We recently received the board game, Wild Ride to the Heart, and Kora and Logan have played it every day since it arrived. They often play it more than once and Logan will even get it out and play by himself every now and then. Wild Ride to the Heart was designed by The Institute of HeartMath with the goal of connecting family members as they travel around the colorful game board and share stories. Not only is it an educational game, but a fun one too!
The board game is very cute and cartoon-like with a fun path that travels through places like Tantrum Town, Frustrated Falls, Happy Hills, Thankful Town and more. The designs on the board are well-done and Kora and Logan enjoy asking questions and making up stories about each place.
Players roll the dice or spin a spinner and race to the heart at the finish. Along the way they may land on excitement cards which tell them to move back or forward a number of spaces depending on an relatable but imaginary action on the card. For example one card says, “You had to be asked four times to go eat your dinner. Move back 3 spaces” and another states “That was nice. You let a friend use your favorite toy. Move forward 3 spaces.”
There are also “Feeling Faces” along the way. These are cartoon pictures of children making faces expressing a wide variety of emotions. When a player lands on a Feeling Face, they can either tell a story about the time they felt the way expressed in the picture or make a face that shows them feeling that emotion.
I’ve learned a lot about Kora & Logan from the stories they’ve told when they land on a Feeling Face. It really is a great tool to open up conversations with your preschoolers.
There are also a number bridges, slides, and paths that act as short cuts. Every time we’ve played, at least one of us has landed on one of these shortcuts and it thrills the kids to no end! It does add a fun element to the game and speeds it up enough that you can play more than once.
We give Wild Ride to the Heart a big thumbs up and recommend it to anyone who has a preschooler in their life.
Thank you to the Institute of Heart Math for providing the game for review. No compensation was received. The opinions are my own and that of my family.
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