Dog Dice

Dog Dice comes with whimsical, custom dice.

A fun Bingo-dice game that features 4 mischievous dogs and their owner. Throw the dice to see if the dogs are behaving themselves, or if someone has just made off with a string of sausages. 

The bingo cards are a 4 x 4 grid with no free spot. The game features several different dogs, each a different type and color. There are two custom dice that picture the images on the bingo card. One die has a different dog on each side. The other die features an object on each side, such as a dog dish, a dog house or a dog bone. Throw the dice and look for that match on your Bingo card. Will it be the yellow dog by the food dish, or the grey dog in his dog house, or the brown dog making off with a string of sausages? If you have a match, lay a bone marker on that square. Once you have 4 bone markers in a row... BINGO!

Try this:

• Practice recognizing a winning pattern before playing. Cover a pattern with markers on a card so the individual can see what it will look like. Then set up several cards with multiple markers and a win embedded on each one and ask the player to find it. Work until he is proficient at spotting the winning pattern.
• Watch for only one BINGO direction at a time until they are used to watching for it (horizontal, diagonal, vertical). Then watch for two directions, then for three.
• Shape the palm before shaking the dice by putting a small ball or round object in the individual's hand and forming the hand around it. Then remove the ball and ask them to keep their hand in that position. 
• Model the cupping position and how to shake the dice before starting to play - fingers together, making a rounded cup in the palm. Often the child will just squeeze the dice tight in the hand and shake the hand, thinking the dice are moving around when they are not.
• Cup the hand, fingers together, and see how long the dice can be shaken before one falls out. Sing a round of How Much is That Doggie in the Window as the player shakes, or count to 10.
• Ask player's to hold several marker pieces in their dominant hand as they play. Ask them to bring the pieces to the fingertips, one at a time, and place on the card as they play. Can they shake the dice in their non-dominant hand as they go?
• Forget the dice and use the cards to identify categories. Find all the pictures with a yellow dog. Find all the pictures with a bone. How many pictures have a blue doghouse?
• Stop occasionally and check the player's card. Ask them to point out places where they only need one more to win a bingo. Or point out possible bingos and ask how many more will be needed to win or which squares will need markers to win in that direction etc.
• Use the card only and ask directional/positional questions. What picture is to the right of the yellow dog by his house? What picture is below the brown dog stealing sausages?
• Label the card with coordinates A-D and 1-4. Call out sets of coordinates on which to place the bone markers (A3, C4, etc.)
• Display a black and white card with the BINGO pattern for each game. You can just make them with a black marker on white paper or draw them on the board.
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, visual closure, palmar arch development, manual dexterity, spatial relations, fine motor skills, executive function, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation 

In the box: 4 Bingo cards, 2 custom dice, 48 bone markers

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