Evolution of an herbal board game...

A few years ago I spent many nights with my son playing board games. Of course, I wanted to play the nature games, and Rowan wanted to play Candyland and Chutes and Ladders...Then it hit me!

Why not make a nature game that was like the games Rowan actually wanted to play? What about an herbal board game?

Wildcraft! An Herbal Adventure Game was born!

Well, the idea anyways. I was still busy creating the first edition of this web site and The Herbal Medicine Making Kit.

Last year Kimberly had the inspiration to take on this project. She produced the project and kept it going.

We really wanted a product out there that taught kids of all ages about herbs and was as fun as the classic board games for kids.

For me, I wanted to make sure...

1.) It was a simple herbal board game.

2.) That people really felt like they were learning about some of the most important herbs, and...

3.) Kids could play it without having to read. I always enjoyed playing the games with Rowan where he felt he could do it without my help. I also liked those kinds of games because if he had a friend over, they could play together while I could get the dishes done! :)

And that's just what she did!

As fate would have it, our good friend Beatriz Mendoza HAPPENED to be in town for three months in the Spring of 2005. We immediately hired her! After well over 100 card paintings and 4 board revisions she had done it! Beatriz created JUST what we were looking for.

Why? Well, just look at the art!

Beatriz has extensive training as an artist AND as a naturalist! She has B.A. in painting from Columbia University, attended Wilderness Awareness School's Residential Program, did herbal training at RavenCroft Garden AND she is currently doing a program in scientific illustration at U.C. Santa Cruz.

Want to know more about Kimberly and I? Click here...

You can see the art of Wildcraft here, however, since we are talking about the "Evolution of an Herbal Board Game," I thought it would be fun to show you the evolution of an herbal game board...

Here's my very first drawing I made almost 2 years ago... (drawn on a piece of card board)

Next, Kimberly's first edition...

Next, Beatriz's first board. We wanted to see what a spiral would look like...

Getting closer!

Ahhh.. getting some 'perspective'...

And finally...

See more of Wildcraft's art...

Back to Wildcraft's main page...

Order Wildcraft! The Herbal Adventure Game