Race to the Roof

 

Exercise visual/visual perceptual skills as you race to the roof for the win.

Exercise visual/visual perceptual skills as you race through the house, from the basement apartment to the attic skylight, for the win.

The game board holds four levels, each with four rooms (16 rooms total). You will put the rooms in randomly each time you play, so the game board will look different each time. Each room card will show a different room (living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc.) and lots of items that you may see in that room. Items in the pictures will be smaller than the pictures on the cards. They may be in different orientations and part of an item may be hidden. At the bottom of the room cards are several empty circles and one red circle. When the cards are placed side by side in the game board these circles create a path. Follow this path as you move across, forward and/or backward on your turn. Here is an example:

Setting up the board.

 

Chance (item) cards each show one item, such as a bucket, lamp, balloon, rabbit, hat and teapot. These are the items you will be searching for throughout the house. I suppose after you play the game a few times, if you have a decent memory, you will remember right where these items are. That's OK, you'll still have to move to the location (like Chutes and Ladders), which is a big part of the game.

 

The bucket is partially hidden by the shelf in the picture. Most items are NOT partially hidden.

Object:

Be the first player to make it to the skylight in the attic at the very top of the board.

Set Up:

Place the house-shaped game board in the middle of the players. Arrange the 16 rooms in the house randomly. Players each pick a pawn and line them up near the black arrow at the bottom left of the board. Place the die near the board. Shuffle the chance cards and place them in a pile, face-down, near the board.

Play:

Players take turns. First player throws the die and moves ahead the number of spaces indicated on the die. Other players follow suit. If any player throws a six on his turn, he does not advance six spaces but instead takes the top chance card off the pile. Whatever picture is on the card is the item the player needs to find on the game board. All players can help him look. When the item is found, the player moves to the red circle in the path of that room. You may be lucky and move forward, or not so lucky and have to move backward. Continue playing until someone reaches the attic skylight and wins. 

Game in play.

 

Try this:

• Skip the game. Work on items that might be found in a particular room of the house. Let the individual study one card. Then turn the card over and see how many items they can remember.
• Place the room cards randomly on the table. Ask the individual to look for one item on a chance card after another until they have found them all. If looking at 16 room cards is too many, start with fewer and add more in as the individual's skills improve. Just make sure that you look ahead of time and know which item card goes with each room card (several of the rooms will have more than one item).
• Stack the item cards in a pile and pick the top one off the pile without disturbing the other cards or knocking the pile over.
• Cup the hand and hold it in this position while shaking the die. If the individual has trouble cupping the hand, place a ball in the hand to shape it and ask the individual to keep the hand in that position as you remove the ball and add the die. Try to keep the hand in that position a little longer by counting to 10 or singing a verse of Home on the Range as the individual shakes the die.
• Hold the room cards in the non-dominant hand and take them one at a time with the dominant hand to place on the board as you set up. 
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, visual form constancy, visual closure, visual scanning, visual memory, eye-hand coordination, palmar arch development, manual dexterity, executive functioning skills, socialization skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation
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• In the box: House-shaped game board, 16 room cards, 20 chance cards, 1 die, 4 pawns