You Reap What You Sow

Recently I was given an opportunity to review the Abundant Harvest for Kids board game (ages 7 and up priced at $24.99), for a fair and honest review. I was really excited about this great opportunity because this seemed like just the kind of game I would love to play with my littles. As the Harvest Time Partners website outlines, this game was designed to:

• “create teachable moments for parents and educators” alike, and
• “the situations are presented and directed towards children who are learning the importance of making decisions that are based on principle”.

You can check out the games for yourselves at www.harvesttimepartners.com. Below is my opinion after having played the “Abundant Harvest for Kids” board game. (And even further below that, a quick mention of their “Face to Face Dinner Party Edition” game and my thoughts on that one – but you'll have to keep reading to get to that).

We are a homeschooling family that incorporates God and the study of His word into our daily lessons. I was at a point where I had started to think about new ways to focus on, encourage and strengthen Godly character – character development. After all we are to train our children up in the way they should go. Abundant Harvest for Kids seemed like a great way to do just that.

During our Thanksgiving holiday our family decided to break out our Abundant Harvest for Kids game and give it a go. We love gathering around the table to play games and this one was no exception, moments like these are what memories are made of. Question after question, my girls loved showing how they could make a good decisions. If I had asked the girls what their favorite part of the game was, I know their answer would be collecting the Abundant Harvest Dollars. Those dollars, unbeknownst to them, were a great tangible reward to positively reinforce their good choices to all of the games proposed situations.

As a parent, playing this game with my kids was great because I got to read the scenario cards and let them know how I would handle it and be able to share my wisdom before it was needed. Just like the military trains for war, parents train their children spiritually, to be biblically and morally sound – this game is something that can definitely be used for just that. Listening to the answers and hearing their wisdom speak volumes beyond their tender years was confidence building for me as a parent, I knew I had begun to raise little ones with a moral compass that pointed straight to the Holy Bible. Playing this game with them gave them and myself alike, the reassurance that no matter where life takes them, or what it throws at them, that they will be ready, and will be able to successfully navigate any of life's waters.

Honestly the game was a little hard for the girls to play all the way through because it was a little lackluster, the conversation cards were all serious and a little heavy without any lighthearted moments to it other than the moments we made. I think families with children that really haven't developed a solid christian moral compass could definitely benefit from playing this game despite that because of all the real world challenges it pitches for preparedness on how to tackle them from a good christian base – so if you're that family, I would highly suggest playing this game to help your children develop that despite it's lack of levity.

The only other downsides for us really were that the game was a little hard for us to relate to, maybe that's because we are a young homeschooling family – maybe for others who aren't homeschooled or maybe children who are even a little older than the game suggests, this game would be a better fit. There were cards that the children drew that I tweaked the scenario for to make more appropriate for their ages and some we skipped all together and drew another card for them in place of those I thought inappropriate. When either little landed on a parent space and had to answer a scenario as the parent, never having worn that hat –they were attempting to try on new shoes to answer those cards and as a homeschooling family things like bullying or cheating on a test is pretty foreign – however greek any of the un-relateable scenarios were, our girls still shined in knowing what the right thing to do would be and bless their hearts, they continued to show it turn after turn. That said, just like if you give a mouse a cookie – if you give a kid a soap box you might want to throw in a timer ;)

Overall, I would say this game was a fun time had by all. I am very thankful we took the time to play this game for the togetherness it brought but also for the opportunity to see the direction our little's moral compass was pointing (and the opportunity to recalibrate if needed). I think taking something like building good Biblically sound character and judgement and making it into a game so that teaching and learning can be done all while spending time bonding over a game is a fabulous thing to do.

Aside from the Abundant Harvest for Kids board came, my husband and I played the “Face to Face Dinner Party Edition”. This game has a deck of 96 cards and is priced at an affordable $12.49. There are other “Face to Face” card game sets aside from the dinner party edition such as the kid edition and teen edition. The dinner party edition is described on the Harvest Time Partners web page as:

• a conversation game “for ages 18 and up, adults, and parents”, and as having
• “scenarios encourage discussion between adults on issues in marriage, raising children, and the workplace”.

Exactly as described each scenario card was completely relatable and having experience in all topics covered it was really fun to play and explore the what would you do factor if this were a scenario you found yourself in.

We had roughly 400 miles of road time for Holiday travel and I had just the thing to distract us from all of that bumper to bumper. I pulled the “Face to Face Dinner Party Edition” out of the glove box and read the cards for us to take turns answering. Honestly, I loved it :) My husband said he did too, and really loved how they had a good Christian focus. We look forward to working our way (gradually – we can pace ourselves) through all of the games cards, but we will definitely be playing that game again – and if you invite us to dinner (or get stuck in traffic with us), you might find yourselves playing it right along with us. If you were to ask me if I thought was a game worth adding to your game repertoire, I would say definitely.

If this post has peaked your curiosity about any of the Harvest Time Partners games, hop on over to the Harvest Time Partners website, www.harvesttimepartners.com, or give them a call at (877) 786-4278 and see if there is a game there waiting for you. You too could be a moment away from your very own Abundant Harvest, after all – we reap what we sow. Happy sowing my friends!

Additional Harvest Time Partners Link Ups:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HarvestTimePartnersInc

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/HarvestTimePartners

Twitter:     https://twitter.com/Stand4Character

To see what others thought of this and other games from Harvest Time Partners, check out these blogs below:

http://roomsofknowledge.com/abundant-harvest-kids-game-review/#sthash.gpUc24Nv.dpbs

http://thewatersparkles.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/face-to-face-game-review/

If you have played this or other games from Harvest time Partners let me know! I'd love to hear about it too:)