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Children learn through play. As an occupational therapist who works with children and youth, I use games and toys almost every day to help develop important cognitive, visual perceptual, motor, sensory, social, play and leisure skills. While many different types of activities can be used in therapy, this blog focuses on off-the-shelf games and toys that are accessible to most. Whether you are a therapist, parent, teacher, or a game lover like me, I hope you discover something useful while you are here. Learn a different way to play a game you already own or discover a new game for your next family game night. Either way, just go play. It's good for you!

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Nov 11, 2016

Captain Clueless

Captain Clueless - Exercise lot of VP skills during play

Billed as a party game, Captain Clueless can just as easily be played with two players in a therapy setting. Or you can even play alone if you're really adventurous.

Sailing through the Caribbean, Captain Clueless is desperately in need of directions to make it to his destination and keep his ship from running into land, mermaids, buoys, and other ships. You will be his navigator. 

Each of the 30 port cards have one destination and they are actual places in the Caribbean such as Montego Bay and Port-Au-Prince. The game board is an actual map that can be drawn on with dry erase markers.

Spatial relations/positions in space, visualization, visual memory and visual tracing will be exercised. 

If you would like to read more about games that require writing or drawing in some form, check out my post Games That Require a Writing Tool.   

Object:
Be the first player (or team) to reach three ports of call and travel back to your home port. 

Set up:
Place the board on the table and give each player (or team) a blindfold and a port card. This port card is your first destination. 

Play:
Choose who will be the first Captain Clueless and place the board in front of him. Referring to his port card, let him look over the board and the route he will be traveling. Visually trace the route looking for obstacles that need to be avoided. Now Captain Clueless will put on the blindfold and another player will help him place the marker on his home port. Turn the timer over and Captain Clueless (blindfolded) starts to draw his route on the board from memory. Other players can give one-word clues to help him dodge obstacles. Clues are limited to 5 or less, depending on the difficulty of the route. Several things will end a turn including running into an obstacle, running out of time, lifting the marker from the board and reaching the destination (the anchor at your port of call). 

The winning person (team) will be the first to visit three ports of call and return to the home port.

Try this:
  • Play alone. Visually trace, or actually trace, the route, memorizing the area to the best of your ability. Put on the blindfold and trace your path. Check the results, see where you were off, and try again.
  • Start with unlimited clues and give fewer and fewer as the player improves.
  • Keep going if the player runs into something. At the end of the route count the errors and take a good look at the map. Play that route again, trying to reduce the number of errors.
  • Give more than one direction at a time, such as move forward an inch and turn left.
  • Skip the timer.
  • Go through the stack of destination cards before playing a game and find each port of call on the board. Give directions such as northwest or bottom right to help the individual locate each place.
  • Trace the path you will be traveling, with vision, several times before trying it blindfolded.
  • Give points, such as 5 points to reach a destination. Then subtract one point for each infraction, instead of ending the turn. Who can get the most point after three ports of call at reached?
  • Work on spatial relations, visualization, visual memory, manual dexterity, fine motor precision, functional grasp, tool use, separation of two sides of the hand, executive functioning skills, socialization skills, process skills, sequencing, play and leisure exploration and participation
In the box: Dry erase map game board, 30 port cards, 2 blindfolds, 2 dry erase markers, 1 dry erase eraser, 1 45 second sand timer 

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.


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