Julia Donaldson’s books are such well loved classics, and The Highway Rat is one of our favourites. It’s brilliant to see books like this being turned into board games, so that you can tie in your story time with play time. It can only help to encourage and nurture a love of reading and a deeper connection to the stories, so I think it’s a great idea!
The Highway Rat Stand and Deliver Board Game from Paul Lamond Games is beautifully illustrated, and very true to the book.
The game is suitable for children from age three upwards, and would be ideal for children of a preschool age as the concept is simple enough to grasp. I thought that it would be a game for myself and my youngest son to play together, but actually my older boys also wanted to join in and all of them enjoyed the game so it works well for the whole family.
The game involves working your way around the board, trying to collect four different types of cakes and pastries, without being thwarted by the Highway Rat. During every turn, while the players move the sweet toothed villain also gets the chance to move, and if he catches up to you he will steal all of your cakes and desserts just like in the book.
My kids enjoyed the suspense element of the Highway Rat character, as he can turn around the games fortunes quite quickly with the person in the lead suddenly having to go back to the beginning.
This was their favourite part of the game, whereas my favourite aspect of the game is the illustrations and the little details like how one of the cookies to collect are little Gruffalo cookies, I found that really cute.
The whole game is very well made with good quality materials, and is just a lovely product. It would make a really nice gift for a young child, perhaps alongside a copy of the book, and I’m sure will get plenty of play!
Giveaway
For your chance to win The Highway Rat Stand and Deliver board game for your family, enter via the Gleam widget below
Highway Rat Stand and Deliver Game
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Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
looks a lovely game
Great game. My daughter will love playing with friends or her brother.
This looks great, my little Grandson would like this
looks amazing
My daughter loves the highway rat this game looks brilliant
this looks like fun my boys would really enjoy it xx
Loved this book & the animated version, a new Christmas favourite
The game looks fun
The game looks great! We have the book!
My young ones would love this
Sounds interesting. We haven’t read The Highway Rat yet but my kids are fans of Gruffalo so would probably love this.
Looks like a lot of fun!
We haven’t read the Highway Rat but it looks like a great game
My daughter loves the Highway Rat (or Hurry Hat, as she calls him!) and is always barking “Stand and deliver!” at me!
My son loves this book we are fans of every Julia Donaldson books we have read so far
It looks like a brilliant game
Looks like a fun game to play.
Looks super amazing!!
Love this – looks great fun for us to play as a family.
This would be great to compliment the book and DVD, which we love!
great story, really fun, My Niece and Nephew love it, so be great to play the boardgame
How fabulous. I love great games and stories about maligned creatures.
My son got this book for Christmas, he loves the story
this looks brilliant and hours of fun x
game looks great fun
This looks like a great game we could all play together
Looks like a great game, it will be lots of fun!
The game looks great and my nice would love playing it when she visits.
The Highway Rat is a baddie, the Highway Rat is a beast! My twinnies favourite book!
Looks a great game to play with my grandchildren
Would love to win this for my nephew, fingers crossed
My kids would love to play this with me!
My kids would love to play this with me and my partner!
Looks like great fun, many thanks…..
it looks like a great game, good to see pictures rather than wonder what exactly is inside the box!!
My daughter is obsessed with the Highway Rat, she would love this game
My daughter loves the Highway Rat
looks like a fun game
I love the capabilities of the rat in the game, and how the game can change quite quickly!
Sounds like a great game and lots of fun for family games night
My son loves Julia Donaldson
My kids love the book so they will have lots of fun with this game, the illustrations are familiar and the game looks simple enough for their age fab!
This looks like right fun and I know my little nephew would love it !!
wow what a stunning looking game many many hours of great fun there
The game looks fun and my boys would love it
The game looks like a lot of fun and my kids loved watching it when it was on the TV
Looks like a good old fashione dboard game from when I was a kid , they are the best and the family would love it!
We love the film and the game looks fun
We love the Highway Rat. This looks fun!
This looks like a really fun game to enjoy together on family game night.
My son loves the highway rat!
This looks like so much fun ????
I would love to give this a try with my boys I think all 3 would love it. I have got my fingers and toes crossed
Brill game
My son adores the story, so would love to try the game!
Grandson would love this game, I had better hide his toy gun or it would be stand and deliver
looks like a fun game, love to win
looks great fun to play with my boys xx
A fun family game
Would love to win for my daughter! She’s at the right age to start playing boardgames with us!
I love the story teaches children it’s wring to just take from people
This looks fun, i think my girl would enjoy playing this
Looks like a bright and colourful game 🙂 Thanks for running this comp.
This sounds a fun game to play love the stealing of the cakes and how leader can get sent back Perhaps I will eventually beat my granddaughter for a change.
My grandson likes the story the game would be fun thanks for the chance to win one
this sounds like fun 🙂
Looks like a great game, my kids are very fond of the other characters of Julia Donaldson and after watching the highway rat at xmas, they also love him too, so this would be a big hit!
I would love to play this game with my son!
This game looks great. I’d love to play it with my son and daughter.
My grandchildren love playing board games and this one is about one of their favourite characrters!
Looks a fun game my grandson will enjoy playing this with his dad
This looks great fun
I like that this game is suitable for pre-schoolers. Perfect for my little boy and his cousin to play.
This looks great! My girls would like it 🙂
this looks lots of fun 🙂 great that its for little ones
looks like so much fun!!
My great niece Willow would love this
This looks like great family fun! My son Ronan would love it!
We’ve just started a monthly games night and this looks like it could be a really fun addition.
We got the DVD & Book my kids love it. They would love this game.
lovely giveaway
This game looks just as beautifully illustration as the book.
this sounds like a great game to play with my family
My son loves the story and I’m sure that he’d love the game too!
Looks like a really fun game to play with my daughter based on one of our favourite Julia Donaldson books
This looks great fun – my son and I would love tonplay it x
this looks like a great game for the family to play, from the youngest to the oldest
loads of fun for my bunch ty x
My little boy loves food and eating so the Highway Rat is one of our favourites.
My daughter loves the Highway Rat, she even dressed up as him for World Book Day
Looks a fabulous, fun game which all the family can play
my daughter loves this book, and the game looks great fun
looks good
looks a great game. xxx
looks like fun
Looks fun with the Highway Rat turning the game around
my nephew has the book and he loves it
Looks like a fab game to play with my grandsons!
Only jut heard of the Highway Rat, yet to read it looks good though
A very creative & interesting game!! Will keep the little one entertained fro hours!!
would love to try we have a family board game afternoon every sunday with our lil ones its great family time
This looks like a very fun and creative game. Thanks for the competition!
This looks to be such a fun filled game! My daughter absolutely loves this book, so it would be such fun for her to play the game!
Would love to win for my daughter Sheriah 5
Wow, this looks great fun. Can see my great-nieces and great-nephew enjoying this. 🙂
Seems like the family would enjoy this board game.
The game looks fun. We love the book and the film too
my boys enjoy a good game day on a wet sunday so this would be great in our collection
My whole family would love this board game 😀 x