Review of the Goula Range from Jumbo Games

In this week’s post I would like to talk to you about the Goula range from Jumbo toys. I have been so impressed with these games. My boys are 5 & 3 and at this age they learn so much through play. It is really important that games are teaching core skills. The Goula range is perfect for having fun whilst developing skills.

Jumbo Games has gifted me these games in exchange for my honest review. All words and opinions are my own.

Playing Games with an Autistic Child

Both my boys are autistic and have different communication challenges. My 5 year old is non-verbal so it is really important that games are visually stimulating as well as visually clear for him. He found all of these games very easy to engage with and had lots of fun. I found the Catch It game particularly good for him in supporting his communication development (more on that later).

My 3 year old has hyperlexia so has a very keen interest in numbers so he was a big fan of the puzzle and counting rings. Like many 3 year olds turn taking and sharing is still a bit challenging and these are great games to help him learn these skills.

I use the TEACCH method with both my boys which is a widely used teaching method to support autistic children. I will be adding all of these games to our TEACCH activities as they are perfect examples of games that can be used to support learning. They can support core skills like turn-taking, speech development and learning to count.

Catch It

This was my favourite of the games, my 5 year old really enjoyed it and we have been playing it most days. The game consists of 27 cardboard animal counters. The animals are either a cat, dog or turtle with a diffrent colour and pattern on each.

Also included in the game are three lovely wooden dice. One for animals, one for colours and the other for patterns. The idea is you take turns (or play alone) to roll the dice and find the counter with that combination.

The first time we played my son was a little confused so we decided to just use one dice at a time. We played by just choosing the colour, animal or pattern at first then began to play with two combinations and so on. This was a really nice way to play and for children still learning to match it is a good way to start playing and building up to the three combinations.

My son particularly enjoyed rolling the dice. I was also impressed at how excited he was to try and verbalise the animal names or colours that he rolled on the dice. I will defintely be reccommending this one to our speech and language therapist as it is a very motivating game.

Catch It is perfect for visual learners and a great challenge kids to find the right combination.

Safari Roulette

Safari Roulette is a lovely shape and colour matching game. My niece (4) loved the animals in this game. She was also very impressed that the board was a puzzle that can be made into a circle!

I hadn’t even noticed the lovely details on the animals until my niece pointed them out. For example the Elephant holding the flower and the Lion’s glasses.

The idea of the game is to take turns with the spinner and then match the colour and shape on the board. I have to say the spinner was very popular and both my boys and my niece had to have some time just spinning it to get that out of their system before we could play the game.

It is easy for little hands to use the spinner and it lands on a shape. You then collect the corresponding counter and place it on the board.

One detail that is great is the wildcard. If you spin and get a grey shape that means you have a wildcard and can choose the colour you need for that shape. This wildcard really helps towards the end when most of the shapes are filled and you are looking to place the last pieces.

We all enjoyed playing Safari Roulette a brilliant game to play together and learn turn taking and colour / shape matching skills in the process.

Bunny’s Garden

Bunny Garden is a wooden balancing game. This wooden bunny is very appealing. I can say it is duable as it was dropped several times by my 3 year old and didn’t get damaged (phew).

The game comes with 6 pieces that can be placed on the bunny. The idea is to keep the bunny balanced and not have your pieces fall off. There are 6 pieces that can easily be split into two if you want to try turn-taking with a 2 player game.

The game also includes a coloured dice which is used to decide which piece to put on the bunny. My 3 year old thought it was hilarious everytime the bunny started to rock.

This is a lovely game for little ones, it is also quick to do for those with short attention spans!

Coloured Rings

The Coloured Rings game is a lovely wooden set to help with counting. Both my boys love numbers and counting so this one was very popular. The board has picture dots that you match to the relevant number tile. You then have the coloured rings to place on the board with the corresponding number.

Both my boys can count to ten so I wasn’t sure how engaged they would be. How wrong was I, every kid loves to show off their skills. My 3 year old sat putting the rings on and off and counting out loud for nearly an hour yesterday.

A great feature of this one is it is held together by magnets so easily split in half if you just want to start with 1-5.

The combination of dots, rings and numbers really helps to solidify the early counting skills.

This game is one I will be using regularly in our TEACCH schedule as it is visually engaging, structured and clear. Perfect for my boys.

Duo Puzzle

The Duo Puzzle is a lovely jigsaw with beautiful tiles. My niece said she loved the way they feel and I do have to agree with her. The puzzle comes with a nice bag to keep it in which all of the kids enjoyed putting the pieces in and out of. Always a bonus when they want to help with tidying up at the end of a game.

This 1-10 puzzle is ideal for kids like mine who love a bit of structure and order. It is also brilliant for those who enjoy lining things up.

The tiles fit together with different shapes and colours so there are different ways to think about the puzzle as it is completed. It is also another fantastic game to support counting skills.

Quality & Value?

All of the games we tried out were very good quality and very resonably priced. I would really reccommend all of the games and think they would make ideal presents.

The range is perfect for young autistic children, they are visually appealing, structured and engaging. I was so impressed with all of the games so a big thank you to Jumbo Games from us.

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