WinningMoves.HiHoCherryO

Children love to discover the world with their hands. Even as toddlers they grab onto anything they possibly can with their curious fingers. Hasbro makes use of this universal connection between the hand and the brain to create an intuitive game that teaches children how to count.

Yes, math can be scary for kids, but when it comes to an ingenious classic board game designed for two to four preschoolers, numbers become friendly and fun. Hi-Ho! Cherry-O, from Winning Moves Games, under license by Hasbro is styled after the 1960 original, which has been around for more than 50 years.

Through this game, children learn basic skills in math—how to count, add, and subtract—simply by picking fruit from trees and filling their buckets. Since no reading is required, a 3-year-old can easily play the game.

Hi-Ho! Cherry-O will instantly light up your little one’s eyes with 44 brightly colored cherries ripe for the picking. The game also comes with a plastic board embedded with four trees and four buckets, and a fully assembled, colorful spinner.

Hi HoTo start, each player selects a tree and a bucket. The object of the game is to be the first player to pick 10 cherries from the tree and fill your bucket. Just spin the spinner and hope for options one, two, three or four to pick that amount of cherries and place them in your bucket. Fingers crossed you miss the bird, the dog, and the bucket-spill options on the spinner, which cause you to lose some or all of your cherries.

The game can be a thrill with two players, however the excitement of winning and losing cherries increases with more. Each number on the spinner explains the concept of addition and the dog or the spill teaches kids about subtraction.

Some of the most beautiful ideas in the world become popular because of their simplicity. Picking cherries from trees one-by-one to understand basic counting concepts is an excellent, timeless example, explaining why Hi-Ho! Cherry-O has been a winner in teaching kids how to count for decades.

About the author

Varuni Sinha

Varuni Sinha

Varuni Sinha is an assistant editor at the Adventure Publishing Group. With an avid interest in visual arts, she enjoys writing and editing for The Licensing Book and The Toy Book, leading trade magazines about toys–the first art forms we encounter as children. With expertise in literature, Varuni launched into writing through her thesis on Indian comic superheroes. Fairytales are another major attraction for her roving mind. Recently at Spoleto USA, Varuni mapped the history of all the variations of the Sleeping Beauty tale ever narrated through time. When she is not writing, Varuni loves to paint with her finger and nails. She has held solo and group exhibitions of her work in New Delhi, Chandigarh and Auroville in India. She has also illustrated a children’s book of Japanese Folktales. Follow her on twitter @varunisinha to keep up with her new adventures as she explores the magical world of toys.

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