Campbell's ABC Soup Game

Campbell's ABC Soup Game - Spell words with the letters you find in your Campbell's Soup.

Playing Campbell's ABC Soup Game is more fun than eating a bowl of Campbell's Alphabet Soup. Does anybody besides me remember the fun you had spelling out words while eating Campbell's Alphabet Soup when you were a kid? Or maybe you still eat it or prepare it for your kids. This game is a take-off of that same soup. Made by Fisher-Price, a company that has been around a long time and is well known for making quality toys for infants and toddlers, this game comes in a nice sturdy plastic can. (You haven't seen me post much about Fisher-Price in the past because I don't work with kids that young and, therefore, I have very few of their toys.) So let's see exactly what is in this sturdy can. 

The spinner and soup bowls are the same shape and size, made of heavy cardboard, and are approximately 4-1/8" in diameter (see image above). The spinner is well constructed and has a cute spoon instead of an arrow, which moves freely. The spinner is also big enough (or the spoon is small enough, take your pick) so that you can hold the spinner by the edge in one hand without your fingers getting in the way of the spoon as it spins by. There are six sections on the spinner and each section has what looks like a group of random letters, but I assume that the groupings relate back to the words. 

Each soup bowl has a picture in the circle at the top and then spells that word in letters under it (see image above). One side of each soup bowl has a three letter word (owl, bat, log or map) and the other side has a four letter word (frog, bowl, boat or lamp). 

The 16 double-sided noodle letter tokens are colorful, have the same letter on both sides and measure 1-1/4" in diameter. These letters also have a colored background that match the colored background on each letter in the soup bowl. (So will the individual be matching the letter or the color?)

Object:
Be the first player to fill your soup bowl with the appropriate noodle letter tokens to spell your word.

Set up:
Decide if the players will be using the three letter word side or the four letter side. Each player chooses one soup bowl and places it in front of themselves. Scatter the noodle letter tokens in a draw pile, between the players.

Play:

Players take turns spinning the spinner. One player, the person who spins, plays at a time. Depending on where the soup spoon lands on the spinner, the player will take one of the following actions: 

• Spoon lands on a space with a letter that you need - You may pick up a letter token and place it in your soup bowl, on the matching letter.
• Spoon lands on the space that shows all the letters - You may choose any letter that you need from the letters scattered on the table.
• Spoon lands on a space but you don't need any of the letters - You turn ends.

Play until someone covers all the letters in their soup bowl and wins the game.

I checked and you can play a game with four soup bowl cards (four players each take one or two players each take two) IF each player takes cards with the same number of letters, meaning you use all of the four letter words or all of the three letter words. I tried a game with two four letter words and two three letter words and the letter tokens did not match all of the letters needed for the soup bowls. If you want to mix them like that you will have to check before you start to make sure that you have enough of the needed letters. 

P.S. Campbell's Alphabet Soup now comes in chicken, beef, vegetable (with beef broth), and yes, vegetarian :) After all this talk about soup I'm tempted to run out and buy a can right now. 

Try this:

• Look for a nice rounded web space before flicking the spoon on the spinner.
• Isolate different fingers to use for flicking the spinner.
• Turn the circle noodle letters upside-down and sideways in the draw pile so the individual will have to recognize them from different orientations.
• Reinforce letter recognition by pointing to each letter in your soup bowl and saying it before playing, saying each letter as you pick it up and place it in your bowl and again saying each letter as you spell the word at the end.
• Do the same as above to reinforce colors.
• Hold the noodle letter tokens in a stack in one hand and push each letter off the top with the thumb as you drop them onto the playing surface during set up.
• Make the game a little longer by requiring players to spell their word in letter order.
• Practice spelling your word out loud. Then cover your bowl and see if you can spell the word three times without looking. 
• Eat a bowl of alphabet soup after playing the game and see if you can spell your game word(s) with the real thing. Look for other words you can spell in the soup. As you look around the bowl, call out the letters you recognize. Choose one letter and see who can find it first in his bowl. Scoop up a spoonful of letters and name each one out loud before eating it. See how many of a single letter you can get on your spoon at the same time.
• Work on visual discrimination, visual form constancy, figure ground, spatial relations, eye-hand coordination, letter recognition, coordinated use of both hands, in-hand manipulation, finger isolation, rounded web space, manual dexterity, socialization skills, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the can: 1 bowl spinner, 16 double-sided alphabet noodle tokens, 4 double-sided Campbell's soup bowls

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