Match the Colour Game – 25 Wooden Animal Tiles and 2 Dice

Two dice, 25 wooden tiles, one right answer

The 25 wooden tiles are laid face up in the middle of the table in a five-by-five grid. Each one shows a drawn animal: a frog in mid-leap, a striped cat, a rabbit balancing on its front paws, a mouse standing upright, a spotted dog with its tongue out. Every animal comes in five colours: pink, sky blue, orange-red, yellow and green. One player rolls both dice at the same time. The first, with line-drawn animals, names the animal; the second, with coloured faces, names the colour. Mouse and green: every pair of eyes sweeps the grid, and the first hand on the green mouse wins the tile.

That is the whole of this dice and colour game: read two dice, put two pieces of information together, find the only tile that combines them and take it before anyone else. The animal dice also carries a star, which acts as a joker. Looking and grabbing happen almost in the same moment, which turns a simple match the colour game into a proper race.

Look fast, reach carefully: what this speed game for kids trains

Here the eye has to hold two criteria together. Finding "a mouse" is easy; finding "the green mouse" among five mice and five green tiles makes the child set aside everything that looks close without being right. That visual sorting, repeated at every roll, is what keeps the game lively.

Then comes the hand. Spotting the tile is not enough: it has to be reached without knocking its neighbours out of place, so eye-hand coordination gets worked on every round without the child thinking about it. And because each roll is said out loud ("the pink dog"), children end up naming colours and animals over and over: an educational game where the learning rides on the excitement. Among colour games this one brings speed; for calmer ways to practise, browse our colour matching game selection.

A first game that works

Roll the colour dice on its own to begin with: any tile in the colour shown will do. Then try the animal dice alone, where any copy of the animal counts. When the idea is clear, add the second dice and play the full match the colour game.

The most common mistake is leaving the tiles in a heap. Laid flat and not overlapping, they all stay visible. Agree in advance on a simple rule for when two hands land together, for example rolling the dice again.

When the race is mastered, shuffle the grid between rounds, or add a rule: anyone who touches a wrong tile hands back one of their winnings. That small penalty slows down the hands that grab before the eyes have finished checking.

Calmer games with the same set, and caring for the wood

Without any race, a child discovering the game can sort the tiles by colour or by animal, or rebuild the five-by-five grid with one colour per row and one animal per column, to spot all 25 combinations before playing fast. Later on, the same quick match game becomes a real family race, with adults and children reaching for the tiles at the same time.

To clean the tiles and dice, wipe the wood with a barely damp cloth and let it air dry; never leave the pieces soaking in water.

Wooden tiles, not cards: what sets this quick match game apart

The pieces you grab are not cardboard cards: the 25 square tiles are wooden, so they can be snatched with a quick movement without bending or fraying at the corners. That sets the game apart from most speed games sold as a pack of cards. The dice make the other difference. Where a colour dice usually moves a counter along a track, here the two dice are combined, and it is where they cross that picks out the tile to grab.

Nothing needs reading, so a round of this match the colour game starts in seconds and everyone plays together rather than waiting for a turn. Among dice games for kids it is one of the few without a board or counters. For turn-by-turn play, look through our board games; other wooden toys round off the games shelf.

Your questions about this game

How do you play this match the colour game?

Spread the 25 tiles face up, one player rolls both dice, and everyone looks for the tile showing the animal and colour rolled. The first to touch it keeps it.

Are the pieces cards or wooden tiles?

Wooden tiles. The set holds 25 square wooden tiles and two wooden dice, with no cardboard cards.

How can you make it easier for a beginner?

Play with one dice first and leave the scores aside, then add the second dice when your child names the five colours and the five animals without hesitating.

Product details

• Brand: Goki (reference 56769)
• Contents: 25 wooden tiles, 1 animal dice (5 animals and a star), 1 colour dice
• Animals: frog, cat, rabbit, mouse, dog
• Colours: pink, sky blue, orange-red, yellow, green
• Material: wood