Cranium’s Balloon Lagoon Appeals to the Whole Family

Cranium’s Balloon Lagoon game was a gift for my son’s 6^th birthday. The game is set up to look like a carnival, with 4 separate activities for players to enjoy as part of the game. It is perfect for kids aged 5 years and older, but younger kids will also enjoy playing Balloon Lagoon.

In all honesty, I knew nothing about Cranium games or Balloon Lagoon when I purchased the game, but bought it because I couldn’t find the game my son had actually requested. Admittedly, my son was a little disappointed to see Balloon Lagoon instead of the game he’d asked for, but his disappointment quickly vanished as the box was opened and the game unveiled.

Our family had so much fun playing Balloon Lagoon, and I was so impressed with the concept, among other things, Balloon Lagoon became one of the first of many Cranium games our family owns. Here is a break down of the game’s features:

Game Board

The game board consists of 5 pieces: A carousel in the center that acts as spinner and timer, and 4 “island” activities. The game goes together simply, like a puzzle, and therefore, the game board can be set up in several different ways. The activities consist of:

Frog Pond: see how many frogs you can “finger flip” back into their pond.
Fishing Lake: Choose a word to spell, and then catch magnetic letters with a magnetic fishing pole to try and spell the word
Snack Hut: Send 5 dice on a trip through the snack hut until 4 dice are matches.
Tumble Tides: Spin the wheels to make the 4 puzzle pictures fit together in the right way.

Each time a player starts a new activity, another player presses the button on the carousel, which starts a fun little song. When the song is over, the turn is over. The player can award themselves up to 4 balloons to stick in their game piece based on how well they did at their activity.

The individual cardboard game board pieces are thick and could be stepped on by a small child without causing too much damage. While it may seem strange to be so excited about a thick cardboard game board, consider that most of the game boards in my house also double as square Frisbees and pretend islands in the middle of an ocean, I’m impressed to have a game that is not so easily destroyed.

Game Box

This game box is not your grandma’s game box! Thick cardboard is meant to stand up to lots of tough love. Inside are sectioned compartments for each piece with pictures where everything should go.

How many times have to taken a brand new game out of the box and can’t fit it back in to save your life! Not with Balloon Lagoon. This set up even makes it possible for little kids to put the game away perfectly.

Learning Opportunities

Although this is not specifically a “learning” game, different learning styles are addressed with each activity: visual learners will enjoy matching up letters and practicing their conceptual skills by putting together a puzzle. Tactile and kinesthetic learners will enjoy picking up and throwing dice, as well as flipping frogs. Even setting up the board is a great activity in spatial reasoning.

Drawbacks

This game comes with a lot of pieces. The tiny, plastic balloons that are used to keep track of a player’s progress tend to find their way all over our house and into the vacuum cleaner if the game is not cleaned up right after play. Most of the pieces, however, are easy to keep track of, especially with the great box design which makes clean up a snap for kids of all ages.