I See You Game

Little Golden Book I See You Game - A visual closure game from Golden Books

Golden Books bring back wonderful memories for me. When I was a child we lived next door to my grandma. She had a huge collection of Golden Books and she loved to read, a great combination for us kids. I can probably, at least in part, trace my love of reading back to those adventure filled afternoons, curled up next to her as she read one story after another. This is also when I decided that I wanted to be a monkey when I grew up, but that's another story. So as soon as I saw the border going down the left side of this box, I knew I had to check out this Golden Book I See You Game.

I don't have any other game like this (and by now you must know I have a lot of games). The box calls it the classic game of Peek-A-Boo, and I would call it a classic game of visual closure, the ability to identify an object when only a part(s) of it is visible. As you can see from the back of the box, the game consists of cards, sleeves and screens.

LEFT: Back of the box showing the progression of cutouts on the screens. RIGHT: First and last screens.

The goal is to choose one card and, by putting screens with cutouts which reveal more and more of the picture, see how long it takes you to guess the picture. There are five screens labeled A-D. Screen A reveals just one circle at the top and screen E will be revealing most of the image. There are 2 sets of picture cards - My First I SEE YOU cards and I SEE YOU cards. The My First set of cards each have one simple item on them, including a teddy bear, an apple, a kite, and a computer. The I SEE YOU set has an original picture from one of the old Golden Books including Poky Little Puppy, The Saggy Baggy Elephant, Tootle the Train and Shy Little Kitten. Reading the related books beforehand might make this game more exciting, but you certainly can play it without ever reading a Golden Book. The picture in the image above is The Shy Little Kitten, but you could just say cat or kitten.

You can turn the screen over, it's solid white on the back, before you put it in front of the picture card. It may be difficult for some to separate the picture card image from the colorful image and background on the front of the screens.

Check out my blog on another Golden Book game, Circle of Friends Matching Game.

Object:

Identify the object on the card with the smallest amount revealed.

Set up:

Place 12 picture cards on the table, face-up.

Play:

Let the player look over the cards. Pick up the cards, choose one without the player seeing it, place it in the sleeve and place the A screen in front of it. Give the sleeve to the player and ask him to identify the object. Give clues or ask questions if you want to help them figure it out. If they don't, take out screen A and replace it with screen B, which will show more of the object. Keep changing screens until the player can identify the object. By the time you get to screen E, most of the object will be visible. Then start a new card.  

Try this:

• Start with fewer than 12 cards on the table and work your way up.
• Talk about the things you see in the first hole on card A. I see a tail or fur or ears, do you think it is an animal? Or I see smoke, do you think that would be an animal? What things might have smoke?
• Encourage the individual to make a guess at each stage, refining their guesses as new information is revealed.
• Play with several people. Let them whisper their guess to you so that other players can keep playing if they don't know. 
• Play for points. If a player guesses on screen A, he gets 5 points. If screen B, 4 points, if screen C, three points and so on. See who gets the most points.
• Adjust the amount of time the player gets to look at the original card line up. Shorter time, more difficult game and vice versa.
• Check out a book or two with the characters (from the library) and read them before and/or after you play the game.
• Work on visual discrimination, visual closure, figure ground, manual dexterity, socialization skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 2 card sleeves, 5 I SEE YOU! screens, 18 jumbo character cards, 10 My First I SEE YOU cards

I

Diggity Dogs

Diggity Dogs - Adopt the most dogs by making sets of three cards.

If you're a dog lover like me, check out Diggity Dogs. There are seven dogs up for adoption (there's a great conversation starter right there) and you want to make sure they each get a good home, preferably with you.

The dogs are made of a heavy card material, are printed the same on both sides, and each comes with a plastic white piece that will allow it to stand (see image above). The instruction booklet has a brief description, complete with name, for each of the dogs. The name of each dog is also printed next to it on the card. Each dog has a thought bubble next to it and in each thought bubble are three items. This grouping of items is a different combination for each dog and is what that specific dog needs before you can adopt him. Items include a bone, dog brush, tennis ball, dog dish, dog food and stick.

Included are 28 picture cards and each card will picture just one item. The cards are on the small side and measure approximately 7-3/5" x 5". These are the cards that you will collect to match the three items in each dog's thought bubble.

Object:
Be the player who has adopted the most dogs by the end of the game.

Set up:
Place each dog in a white plastic stand and put all the dogs in the middle of the playing area. Shuffle the cards and deal out two to each player, face-down. Put the rest of the cards in a stack in the middle of the playing area.

Play:
Your goal is to collect three cards that match a dog you want to adopt. Collect the three cards and trade them for the dog. On each turn, one player will ask another player, of his choice, for a specific card, such as "Do you have a tennis ball?" If the player has it, he must give it to you. If this gives you a match of three and you can adopt a dog, put the three cards in the discard pile, put the dog by your side, and play again. If the player does not have a matching card, draw a card from the draw pile. If this card completes your set of three, adopt the dog and play again. If not, your turn is over. Keep playing until all the dogs are adopted. If the draw pile runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile and turn the cards face-down and they are now the draw pile.

Try this:

• Play alone. Line the dogs up on the table. Go through the stack of cards and sort them under each dog until you have found all three cards for each. Hold the cards in the non-dominant hand and push them off, one at a time, with the thumb.
• Sort the cards by type into piles. Place the pile face-up in front of you. Take each card off the top of the stack without toppling the stack.
• Line up several of the dogs. Give the individual three cards that will match one of the dogs. Ask him to find the dog that matches the cards. 
• Place one dog in front of the individual. Ask them to sort through the cards until they have found the three necessary items. Take them each out as they come up. Hold the cards in the non-dominant hand and push them off, one at a time, with the thumb. Keep going through the stack until you have adopted all the dogs.
• Line up the seven dogs in front of the player. Ask them to point out or read the name of each dog that needs a tennis ball, then all the dogs that need a brush, then who needs a food bowl, etc.
• Pick out the dog that is your absolute favorite. Tell what it is about the dog that you like so much and what you would name it if it was yours.
• Work on visual discrimination, visual closure, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, coordinated use of both hands, shuffling/dealing/holding multiple cards, socialization skills, executive functioning skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 7 stand-up doggy game pieces, 28 cards

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