Noodle Knockout!

 

Noodle Knockout!

 

UPDATE: OK, so I went back and reviewed this post from the past and realized that I didn't give it a fair shake. I was looking at this from an OTs perspective and what I WANTED the game to be to fit my current caseload. I didn't like the fact that the pieces were bigger than the bowl and hung over. But I now realize that the balancing part is supposed to be part of the fun. There is still a lot of good information in this post, but just keep that in mind as your read. An "occupational" hazard I guess. :)

Do you think you would like to work in a Japanese restaurant, serving up one savory ramen noodle bowl after another? Well you can get your practice right here! Noodle Knockout! will have you following ramen order cards to serve up one custom ramen bowl after another using a hot pepper, peas, red peppers, carrots, boiled eggs, fish cakes, and two different lengths of ramen noodles. Are you hungry yet?

Noodle Knockout! is a game sold by Learning Resources. While I typically like their products for the fun, quality, and therapeutic value that they offer me, there have been a couple that I have had real problems with, and this is one of them. You have to know by now that I am very picky about the materials I use in therapy and am very careful not to set my kids up for failure, which is what I feel like this game does. Here's why.

As soon as I opened the box I saw it. There are 4 plastic bowls measuring 1.5" deep and a little under 3" in diameter. There are two lengths of ramen noodles - One is 2.5" long and one is 5" long. They are a rubbery material that will stretch, so could eventually be even longer after play. The 5" noodle is way too long to fit into the bowl and about half of it hangs over the side. I even contemplated sending it back before opening any of the packaging, but after thinking about it figured I could use other bowls that I have around the house. Not very satisfying after paying full price for this one. Here is an image of their bowl with the order with the most pieces. It's a balancing act. 

There is one 5" square spinner with an arrow that moves freely. The six different food types are represented on the spinner and you can go by either color or by food. There is also a star space and a red pepper space. If you spin the star you get to pick any ingredient you want. If you spin the red pepper, give it to an opponent who must empty their bowl and start over. More game instructions below.

There are 10 numbered order cards and each card has two different orders, one front and one back. The number of ingredients ranges from five to eleven and most of them include the long noodles.

There are four sets of chopsticks that match the colors of the bowls. A big pet peeve of mine are tweezers that do not pop back open wide enough to pick up the game pieces. As you can see in the image above, this game will not have that problem. They also have teeth on the inside to help grip and hold the pieces. I think most kids will be able to use these OK.

CAUTION: These pieces are the size and shapes of real food. Closely monitor all individuals who may mistake them for food.

Below is a picture of a young girl playing so you can get an idea of the size. Many of the images on Amazon are not true to the actual size, especially for products bought out of the U.S. But I have never had an issue with Learning Resources images.

Another thing about Learning Resources that I like (and no, they don't pay me to say these things), is that they usually include an activity guide which will offer ideas for several ways to use the pieces (sound familiar?). This booklet includes instructions for several activities and three games. Following are the three games they suggest:

Ramen Buffet - Put all food pieces in the box bottom. Place the spinner near by. Each player gets a bowl and a set of chopsticks. Take turns spinning the spinner. Be the first to fill your bowl with four ramen noodles and one each of the other toppings.

Order Up - Put all food pieces in the box bottom. Place the spinner near by. Each player gets one card, chopsticks, and a bowl. Put the spinner in the middle. Take turns spinning spinner. First one to fill their order (get all needed pieces in their bowl) wins the game. 

Ramen Chef Race - One player is a customer, other players are the chefs. Each chef gets a bowl and chopsticks. Place all the food pieces in the middle of the table. Customer turns over the top card. All players race to fill their bowl with the necessary ingredients. First player to do so wins the card. Play five cards and the chef with the most cards wins the game.

Try this:

• Pick out all the food pieces before putting anything in the bowl. Look them over and determine the order for placing them in the bowl so that they will all fit.
  
• Practice using the chopsticks and picking up food before playing a game. They are a different kind of tweezers and may take some getting used to for some.
• Skip the game and the speed. Just pick one card per bowl and fill the order.
• Don't use the cards with the long pieces or use a bigger bowl you have on hand if balancing the pieces will be difficult for the individual.
• Make up your own order and call out the names of each piece for the individual to pick up.
• Ask the player to make a bowl of what they would like to eat themselves.
  
• Lay the pieces flat on the table before picking them up. Then stack then before picking them up. Which was is easier?
• Practice using different fingers to thumb while flicking the arrow on the spinner.
  
• Hold a bowl in the non-dominant hand and fill it using the fingers of the dominant hand. Can you now set the bowl down without spilling any? Now switch hands and play again.
  
• Use "real food" after playing the game. Wash the tweezers, then add everything you want to your bowl. Eat lunch.
• Take and order before filling a bowl. Start with a blank piece of paper and draw your pieces on the paper. Ask another player, family member, or therapist to place an order. Draw it and fill it.
  
• Demonstrate how to use the tweezers. You can either place them in the palm and hold them with a long index finger, or curl the fingers and grip at the bottom with the tweezers outside of the hand.
• Work on visual discrimination, manual dexterity, planning, logic, balancing, graded force, functional grasp, using a hand tool, executive functioning skills, process skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation
  

In the box: 4 bowls, 4 chopsticks, 10 order cards, 1 spinner, 48 pieces of food