Couple of years ago we saw Abby's friends playing with Rory's Story Cubes, and loved the idea as it encourages children to use random pictures from the cubes to create a story, helping them with creativity, imagination and other literacy skills.
We bought the original then, and have already decided to bring it with us on our holiday (the 9 cubes are stored in a small container that even fits in my jacket's pocket). So we were really excited when we were given the opportunity by Esdevium Games to review one of the latest Rory's Story Cube - Batman, who is one of the kids' favourite DC super hero!
Rory's Story Cubes - Batman (RRP £11.99, suitable for 1+ players, age 6 and above) comes with a plastic container and 9 story cubes, each with 6 pictures. It also comes with an Icon Guide to explain what each pictures mean (or you can make up your own meanings), and instruction guide on the other side, which you can look at for inspirations.
The basic idea of Rory's Story Cube is to make up a story with the 9 pictures facing up on the cubes. There is no wrong answer, just have fun! But if you need some inspirations, you can use the Icon and Instruction guides to help you.
You can also mix Rory's Story Cube- Batman with other Rory's Story Cube products. We have attempted to mix it with our original Rory's Story Cube too!
| Clay had a go with 18 story cubes! |
Abby:"Harlequin and Riddler escaped from a prison van that was on the way to Arkham Asylum, which is the prison in Gothem City. Batman flew in his Batwing to catch them, and he tied them up. The police took them away in the police car and it went on the newspaper."
Clay (with 18 icons!):"One day, Harlequin tied up Robin and threw a bomb near him. Batman was asleep, and he saw the Batsign and caught Harlequin. A policeman came and took her away in the police car, then change to police plane, when Harlequin parachuted away. She met an alien who claimed that he is a baddie but he's actually a goodie (to gain her trust), and because Harlequin is a magnet girl, he used a magnet to get her and locked her up. Harlequin then saw a boat with her friend in it, who came to rescue her, but a monster scared him away, and he got locked up in a prison. Then he got an idea, and read a comic, then got a letter from Harlequin and tell him how to get to Batcave."
You can tell that their story telling techniques is very different, because of what they are learning at their stage. Abby is definitely thinking more logically, while Clay is playful and not limited to logic!
Although it's a game, I think these stories they've created are really precious and should be written down, it'll be great to read it again when they are older!
Overall, we think that Rory's Story Cubes - Batman is a brilliant addition to the fantastic Rory's Story Cubes game. The Icon guide comes in handy, to help us create a Batman story using Batman terms. We can also pretend that each icon means something that's not Batman related and create other stories. Your limit is your imagination!
You can buy Rory's Story Cube at Amazon UK and all good toy stores, and there is also a Moomin version too!
