Muuli (Mule)

Reduce the mule's load, one piece at a time.

The Muuli (mule) is hauling a load of bamboo pieces. Your job is to reduce his load by removing the pieces, one at a time, without the whole structure collapsing. The 64 pieces are solid plastic and good quality. They come in four different sizes and colors, with all of one color being the same size.

Setting this up can take as long as it does to play, sometimes longer. It's a little hard to see in the image above, but the white part at the base is shaped like a mule. A heavy-duty elastic cord is attached to the mule (in the front and in the back - making a circle) and it will enclose all the pieces, as you see above. You can't set up the game in a vertical position, you will have to lay it flat on the table before you start putting the round plastic pieces inside the elastic cord. The more pieces you put in, the more you stretch the cord and the more taut it gets. The more you add, the more you have to push the pieces around to accommodate them. When you are finished, some of the pieces will be rather loose and some will be quite tightly wedged in. I recommend setting up the game on a piece of flat cardboard, then holding the cardboard against it to keep any lose pieces from slipping out as you stand it up.

Setting up.

PLAY:
Players take turns removing one piece at a time without causing the whole thing to collapse. Push on pieces gently to find a loose piece and remove it. As you take pieces out, the others may adjust to fill the space. Or, allow each player to take out as many pieces as he dares on each turn. When the structure collapses, the person who has collected the most pieces is the winner.

The instructions say to play with the mule standing in the box to catch the pieces when it collapses, and am I glad I did. When the piece was removed that brought down the structure, the elastic cord recoiled quickly and the pieces that didn't land in the box really flew.

Try this:

• Demonstrate how to test to see how loose a piece is by tapping or pushing on it lightly. If the player cannot feel the tension, instruct him to watch for the piece to move slightly. If the person doesn't know how to test for loose pieces, you may spend all the time setting up just to have it go down in one or two turns.
• Sort pieces by color, or call each color to add while setting up.
• Play alone. See how many pieces you can push out before the structure collapses. Then play again and try to beat your score.
• One player calls a color and the next player has to remove a piece of that color. No fair testing pieces before calling the color.
• Name each color as you put each piece in while setting up.
• Pull the pieces out instead of pushing them out.
• Work on visual discrimination, eye-hand coordination, visual scanning, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, finger isolation, graded pressure, tactile discrimination, shoulder stability, executive functioning skills, social interaction skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation
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• In the box: Mule with elastic attached, 64 "bamboo" pieces 

Go Nuts!

Go Nuts! - Dice games offer the opportunity to work on multiple hand skills

To the untrained eye, this may look like just another dice game. But to a therapist it can be so much more. Occupational therapists, who are trained to look at the parts of the whole, may choose to play Go Nuts! as a way to help develop distal finger skills and fine motor precision (repeatedly cupping the hand can help develop, strengthen, and stabilize the arches which in turn direct skilled movements of the fingers). They may also choose to play it because there is no set-up, there is very little down time, it is fast playing, and turns are short. As a matter of fact, it is a game that plays in 12 minutes or less, according to the box.   

The object is to be the first person to score 50 points for the win. Points are determined by the pictures and combinations of pictures that are face up after you roll the dice.  There are five squirrel dice (pictured on dice are squirrels, acorns, and car), and 4 dog dice (pictured on dice are dog and doghouses). The dice are a tad smaller than standard spotted dice.

The dog die from Go Nuts!

To Play:

On your turn, roll the five dice with the squirrels. (Each person receives one dog/dog house die but only uses it on others' turns.) Here are what the three images mean:

• Acorn - Worth one point each.
• Squirrel - Worth no points but can be rerolled.
• Car - Worth no points, cannot be rerolled. Take it out of the game.

Once you roll the dice, here are your options:

• Keep track of the points from all acorns, pick up the acorns and squirrels and throw again, hoping to make more points. Pull out all cars.
• Take the score you received for the acorns you threw and end your turn.

If you decide to keep throwing, count the points you receive for acorns on your next throw and add them to your last throw. You can throw over and over but there is a risk involved in continuing to throw because if at any time you throw all cars, your turn ends immediately and you lose all points. If at any time you throw all squirrels, you lose all points and a Go Nuts! round starts. Pick up the dice and throw them over and over, as fast as you can, counting all the acorns that you throw. At the same time the other player(s) will throw their dog die. As soon as someone throws a dog image, your turn is over. Record the number of acorns you threw (if any) and your turn ends. Keep playing in this manner until someone reaches 50 points and wins the game.

To see other fall-themed games, click here.

Try this:

• 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. Then remove the ball and add dice.
• 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). Double the therapeutic value!
• Skip playing a game and just play with the dice. Put one die at a time in the palm and ask the individual to move it to the fingertips and rotate it for placement. Place the dice all animal side up or all gray objects, etc. Then place two in the palm, holding one back while working one to the fingertips.
• Put the dice away by cupping one hand and dropping the dice in, one at a time, until all are in the palm. Then put in the box.
• Pick the dice up one at a time, squirrelling them in the palm as you go. Can all be picked up without dropping any?
• Work on palmar arch development and stability, in-hand manipulation, distal finger control, fine motor precision, manual dexterity, visual discrimination, figure ground, executive functioning skills, socialization skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: Small score pad, small pencil, 9 picture dice

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