Peg Friends Around the Town

Peg Friends Around the Town - Talk about community helpers as you assemble the peg people.

Peg Friends Around Town consists of nine community helper characters and a firm, foam map to stand them in. By each hole in the map, there is a building that represents where one community worker works. Build in sequence the three peg pieces per person and then insert that person into the hole next to their work place. For instance, teacher with school and fireman with a fire station. 

Each of the peg people consist of three parts - a head, torso and legs. The pieces are lightweight, hollow plastic and each piece has a hole on the top and a cylindrical piece at the bottom so that you can stack the pieces and then insert them into the mat. The images on the pegs are stickers, but I have not had any trouble with them coming loose at this point. There are three colors and three occupations per color: 1) Red are fire fighter, teacher and farmer; 2) Blue are police officer, mail carrier and doctor; 3) Yellow are veterinarian, construction worker and chef/baker. 

Each of the nine characters represents a different occupation and consists of legs, torso/chest and head, and four of them show an arm on the torso piece holding something. Each occupation will have a female on one side of the head and a male pictured on the other, and these two sides are wearing similar outfits so you can mix and match. Only the head will identify if it is a male or female. The torso pieces that are holding something will show an item associated with that particular occupation. For instance the farmer is holding a chicken on one side and corn on the other, while the police officer simply shows a badge on both sides. 

The foam map/mat shows a city street with the nine buildings/areas where these nine people would work. Next to each building is a hole so that once you assemble the peg person you can match it to their place of business and stand them next to it. The map measures 10" square and each person is the same size, measuring 4.75" tall when all three pieces are assembled.

For more information about peg-type games and toys check out What's in Your Therapy Box? Peg Board Edition.

Try this:

• Play with the pieces and show how they stack and then insert into the mat. 
• Forget the occupations and just build people according to color (all yellow, all red, etc).
• Forget the occupations and just build in sequence of body parts (one legs, torso, head for each person).
• Lay the three pieces for a person next to the individual and ask them to assemble in the correct order.
• Use consistent language while learning such as top/middle/bottom or legs/bottom or torso/chest/middle, or head/top.
• Talk about each community helper and the role they play as you assemble them and look for their building on the map.
• Talk about how the person will use the tool they are holding, such as the doctor and the stethoscope, and other tools you might see each occupation use. Have other tools ready to show that you already own or pictures that you print out from the internet.
• Talk about what activities each person will engage in at work.
• Talk about safe strangers vs. unknown/unsafe strangers as you discuss community helpers.
• Use two hands. Hold the bottom piece in on hand and stick the other two pieces with the other hand.
• Stack all the pegs in one big tower. I have a boy that loves to do this. I do have to steady the tower as he builds, but it does get him up out of the chair and reaching.
• Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations, eye-hand coordination, coordinated use of two hands, body awareness, community helpers, stranger awareness, sequencing, manual dexterity, process skills, creativity, executive functioning skills, play and leisure exploration and participation 
  
  

In the box: 27 body pieces, 1 map mat

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

  

Mancala for Kids

Mancala for Kids - Practice thinking ahead and using strategy

Mancala is a 2-person game that has been around for hundreds of years, some say thousands, and is played around the world. Mancala will require strategic thinking and problem solving skills. As the old saying goes for so many of these types of games, it takes minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. Playing Mancala is also a great way to practice in-hand manipulation skills, over and over and over, without it even feeling like work. 

I have seen this game in many sizes and with a variety of different playing pieces. The game board comes in a couple of different versions - either manufactured in one long piece or hinged like this one, so that you can fold it over on top of itself and store the pieces inside. The board has 12 identical holes/pits/pockets (different people call them different things) cut into it and two longer holes, one at each end, called stores or mancalas.

This particular game comes with small plastic animals for playing pieces, which are popular with kids. Many of the mancala games come with smooth glass stones, easier for sliding in and out of the hand. You can use anything you want to use for playing pieces as long as you can fit about 9-10 of them into one of the pits. Dried beans, small stones, marbles, anything small that you have 48 of would probably work. In some areas Mancala is played by digging small pits into the ground and using seeds for markers. It's a lot to think about and watch, but it's a fun game.

Object:
Have the most playing pieces in your store at the end of the game.

Set up:
Place the board lengthwise between the two players, so that each player is facing a row of 6 pits. Randomly place four animals in each of the 12 pits.

Play:
Players take turns. A player starts his turn by picking up the contents from one pit on his side of the board and, moving to the right and starting with the very next pit, drops one of the animals in each pit until they are gone. If he passes his store (on the far right of his side of the board) he drops in one animal. If he is still holding animals after he passes his store, he will continue around the board, dropping them into his opponents pits. If he gets as far as his opponents store and is still dropping animals, he skips dropping one into his opponents store.

If the last animal you drop ends up in your store, you get another turn. You can do this a number of times in one turn as long as the last animal each time ends up in your store.

If the last animal you drop ends up in an empty pit on your side of the board, and your opponent has animals in his pit directly across from it, take that animal and any animals that are directly across from you in your opponents pit. (I have read directions that say you get to take your piece in addition to those across from you and I have read directions that say only take your opponents pieces.) Place them all into your store and your turn is over. Once animals are in your store they are safe.

Keep playing until all of the pits on one side of the board are empty - the game is over. The other player can keep all the animals that are still on his side of the board and places them into his store. Players each count the animals in their stores and the player with the most is the winner. 

As you play, try to count the number of animals that are in a pit so that you will know exactly where they will land. It is a little harder to do with this particular board because the pits are smaller and when the animals get stacked up, they are hard to count. 

Strategies:

• Pick up and play animals that will end in your store so that you can collect animals and take another turn.
• Pick up and play animals that set you up for landing the most animals into your store on your next turn.
• Pick up and play animals from a pit that has gotten built up so that your opponent cannot steal a lot of animals in one shot.
• Count the animals and watch your opponents side as well as your own so you can anticipate their next move and keep your animals from being captured.
• Pick up and play animals that will throw off your opponent's count if you see that they have set up their animals to get several into their store on their next turn.
• Work on spatial relations, critical and strategic thinking, problem solving, planning ahead, in-hand manipulation, manual dexterity, process skills, executive functioning skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: game board, 48 playing pieces

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