-->

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.


Sep 21, 2017

Kids Rule!

Kids Rule!

Kids Rule! may be useful to a limited extent, IMHO, but you will need to sift through the cards before playing and pick out the ones you feel are appropriate.

The front of the box says The First Game Where Kids Get to be the Parents and Now Kids Call the Shots! My first thought was that perhaps this was a game where you practice putting yourself in someone else's shoes, specifically your parents, and trying to see things from their point of view. The box also says it will be an opportunity for parents to discuss difficult topics with their kids. Sounds good so far. The game designers went to parents and asked for the toughest questions they have had to deal with, and then they went to students and asked for their answers to those questions.

The game consists of a game board and 216 question and answer cards. The game cards each have one question and three multiple-choice answers. One answer is highlighted in yellow and is the "correct" answer, the one the majority of the kids chose as correct. ALL answers are from kids. Therefore, in many cases, you are going to read three incorrect answers and pick one as "correct" to win. Now, because you will not want to leave your child with the idea that an incorrect answer is correct, these questions will require a discussion and a reason why the "correct" answer is not really the correct answer after all. However, the game is advertised as kids getting to call the shots and choose the answers, so if you are going to play it, can you really dispute it? So perhaps you might skip the game and just read some of the questions from the cards as discussion starters. Even some of the questions are inappropriate IMHO.

This game has low reviews on Amazon because there is an inappropriate question about kids downloading porn and others about the "birds and the bees" that reviewers felt were inappropriate for family game night, or just down right inappropriate. Here are a few examples of questions and answers with the game's "correct" answer in red:

  • In an argument to avoid doing chores again, your son uses a water hose to wash the dishes, flooding the kitchen. What action do you take?
    • Tell him that since he likes water so much, he can add cleaning the bathroom to his list of chores
    • Throw garbage on him, hose him down, and then ask him if he feels clean.
    • Make him wash the dishes every day for the next month.
  • You catch your son and his friends watching an X-rated movie channel. What course of action do you take?
    • Have your spouse deal with it.
    • Call the other kids' parents to let them know.
    • Turn the TV off, tell your son's friends to go home, then scold your son.
  • You find completed math homework on your child's desk that is not in her handwriting. A blank copy of the worksheet is underneath. How do you treat the situation?
    • Call the school and ask your daughter's teacher to deal with it.
    • Give your daughter extra math homework for a month.
    • Fill out the math worksheet with all incorrect answers.
  • At your daughter's slumber party the girls end up mooning cars on the local streets. How do you deal with it?
    • Call the police so that they can have a lesson on indecent exposure.
    • Tell them that mooning is a distraction and people could get into car accidents.
    • Laugh it off; it's harmless and funny.
  • You catch your son feeding the dog his brussel sprouts. What do you do?
    • Explain to him that brussel sprouts are not something you give to dogs.
    • Ask him to try one brussel sprout and if he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to eat any more.
    • Give your son a bowl of dog food and your dog a bowl of brussel sprouts.
  • Your 11-year old son asks if his friend Charlie can spend the night. When the friend comes over, you realize that Charlie is a girl. How do you react?
    • Let them sleep in the same room with the door open and a light on.
    • Let Charlie sleep over, but in a separate room.
    • Let Charlie stay for dinner, but take her home afterward.
IMHO, these answers make very plain why kids needs parents to teach and help guide their decision making, and a game that will reinforce otherwise is just not a good idea. Each one of these will be an opportunity for discussion.

Drawing Book of Faces by Ed Emberley

Drawing Book of Faces - Work on precision with a writing tool and reading facial expressions.

In the book: Faces, faces, and more faces

Drawing Book of Faces by Ed Emberley is a fun and simple book with step-by-step instructions for drawing expressive faces. Most faces start off with a square or circle. Then over the course of six steps, simple features are added, lines and shapes, and a funny face is the result. Many kids are surprised and pleased when they see what they can do using this approach.

From his book page on Amazon.
I like to use this book with kids who are working on writing smaller with distal rotation, holding a writing tool, precision with a writing tool, bilateral integration and/or drawing shapes, spatial relations, visual closure, the list is long. If I want the person to work on making small marks, I control how big the face is by drawing the starting circle or square.

Drawing Book of Faces has 32 pages and over 100 faces. It's also a fun book to use if you are working on reading facial expressions, as there are lots of faces that would help with that. Expressions include happy, sad, embarrassed, angry, scared, mischievous, defeated, determined, conceited, grumpy, neutral, and many more. In the back of the book there are a couple of pages of completed faces, no step-by-step instructions, so you can try your hand at putting it all together once you've learned the step-by-step process. There are also a couple of pages with sections such as eyes, mouths, ears, hair, etc. so you can create your own custom faces.

The faces represent all kinds of occupations and actions and include Laughing Lena, Sly Sid, Sleeping Simone, Black Eye Bob, Freckles Frieda, Earmuff Earl, Engineer Eric, Diver Dick, Donkey Don, Bulldog Brunhilda. You get the idea. I like to use colored pencils or an ultra fine dry erase marker (more about that here - EXPO Dry Erase Boards and Markers) for kids who are working on writing. 

I love using the Ed Emberley books and the kids loved them too. I have blogged about several of his other books:
From his book page on Amazon.
If you would like to read more about games that require writing or drawing in some form, check out my post Games That Require a Writing Tool

Try this:
  • Use colored pencils. Adds just a bit more fun to be able to change colors.
  • Let the individual choose the face to make the experience more positive if the person does not like drawing or writing.
  • Look at each new step and, before drawing, ask the individual what has changed, what has been added.
  • If the individual makes a mistake or omits something, note that his picture is a little different from the book and ask him to find the difference. Can he compare and spot it without help?
  • Open the book to a page and ask the child to look at each finished face and name the facial expression (i.e. happy, angry, scared)
  • Ask the individual to verbally give the directions, step-by-step, using spatial terms, and you draw along. For instance, for a profile like the green example above, a circle nose is on the left, a half-circle ear is on the right, curly hair is across the top and down the back, etc. 
  • Go to the pages at the back of the book that just show features. Give the individual an example, such as Michelle was just settling in to watch her favorite TV show when her mom told her it was time to go to the dentist. Ask the individual to draw how Michelle felt (angry, scared?). See if his features match the emotion.
  •  
  • MORE TIPS FROM MY EXPO DRY ERASE BOARD POST: 
  • Work on diagonal lines for letters such as K, Y, X, W by drawing pictures that incorporate diagonal lines (whiskers, sharp teeth, legs, bird toes). Work on distal rotation by drawing pictures that incorporate small, colored-in circles (eyes, freckles, tassels, chicken pox). Work on rounded lines, such as needed for many lower case letters, by drawing pictures with rounded and wavy lines (ears, water, noses, hair). Sounds pretty basic, doesn't it? One big reason I like the Ed Emberley books is because I can quickly scan each page, looking for the shapes and feature(s) that I want to practice without having to make up a variety of my own drawings on the spot.
  • Be short and precise with your verbal instructions as you model. Draw only one line or shape at a time and make sure they are following your instructions to the best of their ability. Drawings may start out looking rough, but typically improve over time with practice. The kids often recognize this and are very pleased when they see their improvement result in recognizable pictures.  
  • Model how to start and stop on a line. I often just reach over and erase overflow with my finger and they quickly get the idea.
  • Draw a picture and then erase and try to draw it again from memory.
  • Use the Ed Emberley Book of faces when working on emotions. Emphasize the shapes of the eyes, eyebrows and mouth when talking about reading facial expressions.
  • Work on fine motor precision, pencil control, efficient pencil grasp, coordinated use of both hands, distal rotation, visual memory, spatial relations, visual closure, visual form constancy, visual motor integration, visual discrimination, motor planning, drawing and recognizing shapes, body awareness, proportion, executive functioning skills, play and leisure exploration and participation, reading facial expressions
If you are interested in purchasing this book or just want more information, click on the image below.