Matthew BaileyGame 3 in our “Professor Puzzle Games for Younger Kids” series is “Little Astronauts,” played with Henry (2).
“Little Astronauts” is a simple card game where you attempt to discover all of the planets in the solar system.
You start by using the back of the box as the sun (which is a nice touch), and each player lays eight cards face down in front of them.
On your turn, you take a card from the draw pile and see what you’ve got. If it is a planet, you may then place that planet in its location in the row, with one being the furthest card and eight being the last. You then replace the card with the card on your pile and continue the game with the new card you have, continuing until you draw a planet you already have.
Additionally, if you draw a rocket, these act as wild cards and can take the place of any planet. If you draw an alien, that immediately ends your turn.
The game continues until one player has a full row of face-up planets or with a rocket acting as a planet.
The specific game that I played here with Henry, we worked towards getting the full eight planets. However, you could choose which space to put them in so that Henry didn’t have to keep track of the numbered locations, which made it a little easier for him and didn’t really change the gameplay that much.
Overall, this is a sweet little card game that is excellent for small children wanting something a bit different from the usual fare. Henry really enjoyed it, and we played a couple of games. He has been asking if we can play it again, which is always a good sign.
The quality of the components is decent, the use of the box as part of the game is a nice touch, and there are some fun bits of information about each of the planets. If you have a little astronaut at home, this is definitely a nice, simple little card game to help spark their imagination.
plus it’s super cheap which helps 
“Little Astronauts” was kindly provided by “Professor Puzzle” for the purpose of review. Our thoughts and opinions are, however, our own.
