Wooden Dice Game – Animal Trains with a Colour Dice

Four animal trains and a dice that shows only colours

At the start, each player chooses an engine: the blue one, the red one driven by a giraffe, the yellow one led by a rabbit or the green one with a monkey at the front. That colour decides the rest of the game, because it is the train your child will have to complete. The 20 wagons are mixed up in the middle of the table, picture side down.

On their turn, your child rolls the colour dice. The back of every wagon has a coloured background with white spots, which shows which train it belongs to, and a dot in the centre that repeats one of the colours on the dice. Your child searches among the wagons of their own train for the one whose centre dot matches the colour rolled, turns it over and discovers the animal travelling inside: a lion, a crocodile, an elephant, a cow, a mouse. The wagon is then hooked on behind the engine, the pieces slotting together like a jigsaw. In this wooden dice game, the first player to complete their train wins.

Naming a colour, then finding it again

This is a coloured dice game in the simplest sense: there are no spots to count and nothing to read. Each turn calls for the same short chain of reasoning: look at the top of the dice, say the colour, then find it on one small dot among several wagons whose backs look alike. Children learn their colours by handling them rather than reciting them, which is what makes it an educational game and not only a race to the finish. For more ways to sort and match, browse our early learning toys.

The second thing it builds is the habit of following rules together: waiting for the dice to come back round, missing a turn when the wagon of the colour rolled is already on your own train, watching someone else finish first. These are the first rules of a shared game, and a single round brings them up several times.

How to introduce the very first game

The first time, play with just two players and leave the wagons picture side up. Look together at the animals on the yellow train, then turn one wagon over to show its dot. When your child has seen how the back and the picture go together, hide the pictures and start a real game, letting the youngest player roll first, as the rules say.

The usual mistake is to grab a wagon with the right background without checking the centre dot. Ask your child to say the colour on the dice out loud before searching. When that comes easily, move up to three and then four players: there are more wagons to sort through in the middle and a longer wait between two rolls. On a wet afternoon, it is one of those indoor games for kids that brothers and sisters can play together.

From the first rounds to made-up trains

The rules fit into a handful of gestures and the dice never asks for a sum, so the game works from 3 years. At that age it sits among the gentler matching games for 3 year olds: one colour to name, one wagon to find. The four-player game is the one to aim for next, with more waiting and a crowded middle, which keeps it a good choice among matching games for 4 year olds.

The pieces also have a life after the game. Children rebuild the four trains, swap wagons from one train to another and make up where each animal is heading.

To clean the pieces of this wooden dice game, wipe them with a barely damp cloth and never leave them to soak. Store the dice with the wagons: it is the smallest piece in the set.

What sets this game apart

Unlike an ordinary dice with spots, this is a dice with colours only: your child matches, they do not count. The wagons are all different, each carrying its own animal, which gives a reason to see the train through to the end. The game is played by 2 to 4 players, one to one with a parent or between brothers and sisters, so it also earns a place among your family games to play at home. If your child mostly loves pushing trains along, have a look at our wooden train sets; for more simple rules to share at the table, our board games take over.

Questions parents ask

What age is this wooden dice game for?

From 3 years. The rules make sense after one game played out loud together, and the colour dice means nobody has to count.

Does my child need to count to play?

No. Each face of the dice shows a colour, not spots: your child only has to recognise the colour and find it on the back of a wagon.

What happens if the wagon you roll is already on your train?

You miss a turn and the dice passes to the next player. The game ends as soon as one player has completed their train.

How many players can play?

Two to four, each with their own engine and a train to complete.

What is in the set

• Age: from 3 years
• Players: 2 to 4
• Contents: 25 pieces – 4 engines (blue, red, yellow and green), 20 wagons illustrated with animals and 1 colour dice
• Material: wood
• Dimensions: 67 x 9.5 cm
• Brand: Goki, reference 56759
• 2-year guarantee on all our products