Max

Max - Cooperative games teach players to work together.

Max is a cooperative game. A cooperative game is where everyone works toward a common goal, there are no individual winners or losers. Max is also the name of the black tomcat on the box cover, a cat owned by the creator of the game. The real Max runs around his farm catching small creatures. The goal of the game is to get all the small creatures safely to their homes in the big tree and making sure that Max gets fed. The game board is smaller than a typical game board and measures 12 x 12". It is a simple board with 27 spaces and no reading required. The two dice are the same, each have three green and three black dots, one per side. You can see them on the game board in the image above. The other game pieces are small flat cardboard pieces with pictures on them. You can also see those in the image above. 

Set up: Place the Max marker on the rug, upper left hand corner of the game board. Place the four treats near the board. Place the three other creature markers on the tree stump (the yellow stump space is at the top of the board).
Play: Players take turns throwing the dice. Follow these directions depending on the dot colors that are thrown:

• Green dot: Move a creature one space toward the tree. Each creature has a short cut and may use it if they land on that space.
• 2 green dots: Move one creature two spaces or two different creatures one space each.
• i green dot, i black dot: Move one creature one space and move Max one space.
• Black dot: Move Max one space.

If you feel that Max is getting too close to a creature you can call him back to the rug space by placing one of his treats on the rug. There are four treats, so you can do this four times. Max can also follow the shortcuts for all the creatures. The instructions do not say what happens when Max lands on the same space as a creature, or vice versa, but I imagine that ends the game. If this does not happen, the game ends when the three creatures are all safely in their tree home. Players are encouraged to discuss plays and what to move when for the best outcome.

Try this:

• Work on cooperation, working together as a team to achieve a common goal, social interaction skills, visual tracing, spatial relations, eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity, palmar arches, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation   
• Model the cupping position and how to shake the dice before starting to play - fingers together, making a rounded cup in the palm. Often the child will just squeeze the dice tight in the hand and shake the hand, thinking the dice are moving around when they are not.
• Cup both hands and place on top of each other (at a 90 degree angle) to shake.
• Trace the path with the eyes before starting the game. Look for the shortcuts and follow them to see how they work.
• Shape the palm before shaking the dice by putting a small ball or round object in the individual's hand and forming the hand around it.
• Count to 10 or recite a kitty ditty while shaking the dice to keep the hands in that position a little longer.

In the box: Game board, 2 dice, a cat marker pieces, 3 creature marker pieces (chipmunk, mouse, bird), 4 treat marker pieces (cheese, milk, catnip, bowl of favorite food)

 

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

Rooster Run

Rooster Run

I like BlueOrange games, even though a lot of them are based on speed, including Rooster Run. However, when I use them in therapy, we often ignore the speed factor. Some people are not wired for speed and actually do worse under those conditions, and sometimes I want to work on a specific skill and I know if I introduce speed it will result in impulsive moves and focusing on the wrong objectives. So you can decide that for yourself.

I have owned this game for a long time and put off blogging because the directions are kind of involved. So I am going to focus on how I use this in therapy so I can take it off the "draft" list. If you want more information you can email me or click on the link below to Amazon and see BlueOrange's video. I eliminate the sweetheart cards and the broken heart chips. This leaves me with the 32 cards, the 40 earthworm tokens and the rooster rings.


Contents of the box.

The 32 rooster cards each have an earthworm in the top left hand corner that will match one of the earthworms on the earthworm tokens. Earthworms are red, blue, yellow, or green. Some are plain, some are striped, some are spotted, some wear glasses, some are fat, some are skinny. Here is an example of a match.

 

Object:

Be the fastest player to find the earthworm token that is pictured on the face-up card (top left-hand corner).

Set up:

Everyone chooses a chicken ring and puts it on the pointer finger. Slip it on between the first and second knuckle. Ring colors are red, orange, yellow, purple, green, and blue. Lay all the circle tokens face up. Shuffle the cards and place them in a pile, face-down.

Rooster ring.

Play:

Turn over the top card and scan the round tokens to find the exact chicken from the card. If you are the first to find it, "peck" it with the chicken ring on your finger. If it is correct, take the card. If not, everyone keeps looking. If it is, take the card and turn over the next one. Go through the deck, card by card, until all the tokens are found. The person with the most cards is the winner.

Try this:

• Start with only a few matches and add more as the individual is able to scan more at a time in a busy background.
• Scan for only one attribute at a time instead of getting bogged down looking at each detail on each and every worm. For instance look at only a certain color worm. Each time you stop at that color, look at the fat/skinny attribute, then look for the decoration attribute, etc. Process of elimination.
• Put the circle tokens away by picking up all of one color at a time. Pick up one, stack it on top of another. Then pick up both and put them on top of another. Then pick up all three, etc. How many can you hold?
• Skip the game and sort the chips into piles by attribute.
• Practice shuffling cards.
• Turn some of the circle tokens so that they are not all upright and the individual will have to recognize the worm from a different angle.
• Set the game up so that the matching circle tokens will requiring reaching across midline to retrieve. Watch for leaning.
• Show the individual a picture of the worm. Recite aloud, several times, the attributes you will be looking for. Turn the card over and see if the individual can remember and find the correct worm.
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, visual scanning, visual memory, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, finger isolation, executive functioning skills, social interaction skills, play and leisure exploration and participation
  

In the box 6 rooster rings, 32 cards, 12 sweetheart cards, 40 earthworm tokens, 8 broken heart chips

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