Even Steven's Odd!

 

Even Steven's Odd! is a fast moving dice game.

Let me start off by saying that I have always loved dice games. Any game where you have to cup the hand over and over to play has the potential to help improve fine motor skills as you increase the strength and support in the palmar arches.

Even Steven's Odd! is a game for 2-4 players. There are 4 sets of dice. Each set has three white dice and three colored dice - green, yellow, blue and red. You can see this in the image above. Each dice color has a matching dice holder where you will place your dice as you compete to finish each challenge card. 

There are 40 challenge cards, each one with a different challenge. Here are several of the challenges:

• All dice add up to 20.
• Five dice are odd, one dice is even.
• All 1s.
• Three pairs.
• Colored dice add up to 15, white dice add up to 7.
• Six of one kind.
  

Kudos to Educational Insights for printing the instructions on the inside of the box lid. They will never get lost that way.

Even Steven's Odd! is a dice game that reminds me of Tenzi. Tenzi is one of the games that gets the most views on my blog, so if you like it, you might like this also. Check out Tenzi here.

Object:

Be the player with the most cards after 10 rounds.

Set up:

Give each player a set of dice (three of one color and three white). Give each player the dice holder whose color matches their colored dice. Shuffle and place the stack of challenge cards, face down, in the middle of the table. Place the Steven doll nearby, in the reach of all players.

Play:

Players all play simultaneously. Turn the top card face up. All players throw their dice, over and over. Place each die you can use on your board as you work toward completing the challenge. First person to complete the challenge and grab Steven wins the card. This is one round. Turn another card over and start round two. Play 10 rounds total.

Try this:

• Ask the person to curl the fingers together and keep the hand(s) cupped while shaking the dice until the count of 10 while you count or until you say a simple rhyme. Place two cupped hands side by side while shaking, or place one cupped hand on top of the other cupped hand while shaking.Or you could even try shaking three dice in each hand.
  
• Skip the game and use the challenge cards. Present one card and ask the individual to pick up one die at a time, roll it in the fingertips without using a support surface (table, body) and place it on the board. 
• Place one die at a time in the individual's hand (base of fingertips). Ask him to move it to the fingertips, rotate it, and place it on the board. Work you way back to putting it in the palm.
• Place 2 dice in the individuals palm, ask him to bring one to the fingertips to rotate for placement while holding the other without dropping. Then move it to the fingertips for placement.
• Pick up the dice one at a time and squirrel them in the palm while putting the game away. How many can you hold? Drop them into the box by handfuls. Try to hold one more each time.
  
• Stack four towers of dice. Stack them from one to six, or from six to one, or just randomly.
• Place a ball in the individual's palm if they have trouble cupping the hand. Ask them to curl the fingers around the ball and hold the hand in that position as you remove the ball.
• Cup the hands side-by-side and shake all the dice. Throw them on the table. Pick up all the number 1 dice. Squirrel them in the hand as you pick them up. Drop them into the box. Then pick up all the number two dice. Repeat until all the dice are back in the box.
• Work on palmar arch strength and support, precision fine motor, in-hand manipulation, manual dexterity, visual discrimination, figure ground, spatial relations, sequencing, socialization skills, process skills, executive functioning skills, play and leisure exploration and participation, processing speed

In the box: 24 dice, 40 challenge cards, 4 dice holders, 1 Steven figure