About IsleTots
IsleTots is the very first building game, for ages 3–5, set in a sunny tide pool near little Gullwick. A child grows a cozy hex island one tile at a time — each tile snug against the last. It is the kind, gentle heart of building — the part many games leave out.
Cozy, never a loss
There is no score to chase, no clock, and no way to lose. Every glowing spot is a happy place for a new tile, and the more you fill, the cozier the island gets. When a tile ends up with all six friends around it, it goes cozy — and when the whole island is full, Coral’s cove is home.
Every tile is a home
Each tile your child places is a home, and someone moves in: first Barnaby and Pearl, then friends from a real tide pool (a crab, a snail, a starfish, a shrimp, a little fish, an octopus, a mussel, a hermit crab), and last of all Lulu, who is always the newest friend to come home. When a home has neighbours on all six sides, the count is read out loud: one, two … six neighbours. After each island Coral asks one neighbour question (who lives next to Lulu? who lives in the middle? who lives at the edge, by the sea?) and your child taps a home. Any right home glows; any other home is named with its own neighbours. There is no wrong.
Meet the tide-pool friends
- Coral — the little coral who builds the cove — she shows you that every new tile has to touch the island
- Barnaby — a snug little barnacle who fits tiles together with no gaps — he shows you how tiles tessellate
- Pearl — a happy oyster who loves a home with friends on every side — she shows you what six neighbours look like
- Lulu — a little fish who is always the newest friend to come home — she shows you the island growing one tile at a time
Think it over together
After a few islands, you might talk about this: who lives next to you at home, or on your street? Who is in the middle, and who is at the edge? Neighbours are the people whose homes touch ours, which is one of the first ideas children meet about living together, and it is the little idea IsleTots is really about.