Acuity

Acuity

Acuity lets you exercise multiple visual perceptual skills in a single game. Acuity consists of 70 tiles, each with four symbols/shapes on one side and the game name on the other side, as shown above. The tiles are 1/8 inch thick, allowing for easier grasping and manipulating.

After making a 36 card square grid for play, you will be looking for patterns. In the image at the top of the page, the pattern we are looking for is on the tile, bottom left. I have put a black rectangle around this pattern on the grid. It overlaps 2 different tiles. This tile is in the same orientation as the the pattern on the grid, but sometimes it isn't and you will have to rotate it in your mind. 

Object:
Have the most tiles at the end of the game.

Set up:
Build a grid with any 36 tiles (it will be different every game), six across and six down. Place the rest of the tiles in a face down stack on the table.  
 
Play:
Everyone plays at the same time. Take the top tile off the pile and lay it face up on the table. See who can be the first player to find that pattern on the grid. Rotate the tile in your mind and look at if from every angle. If you cannot find an identical tile on the grid, you may need to overlap the tile over two or four other tiles on the grid. The first person to spot the pattern gets the tile. One by one, search for matches to the remaining 34 tiles. The one with the most tiles at the end is the winner.

Try this:

• Play with only one person. Allow them to hold the tile and turn it in-hand as they look for the match if they cannot do it without manipulating the tile.
• Build the grid by holding four or six tiles in the non-dominant hand, pushing the top tile off the top with the thumb and taking with the dominant hand to place.
• Put the game away by picking the tiles up one at a time and stacking them. Move the whole stack each time to the next tile. How high can the stack get before you can't hold any more tiles?
• Start with a smaller grid for an easier game. You may have to stack the deck before the game starts to make sure the tiles on the pile will have matches on the grid.
• Coach the individual to pick two shapes that are adjacent on the tile they are trying to match. Scan the board and look for those two shapes together, quickly eliminating where there is no match. As you find matches, stop and look at the rest of the pattern on the whole tile and see if it matches the pattern on the board.
• Place numerous tiles on the table face-up. Play I SPY and give instructions to find a specific tile. There may be more than one match. For instance, "I spy a tile with two squares on the left side" or "I spy a tile with a star in the top left corner and a star in the bottom right corner".
• Line tiles up in one long horizontal line, matching the pattern down the left side of the new tile with the pattern down the right side of the tile already in play (kind of like dominoes). How many can you lay before you run out of matches? 
• Work on spatial relations/positions in space, visual discrimination, figure ground, visual closure, visualization, visual scanning, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, bilateral integration, crossing midline, executive functioning skills, process skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 70 tiles

 
Ages 6+, 1+ players