Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse Game

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse Game - A storytelling memory game

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse Game is based on three books written by Kevin Henkes, including one called Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. However, you do not need to read the books to play the game.

The game is fairly simple: Make up a story using several random cards that are placed in front of you, hide your eyes while someone hides one of those cards in the plastic purse, open your eyes and tell which card is missing. The cards show pictures from his books and include pictures of the characters as well as objects, including Lilly, Baby Julius, Chester & Wilson, Mask, Mr. Slinger, shiny coins, trash can, stars, snacks, teapot, and bike. I may be wrong, but I am thinking that the cards with names will be harder to remember for kids not familiar with the books. But after playing several times they should be easier to remember. 

The purse is thin plastic and the mask is a card stock with two ribbons glued on it. It is big enough to tie around my head, so should fit any kid's head. The book(s) are not included. This game won the Best Toy Award from the Oppenhein Toy Portfolio. 

Object:
Collect the most story cards.

Set Up:
Shuffle the cards and place them face down on the table. Set the mask and purse nearby.

Play:
The dealer lines up several cards, randomly and face-up, in front of the first player. The number of cards used depends on the age of the player or the difficulty of the challenge you want to pose. Four-year olds get five cards, one for each year and one for luck. The player must then make up a short story using the cards in the order in which they were placed. The player then dons the mask so that he can't see and the dealer selects one of the cards and hides it in the purple purse. He then reshuffles the remaining cards and lines them up again, closing the gap from the missing card so as not to give any clues. The player takes the mask off and tries to identify which card is missing. He opens the purse to check. If he is correct, he keeps the card and the rest of the cards go into the discard pile. If he is incorrect, all the cards go into the discard pile and the next person plays. If the dealer runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile and use them. Play several rounds and then everyone counts their cards. The player with the most cards is the winner.

Try this:

• Add more cards for a greater challenge. Start with a few and work your way up to 10. Don't mix the cards after hiding one, just close the gap, for an easier game. Reorder the cards in the line before the player is allowed to look for a tougher game.
• Hide more than one card.
• Skip the story and just play as a memory game. Look over the cards for 10 seconds before covering your eyes while one (or more) is hidden.
• Leave the cards in their original order after one is hidden for an easier game.
• Name the cards out loud as you look during a memory game to help you remember them. Rehearse the words in your mind as a card is being hidden.
• Get a pair of sunglasses at the dollar store and hot glue the mask to them. Tying and untying that mask over and over can be a pain. 
• Work on visual memory, sequencing, manual dexterity, executive functioning skills, sequencing, socialization skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participati
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•  In the box: Small plastic purse, Lilly blindfold/mask, 36 story cards

Candy Land The Train Game

Chug along the tracks to make a candy match.

Work on visual discrimination, eye-hand coordination, visual tracing, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, palmar arch development, executive functioning skills, socialization skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: Game board, plastic train, custom die, 20 tokens

Candy Land Train is made by the makers of the classic Candy Land board game, but other than that, it doesn't remind me much of Candy Land. The game board for Candy Land Train has four stations, one in each corner. You can see on the image above that each station has tokens that are a different color (red, blue, green, yellow). Each station also has just one type of treat (cotton candy, gum ball, ice cream cone, sucker). Each of the tokens will show either one, two or three of the items.

The goal of the game is to travel around the board and collect a treat token from each train station (any one of each color). Your journey will be via a red, plastic train engine. The train is hollow and will be placed on top of a 12-sided color die before chugging off. Four sides of this die have all four colors on them, these are the rainbow sides. The other eight sides each have only one color on them. The die is a lightweight plastic and the colors on the die are stickers. The die will tumble under the train as it moves so that you will never know which color will be up when you lift the train.

Object: 
Be the first player to collect a candy token from each train station.

Set up: 
Place the board in the middle of the players. Place the die anywhere on the tracks and place the train on top of it. 

Play:
The first player pushes the train to any of the four stations. Check the color of the token that is available at that station. Now lift the train and see if the color on the top of the die matches the color of the token. If it does, take a token. Now you only have three left to collect. If a rainbow side is showing, you can collect a token no matter which station you are at since it covers all four colors. If it does not match, place the train back on top of the die and the next player pushes the train to any of the stations. The train can move in either direction and can be pushed to any station on any turn. As you collect tokens, push the train only to the stations where you still need to collect a token.

Alternate Play:
Play as above, but each time you collect a token choose a token that pictures the most pieces possible. For instance, if there is a token with one gum ball and a token with three gum balls available, take the one picturing three gumballs. Play until all the tokens have been taken. Then each player counts the number of treats pictured on the tokens. The one with the most treats is the winner.

Try this:

• Skip the game and play with the tokens, sorting them into piles by either color or number of items. Hold several in the dominant hand and push them out with the thumb one at a time to drop into piles.
• Push the train to the stations, but keep the die out. Cup the hand and hold it in that position as you roll the die for several seconds. Then throw onto the playing surface.
• Stack the coins by each station. Can you pick the top coin off the stack without disturbing the others?
• Place the coins one-high on the playing surface before clean up. Pick them up one at a time and squirrel into the palm. How many can you hold? Put them back into the box by the handful.
• Follow the directions from the suggestion above, but this time you call the color each time for the individual to pick up. Or let the individual name the color each time he picks up a token.
• Trace visually the path you will take before pushing the train ahead each turn.