A dexterity game for 2-4 kids and grownups
15min
Animal Upon Animal is an animal stacking and dice rolling game for ages 4+. This dexterity game from Haba involves stacking animals on top of a crocodile. It’s pretty much reverse Jenga for kids.
Gameplay is simple enough that our 3-year-old roughly grasps the rules (with some reminding). Players start with 1 of each of the 7 unique animal shapes. The crocodile piece forms the central base of the pyramid.
- Roll the dice to determine placement
- Add 1 or 2 of their choosing to the pyramid
- Give an animal of their choosing to an opponent to place onto the pyramid
- Opponents select 1 of the players animals for the player to place on the pyramid
- Add an animal to the base of the pyramid
- If 1-2 pieces falls off, the player takes those into their reserve
- If more than 2 pieces fall off, the player chooses 2 to keep and the remaining are discarded to the box
- The game ends when at least one player runs out of animal pieces.
A game of Animal Upon Animal takes just a few minutes and we can often play 2-3 times before Rowan’s attention starts drifting.
“Santa” brought Animal Upon Animal for Rowan when he was about a year and a half. That was way early, but Santa really wanted to make a gamer kid out of him.
We started off very basic just having him hold the pieces and eventually moved to stacking them like toy blocks. We always treated it like a game -as soon as he wanted to play something else we had him clean it up and put away the box so we didn’t lose all the pieces before he was 2.
Early on his dexterity and problem solving skills were, generously, not so good. The more he played with the pieces the better his coordination and problem solving became.
Within a couple of months he went from only being able to stack one animal directly on top of another to building a tower of animals manipulating the orientation to keep the tower standing. When Rowan was about 2 to 2 ½ we moved on to adding the die to the game and explaining to him what to do with each die roll.
Now 3, Rowan can mostly play the game on his own. He usually needs reminders of the dice symbology and what to do when it falls. But now with a bit of practice he can choose how and where to stack his animals.
Sarah's Take
Animal Upon Animal has become a family game night staple in our house. It’s been really fun seeing Rowan’s skills develop through games and structured play. And who are we kidding, I will take any chance to play a game that I can get and it’s great to be able to share that with Rowan. Even Sullivan got in on the action recently watching carefully what we were all doing.
Emily's Take
Animal Upon Animal is fun from both a kid and parents perspective. I like that it teaches hand-eye coordination for kids in a way that is not boring or too easy for adults. It’s also great because after we play a game as a family, Rowan will contentedly play with the animal figures on his own for a while.
Rowan's Take
I love the hedgehog. I really like it. The hedgehog is my favorite. I like to put the snake on top. The snake is my favorite.
First Play
Being a kids game, Animal Upon Animal is very easy to learn. We didn’t get a “real” play of the game until well after a year of owning it but play moved swiftly and we all had a good time.
Rulebook
The rulebook is 2 pages and is clear and easy to understand.
Subsequent Plays
Every time we play, Rowan gets better and stays engaged longer. We usually play 2-3 times in a row before he just wants to either play with the animals, or build the pyramid and knock it down.
Play Time, # Players
Animal Upon Animal is a game geared toward young children and thus has a play time equal to that of a preschooler’s attention span, short. The game plays 2-4 players and plays in about 15 minutes or less, regardless of the number of players.
Parent Perspective
As parents, we love this game. It’s so rewarding to see your child learn and develop skills before your eyes. It’s also been great to see his interest in games continue to other games is super awesome.
Our Rating
9/10: Perfect for Toddlers
*See our rating scale HERE
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Pro tip: if you have two kids and one is decidedly much more prone to losing, make it fun when they inevitably make the whole stack fall by saying “it looks like you are starting a zoo!” The downside is they might feel so validated they intentionally knock it over…
Nice! The thrill of knocking it over definitely outweighs the fun of stacking it up sometimes. Not just for the kids either 😉