Campbell's ABC Soup Game

Campbell's ABC Soup Game - Spell words with the letters you find in your Campbell's Soup.

Playing Campbell's ABC Soup Game is more fun than eating a bowl of Campbell's Alphabet Soup. Does anybody besides me remember the fun you had spelling out words while eating Campbell's Alphabet Soup when you were a kid? Or maybe you still eat it or prepare it for your kids. This game is a take-off of that same soup. Made by Fisher-Price, a company that has been around a long time and is well known for making quality toys for infants and toddlers, this game comes in a nice sturdy plastic can. (You haven't seen me post much about Fisher-Price in the past because I don't work with kids that young and, therefore, I have very few of their toys.) So let's see exactly what is in this sturdy can. 

The spinner and soup bowls are the same shape and size, made of heavy cardboard, and are approximately 4-1/8" in diameter (see image above). The spinner is well constructed and has a cute spoon instead of an arrow, which moves freely. The spinner is also big enough (or the spoon is small enough, take your pick) so that you can hold the spinner by the edge in one hand without your fingers getting in the way of the spoon as it spins by. There are six sections on the spinner and each section has what looks like a group of random letters, but I assume that the groupings relate back to the words. 

Each soup bowl has a picture in the circle at the top and then spells that word in letters under it (see image above). One side of each soup bowl has a three letter word (owl, bat, log or map) and the other side has a four letter word (frog, bowl, boat or lamp). 

The 16 double-sided noodle letter tokens are colorful, have the same letter on both sides and measure 1-1/4" in diameter. These letters also have a colored background that match the colored background on each letter in the soup bowl. (So will the individual be matching the letter or the color?)

Object:
Be the first player to fill your soup bowl with the appropriate noodle letter tokens to spell your word.

Set up:
Decide if the players will be using the three letter word side or the four letter side. Each player chooses one soup bowl and places it in front of themselves. Scatter the noodle letter tokens in a draw pile, between the players.

Play:

Players take turns spinning the spinner. One player, the person who spins, plays at a time. Depending on where the soup spoon lands on the spinner, the player will take one of the following actions: 

• Spoon lands on a space with a letter that you need - You may pick up a letter token and place it in your soup bowl, on the matching letter.
• Spoon lands on the space that shows all the letters - You may choose any letter that you need from the letters scattered on the table.
• Spoon lands on a space but you don't need any of the letters - You turn ends.

Play until someone covers all the letters in their soup bowl and wins the game.

I checked and you can play a game with four soup bowl cards (four players each take one or two players each take two) IF each player takes cards with the same number of letters, meaning you use all of the four letter words or all of the three letter words. I tried a game with two four letter words and two three letter words and the letter tokens did not match all of the letters needed for the soup bowls. If you want to mix them like that you will have to check before you start to make sure that you have enough of the needed letters. 

P.S. Campbell's Alphabet Soup now comes in chicken, beef, vegetable (with beef broth), and yes, vegetarian :) After all this talk about soup I'm tempted to run out and buy a can right now. 

Try this:

• Look for a nice rounded web space before flicking the spoon on the spinner.
• Isolate different fingers to use for flicking the spinner.
• Turn the circle noodle letters upside-down and sideways in the draw pile so the individual will have to recognize them from different orientations.
• Reinforce letter recognition by pointing to each letter in your soup bowl and saying it before playing, saying each letter as you pick it up and place it in your bowl and again saying each letter as you spell the word at the end.
• Do the same as above to reinforce colors.
• Hold the noodle letter tokens in a stack in one hand and push each letter off the top with the thumb as you drop them onto the playing surface during set up.
• Make the game a little longer by requiring players to spell their word in letter order.
• Practice spelling your word out loud. Then cover your bowl and see if you can spell the word three times without looking. 
• Eat a bowl of alphabet soup after playing the game and see if you can spell your game word(s) with the real thing. Look for other words you can spell in the soup. As you look around the bowl, call out the letters you recognize. Choose one letter and see who can find it first in his bowl. Scoop up a spoonful of letters and name each one out loud before eating it. See how many of a single letter you can get on your spoon at the same time.
• Work on visual discrimination, visual form constancy, figure ground, spatial relations, eye-hand coordination, letter recognition, coordinated use of both hands, in-hand manipulation, finger isolation, rounded web space, manual dexterity, socialization skills, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the can: 1 bowl spinner, 16 double-sided alphabet noodle tokens, 4 double-sided Campbell's soup bowls

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

Look & Find Differences

Look & Find Differences

Look and find activities are commonly found in many occupational therapy departments. Look & Find Differences focuses on visual discrimination and the ability to tell when things are different, and how.

There are 17 sets of two cards with bright, kid-friendly images. Each set is made up of two cards, one marked A and one marked B, but they are not exactly alike. Note the two cards to the left and you will see that there are 5 differences, even though at first glance they may look the same. The cards are not marked with the black circles and the numbers as they are in the image (that wouldn't be much of a challenge).

 The differences are mostly in color, shape, size, position, and quantity. It will require sustained focus and attention to find the differences. I bought this game second-hand and there were no instructions in the box so I can't tell you whether the instructions name all the differences for each card, but I have never seen a game like this where it did include the answers. If there is not a list of differences included, you could go through ahead of time, find the differences, and write them on the back of the card. This will save you from having to "play along" during therapy and could save time. The cards measure 3" x 3" and are a good thickness, about 1/8".

Object:
Find all the differences for each set.

Set up:
Put one set of cards in front of the player. 

Play: 
Player looks at both cards, finds and verbally describes the differences. Present one set at a time until you have gone through all the cards.

Try this:

• Look over one set before you ask the individual to begin. Point out the differences and talk it out as you go. Explain how to break the picture down for faster and easier work and to cover each aspect of the image. Say something like "Let's look at the boy's head first. Is the hair the same, the eyes, the mouth? Now let's look at his clothes. Is his shirt the same?" If the individual does not note the differences, you could then ask "Is the color the same? Are the sleeves the same length? How are they different?" Model how to describe the differences in terms of size, shape, color, orientation, etc. 
• Play with more than one person and let individuals write their answers and then compare. Anyone getting them all gets a point. Or give one point for each right answer. Player with the most points at the end wins.
• Play with more than one person, let individuals write their answers but put a timer on it. Person that has matched the most differences get the set. If two people tie, give each person a card. Person with most cards at the end wins.
• Place one card in front of the player. Place 2 or more cards above that and ask the player to find the card that matches his. Place more cards to look over to increase the figure ground challenge. Place pictures in different orientations than the player's picture to include a visual form constancy challenge.
• Play a game of memory match with the cards turning over two on each turn and trying to match the sets.
• Play along with the individual, taking turns naming the differences if the game is to tedious or the individual is struggling.
• Look on the back of the card before starting a set, if you have written the answers there, and tell the individual how many differences he can find. This will help you know when you are done, when you can quit looking.
• Have some kind of marker handy if you want to keep track of how many differences, something like pennies or dry beans. Each time you find a difference, push one of the markers aside. It can be hard to remember how many you have found when you are doing a lot of talking and concentrating on details in between. Then you won't have to keep going back and recounting.
• Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations, visual memory, manual dexterity, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 34 cards
 
This game is not sold at Amazon but there are still smaller stores on the internet that sell it if you are interested in it. Amazon does have similar games however.