more things to add to this review. The fruit pieces are very well made. I like how the maker decided to make them one color each, for several reasons. First of all, it makes it easier to distinguish when you spin a color as to which color fruit you pick. Second, it is very helpful for my therapy for kids who are working on color concepts because it's more concrete. The fruit still look just a new as when I received the game even after being used and handled by lots of different students. I can't say that for all of the games I have purchased over the years. The fruit stand itself has held up very well. I was skeptical at first because it is cardboard but it's lasting well so far. The spinner is the same--it's held up well and still spins smoothly. The box that holds the game is also better made than a lot of games I have bought. I anticipate this game to last many, many years. I had bought this game because Learning Resources tends to make things of higher quality that can withstand lots of play and I'm glad I chose them. I will continue to look for Learning Resources games for my students and my own children.

This game is so fun for all ages. The pieces of fruit are made of a dense, high-quality plastic. The colors are bright and vivid. We play the game by the rules and sometimes we just make up our own game. My three sons (very active outdoor boys, ages 7,5,3) really enjoy it!! It kept them busy one day for about 40 minutes which is a long time for such a simple game. The only I wish is that the stand was a little more stable, I feel like if we are not careful it might start to fall apart. Other than that, this game is fun, challenging and really cute.