Lucky Ducks Provides Hours of Fun for Toddlers

One of my biggest challenges as a parent is trying to find ways to keep my 2-year-old daughter occupied when the weather outside prevents me from taking her out to play. My wife and I usually will play board games when we're home together but our daughter is too young to understand the sometimes complicated rules of those and ends up being a spectator. And, most games designed for children are 4 or older.

That's why I'm glad I bought her the game Lucky Ducks.

With Lucky Ducks, there is no board, just a motorized pond and 12 plastic ducks divided into four groups, circles, squares, triangles and stars. You place the ducks on the pond, press the start button in the middle and attempt to pick up the three with the shape closest to you. It's very similar to a carnival game my daughter loves to play at the annual county fair.

I've never seen a game with such simple rules before. Even though the box says for ages 3 and up, my daughter caught on relatively quickly and, the first day she got the game, she insisted everyone play it with her several times. In fact, by day two, we had to replace the batteries already.

There are a couple of other things I like about Lucky Ducks. First, because the rules are so simple, she doesn't have to sit down with an adult or older child. It's also easy to start and stop the game, so she can play it with kids her own age and needs little to no help from us to set it up. In fact, she considers the ducks to be her imaginary pets and will spend hours playing the game by herself.

I also like the fact there are very few pieces to clean up. Unlike board games that usually have various cards to draw, fake money to spend, dice to throw and game pieces to move, all there is to Lucky Ducks is the pond and the 12 ducks. If you can count to 12 (something even my daughter knows how to do) you will know if you have all the game pieces. There was also no assembly required.

And, let's not forget the price. It cost me $19 at Walmart, roughly the same as an average board game.

Hasbro should get a lot of credit for designing this game. It's a Godsend for parents everywhere and one of the best purchases I've ever made for my daughter.