Uno Moo!

The Look

Uno Moo! has the best packaging.  All the pieces can be contained in a small, lightweight, fun looking barn that has a handle for easy transport.  The pieces are the perfect size for grabbing and the animal faces are really cute!  The paper haystacks that are designed for blocking your pieces from the other players’s view are flimsy and often fall when you take your turn but it’s really no big deal.

How to Play

The children each randomly pick five figures from the barn and place them behind their haystack.  Then one player picks a figure from the barn, closes the roof of the barn and places it on the side barn door.  The children must then match either the color or the animal to that of the figure on the side barn door.  There are four farmer figures that are “wilds” in which the player can change the color. When the child has just one more figure to play, they must say, “Uno moo!” The first player to get rid of all their pieces wins.

Skills and Modifications

Non identical matching: There are 28 figures but the only ones that match exactly are the white farmer figures which act as wild cards.  Therefore the child will mostly be doing non-identical matching (or categorization).  This is a more advanced skill than just identical matching.  Children are realizing that things can be different but still have a common base.  Also, it’s good that they are concentrating on two components of the figures, both the color and the type of animal.

Sorting: Animals (cows, pigs, skunks, sheep, dogs, chickens), the farmers or colors can be sorted before or after or instead of the game.  I normally use the excuse of “let’s see if we have all the pieces” to have the child classify and count them. 

Language: As with every turn taking game, I always practice different phrases such as, “my turn” or “you go now” etc.  Specifically with Uno Moo, I have the child say the color and the animal of both the figure waiting on the side barn door and the one they are going to play with.  This is not only to reinforce the color and animal identification but also a way for them to understand why their figure is or isn’t a match.  My verbal model may be longer than theirs but it serves a reference for them. For example, I may say, “red dog” (the figure waiting on the side barn door), “I don’t have a pig, but I do have a red” and then take my turn.  If the child just names the color and the animal that is fine. What I’ll do is have him/her pause momentarily so they see the two figures side by side and can process if it’s a correct move or not.

Animal Noises: This is not a part of the game but definitely a good way to enhance it.  When the student states what type of animal they have they can also say the sound of it.  This is may be a good thing to review before the game starts.  I honestly don’t know what noise a skunk makes but it’s fun inventing one! For the farmer, his noise can be “hello” or something else that is short.  

Matching animals to their noises:  After the game, or if you just want to use the figures to play with outside of the context of the game, it’s fun and good practice to match the animal to their animal noise.  Of course, you want this to be motivating in of itself and not just an answer question type routine.  You can have the farmer call the animal by its name and then have the child find the animal and make it sound.  Or you can pretend on the animals is the mommy and she makes the noise to call for her baby. 

Simple Rules: I like that besides the basic matching theme, Uno Moo has two small twists. One is that farmers are “wild” and the other is that playing a skunk means “draw 2” for the next player.  To modify, sometimes I just take out the farmers and not mention anything about the skunk to the child. Then after they really grasp the basics of the game, introduce the wild or take two concepts either one at a time or together.  It’s good practice for more complicated games down the line.

This game is really cute and fun.  It's got lots of repetition without being boring.  It’s nice that it can accommodate four players but there is always only the one central figure that the child must keep track of.  Because the other players’ animals are hidden behind the haystack it’s less visual distraction for each member. I highly recommend this game for a structured group activity.

Rating

Overall rating: 9

Fun value: 9

Educational value: 9

Durability: 9

Cost: 9