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Children learn through play. As an occupational therapist who works with children and youth, I use games and toys almost every day to help develop important cognitive, visual perceptual, motor, sensory, social, play and leisure skills. While many different types of activities can be used in therapy, this blog focuses on off-the-shelf games and toys that are accessible to most. Whether you are a therapist, parent, teacher, or a game lover like me, I hope you discover something useful while you are here. Learn a different way to play a game you already own or discover a new game for your next family game night. Either way, just go play. It's good for you!

The OT Magazine named The Playful Otter one of the Top 5 Pediatric OT Blogs.


May 29, 2024

Logic Games



Here are some of my favorite one-person logic games. I like these types of games because many of them they include multiple challenges which increase in difficulty as you go. Great for multiple visual perceptual skills as well as reasoning and problem solving skills. Just click on any game name to go to my post about that game for more information.

 

Cat Stax -  Arrange cats to solve puzzles. 48 challenges increase in difficulty as you go.

Get Packing - This was a fun game for either a challenge or for just packing the suitcase according to the challenge card.

 Brain Train - Challenges look at pieces from side and top view. 48 challenges get harder as you go.

 Subtrax - Similar to Cracker Barrel's peg game.

 Rush Hour Traffic Jam - All 4 games on one post - Railroad, Safari, Original, and Jr.

 Logic City - Great for moderate cognitive disability. I've used this game a lot.

 Logic Farm - With a farm theme, simple pictures and only three rules, it is perfect for younger children. I've used this game quite a bit.

Smart Farmer - One of my favorites for beginners. The kids love this one.

Invasion of the Cow Snatchers - You play the role of alien who beam up unsuspecting cows for study. 60 challenges in 4 levels from easy to genius.

Smart Cookies - Part of the Brain Builder Series by Foxmind. Place cookies in 3 X 3 grid by setting up challenge card and adding the other pieces according to rules. 64 puzzles total increase in difficulty as you go, new rules added to each new section. This one gets quite difficult by the end. Similar to Chocolate Fix. I like these 2 games. They can be completed without having to make 50 moves, like Rush Hour games or Asteroid Escape.

Trucky 3 - Load the cargo into the truck(s) so that it is flat against the top. Four levels, starter to master. As levels increase in difficulty more pieces and/or trucks are added. This can take up a lot of time figuring out the harder ones.

Dog Crimes - A canine whodunit with 40 challenges. Deductive reasoning required.  

Roller Coaster Challenge - Build actual working roller coasters in this 40 challenge logic game for one.
 
Top That! - A beginners logic stacking game.

Oops! - Help the magician "get himself together" in these 50 challenges.

Rush Hour Traffic Jam, Safari, Railroad and Jr. Versions - Check them all  out in one place.

Color Catch - 60 challenges featuring colorful salamanders, frogs and dragonflies.

River Crossing Jr. Lagoon Adventure - Cross the river, walking on stumps and planks, without getting wet. Or, rescue a cat from an island without getting wet. A junior level logic game with 40 challenges.

Laser Maze Jr. - Start here to prepare for the original Laser Maze game. This logic puzzle includes 40 challenges and a real laser beam.

HotSpot - Jump over BOTS to land in the HOT seat. 40 challenges that increase in difficulty.

Houdini Brainteasers - 40 challenge escape puzzle that increase in difficulty. Features lock, rings, ropes, trap cage and Houdini himself.

Gravity Maze - Build marble mazes from towers. 60 challenges that increase in difficulty as you go.

Asteroid Escape - A galactic sliding puzzle with 60 challenges. Navigate your spaceship through the asteroid to safety. 8 puzzle pieces.

Cat Crimes  - These felines are up to no good. Using the clues on each card, identify the criminals. 40 challenges that increase in difficulty as you go.

Rush Hour Trains - Move the red engine across the grid and through the traffic jam of train cars. 50 challenges from Beginner to Expert. One train engine, 19 assorted train cars, challenge cards, bag to carry everything in.

Color Code - Stack transparent tiles to recreate geometric patterns. Puzzles range from two pieces to six pieces. 100 challenges in all. One of my favorites.

Day and Night - A children's theme, bright colors, and sturdy wooden pieces have made this game popular with kids. Build models from colored pictures (day), then build the same patterns from silhouette pictures (night). Ten wooden pieces, 48 challenges.

Smart Car 5 X 5 - All the fun of Smart Car with five pieces. Two puzzles books are included with 48 challenges each. One booklet is for 4 piece puzzles and one booklet is for 5 piece puzzles.

Three Little Piggies - To play, place the pigs (and wolf) on the plastic grid per the puzzle diagram. Then place the plastic pieces with the houses on the board with no overlapping or hanging off the edge. 48 challenges.

Castle Logix - Look at the picture in the book and create castles with the blocks and flags. Another favorite that I have used a lot and kids like. 48 challenges from Junior to Master.

Bunny Peek-A-Boo - An awesome game for beginners to work on visual form constancy, spatial orientation, visual closure, and building a 3D model from a 2D pattern card. 60 challenges from Starter to Master.

Prince and Dragon Go Getter - Create mazes with nine puzzle pieces and 12 challenges.

Chocolate Fix - There are 9 candy pieces, and 40 challenges from Beginner to Expert. Each flavor (chocolate, caramel, strawberry) has 3 shapes - 1 triangle, 1 circle, 1 square.

Sink or Swim - An updated take on the old fashioned slide puzzle. Pieces are different shapes and include 3D fun characters in a swimming pool. A great way to pass summer afternoons. 50 puzzles that increase in difficulty as you go.

North Pole Camouflage - Put the animals in their natural habitats - polar bears on the snow and fish and whale in the water. 6 transparent pieces fit over 48 different challenge cards that increase in difficulty as you go. This has been a favorite of the kids. You can also buy an expansion pack.

Rush Hour Safari - All the fun of the original Rush Hour with a couple of twists. The green jeep that you drive off the grid swivels, so it can travel north and south or east and west. There is also a square animal piece that moves in all four directions also. Features 3D wild animal pieces and 50 challenges.

Rush Hour Jr. - Drive the ice cream truck through the traffic and off the grid. A beginners version of the popular game Rush Hour. 15 vehicles and 40 challenges that get more difficult as you go.


IQ Twist - A portable brainteaser with 15 playing pieces and 120 challenges over 5 levels. A challenge for most.


Shell Game - A one-person puzzle to help develop memory and logic skills. 6 hermit crabs, 6 sea shells, 3 stones, 60 challenges that increase in difficulty as you go.


On the Dot - Flip and turn 4 cards to match the dots exactly on the pattern card. 64 challenges that get more difficult as you go.


Cover Your Tracks - Cover your tracks as you walk through the woods so that you don't attract unwanted attention. 4 pieces, 20 challenges that get more difficult as you go.


Angry Birds Playground Under Construction - Use the 4 puzzle pieces of wood and stone to cover characters on the board. 48 challenges that get more difficult as you go.


Stenzzles - Layer 8 plastic cards to come up with the same color combination as shown on the puzzle. 8 challenges.


Archelino - A beginners logic puzzle. Load the animals onto the ark while pleasing each animal's seating request. 60 beginner challenges.

Laser Maze - Set up beam splitters, double-mirror, targets, mirrors, etc. on the game grid in such a way as to manipulate the laser beam so that it ends up hitting the end target. 60 challenges

Logic Dots - Nine cubes and 36 challenges. Use the clues for each challenge to arrange the nine cubes in the box.


Troy - A puzzle built on the legend of Troy. Build walls around your blue knights to keep them safe inside, and the invading red knights outside.

Hoppers - Set the frogs up on the pond according to one of the challenge cards. Then start jumping over frogs and removing them as you do, until only the red frog is left in the pond. 40 challenges.

Bill & Betty Bricks - Build rectangle and square building while always keeping either Bill or Betty on the top to supervise. 7 playing pieces and 60 puzzles that increase in difficulty as you go.


Zoologic - You are a zookeeper trying to avoid chaos among the animals. As you solve puzzles, no animal can be placed next to a rival or next to his favorite food. 60 puzzles.


Smart Games - Why I Love Them, Why You Should Try Them - A compilation of one-person logic games by Smart Games and why I like the one-person logic games.

Little Red Riding Hood - Set up paths so that Little Red Ridinghood can visit grandma and avoid the wolf. 48 challenges.

Penguins on Ice - Five penguins on five shape-shifting floes with 60 challenges.

Land & Water Go Getter - Connect people, places, and things through maze-like roadways and waterways. 12 challenges.

Mummy Mystery - Nine pieces maze game with 48 challenges.

Jungle Hide & Seek - A day and night jungle animal puzzle. Four pieces and 80 challenges.

IQ Steps - A pocket sized game with 8 pieces and 120 challenges.

Animal Logic - Help the animals cross to safety before the river rises. 60 challenges, wooden animals and game board.

Dr. Microbe - Use the tweezers to move the bugs to your petri dish and solve the challenges (54 in all).

May 5, 2024

Copycat Game & Gross Motor Clipart

 


I am very excited to introduce you to my friend Mason.  I met him on the Teachers Pay Teachers website where we each have a store. 

Mason is a young entrepreneur who has turned a growing talent and a dream into a successful clip art store - MKE Mason. He is honing his skills using the powerful iPad Procreate app, and his creativity has resulted in some fun ideas and some very original clip art sets, like his Copycat game above.

Join me in supporting this young artist and his dream. He loves interacting with people who stop by his store, whether it is through feedback after downloading his clip art, or as a question or comment on the ask a question tab (no purchase required).

If you would like to print out the images to play the Copycat game, good news - they're FREE! Follow this link to his store to pick up the set. ->  MKE Mason

Now let's get down to the fun part - Mason made up his own rules. Below are the instructions for his Copycat game, in his own words. Enjoy!

 

How is the Copycat Game played, you ask? Well, here’s what to do…

*download the clip art, of course

*open a new document, presentation, or PowerPoint

*add the clip art to the document, size to your desire

*print the document (best on card stock)

*cut the paper or have your kids cut them

*laminate for durability, cut again

*tape them on the wall (see image below)

*one kid does actions (by hitting, slapping, tapping, etc the images on the wall), the other kid copies it

 

Work on gross motor skills, balance, directionality, sequencing, symbol/body part recognition, socialization skills, leisure exploration and participation, core strengthening, coordination, and spatial relations.

Try this:

  • Go over each image before playing the game and make sure each player understands the associated actions.
  • Start with fewer actions and as the player remembers them, add in an additional action per game.
  • Make a pattern card with several steps. Allow the individual to use the card and follow the actions three times. Then take the card away and ask the player to perform the actions from memory. If the individual has difficulty, try a sequence with one fewer steps and try again. Find where the individual has success and then work up from there.
  • After each person plays, they choose the next new action. For instance the first player does one action. The second player repeats that action and adds one more. The next player repeats those two actions in order and adds one more. How far can you go before someone forgets a step?
  • Have a person who is not playing record the actions in sequence and check for accuracy as the players go.
  • Play alone. Print the images on cards that are blank on one side (one image per card). Lay three cards face up. Practice the actions in sequence, then turn the cards blank side up and repeat the actions. Each time you get a sequence correct, add an additional card (action) and play again. See how many you can remember before you get something wrong. Play again and see if you can beat your score.
  • Start by using hand and feet symbols as any hand or foot. Then make it harder by having to recognize which hand or foot (right or left) and using that specific one. Remember - when you are looking at an image like this, as if someone is standing across from you, the images are reversed. Their right is really your left. Hope that makes sense.
  • Practice recognizing each image and color by calling it out before doing the action. For instance, "yellow small circle".
  • Make new games by assigning different actions to each symbol. For instance the orange hands could mean high five someone or clap, the fists could mean box the air or knuckle bump someone.
  • Have fun!