FALL GAMES

I look forward to the changing seasons and the holidays as they roll around each year so that I can pull out some of my favorite games. Kids love them and it adds fun to the therapy sessions. Here are a few of my fall favorites. Click on a link to go to my post about that game, including ways to use it in therapy. Happy fall!


The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Card Game - This slapping, color-matching card game is based on the whimsical squirrel from The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Board Game.

Back to School JINGO - A school-themed bingo game that will make you think.

Alphabet Acorns - Acorns falling, a sure sign of fall. This set include 26 plastic acorns, each printed with a letter of the alphabet on the outside and a surprise object hiding inside that begins with the same letter.

Go Nuts! - Squirrels and acorns, a game made for fall. A quick playing dice game.

Apples to Apples - A game of comparisons for the whole family. 

Carnival Table Tennis Toss Game - Having a fall festival or fun fair? This is a simple table top tossing game.

LEGO Thanksgiving Turkey - Lego puts out limited edition sets for different seasons and holidays. They go fast.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving app - Another charming Charlie Brown android app from Loud Crow. Based on the TV special, Charlie Brown and Snoopy whip up a last minute meal of jelly beans, popcorn, and toast. See how his guests react. Lots of chances to interact with the app. Features the original music and character voices.

The Orchard - Harvest the fruit before the raven has a chance to help himself. Lots of small pieces to manipulate.

Fall Lacing Cards - A great way to work on the coordinated use of both hands. Includes scarecrow, fall leaves, straw bale, pumpkin, wheat stalks, and more.

The Thanksgiving Box of Questions - Serve up before or after the big meal. Thought provoking questions based on Thanksgiving themes. 

Holiday Fluxx Card Game - This edition covers Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. Looking for a game to work on executive functioning? This might be it.

Granny Apples - What says fall like apples? Help Granny pick the apples for her famous apple pie, but watch out for the worms.

Fall Sticker Scenes - I have used them a lot over the years. Oriental Trading changes their pictures from one year to the next, but I have always found Halloween, fall, and Thanksgiving themes.

HiHo Cherry Oh! - The updated version has four kinds of fruit, including fall-friendly apples.

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel - It's time for squirrels to start collecting acorns and time for your to bring out your Sneaky Snacky Squirrel.

Thanksgiving J-I-N-G-O  - A Thanksgiving themed bingo.

Acrobats - Bats aren't technically Halloween, but somehow I always put them together.

Squirrel Popper - Use the squirrel popper to launch the acorns at your targets.

Candy Memory - Halloween and candy, a perfect match. This game has all kinds of candy, including seasonal, like candy corn, caramels, wax lips, and smarties.

String Along Lacing Kit - Even though only one of the patterns in this game is Halloween related (Jack-o-Lantern), if you happen to already have the game, now is a good time to pull it out.

Monster Match - A matching game that relies heavily on spatial skills.

Scaventure Kids - Flip through the cards and find things that seem fall or related to costumes, then add your own to the list. Here are some examples I found:

• Make a mask with paper.
• Find something gooey (make everyone stick their hand in it without looking).
• Make a mermaid with whatever materials you like.
• Make one of your teammates look like a hula dancer.
• Draw a holiday symbol.
• At Halloween these seeds are roasted, salted and eaten as a snack. Find some. Of course you would have had to hide some beforehand.

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown UNO - Another kid pleaser. A regular UNO game that features pictures from It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. There is even an unique Trick or Treat card, with special rules.

Ned's Head - Already loaded with gross stuff that you can use for tricks, like fake vomit, a dirty Q tip, a worm in bird poop, and a dirty diaper, this one can be as open as your imagination. Add your own fall or weird items.

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown Look and Find Book - Another figure ground gem, this book features pictures from the actual It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown cartoon.

It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown app - Kids still watch! This is an awesome android app that features the original music and character voices and is narrated by the original voice of Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins). Many interactive features.
 

Word search Junior

Word Search Junior - Search by letter or picture

Word Search Junior is picture and word search, figure ground game with three levels of difficulty: 1) 3-image picture pattern, 2) word with picture hint and 3) word only. There are nine pattern cards with a different game on each side, 18 different games total. Many kids will already be familiar with this type of activity as word searches are a popular school activity.

The playing board that you see above consists of a hard plastic red base, a removable clear plastic cover and a movable blue ring that snaps on and keeps everything in place. The clear piece and blue piece are removable so that you can change the pattern card underneath. The red piece is approximately 16" x 10". 

The marking chips are transparent plastic and come in four colors: red, green, yellow and blue. They are 7/8" in diameter, concave and remind me of large contact lenses. The clear plastic part of the base is covered with 68 dips so that the chips can sit in them and have less chance of sliding around. There is a squeaker, but I can't describe it because I bought my game second hand and it is missing. The squeaker is grabbed by the person who finds something first, so we can either just say "I found it!", or use any other household item to grab, or I could even go to the dollar store and buy a dog toy. I think kids would like the squeaker. 

The pattern cards are round, inter-changeable, have different color backgrounds per category and are used under the clear part of the base. If you look at the image above, you will see that the blue ring has a space at the very top. That ring turns and as you move it different sequences or words will show in that little space, revealing what you will be searching for. Since the words are printed around the edge of the circle, players will have to be able to read them from different angles. There are three circles for each category, and each circle has a puzzle on the front and on the back, so six puzzles in all for each category. Examples of each category are:

• 1) Blue picture pattern puzzles - There are 19 sequences on each side of a puzzle card and each sequence is three objects.  For instance on the fruit card you will look for apple/orange/banana and orange/lemon/lemon and banana/banana/banana etc. The subject matter for these cards are fruit, zoo, balls, facial expressions, pets and fairy tales.
• 2) Red picture hint puzzle - There are either 11 or 12 words on each side of each card and words are from three to six letters long. In the blue ring you will see a picture and the word spelled. Topics for these cards are garden, forest, house, farm, summer vacation and animals. Words from the summer vacation include book, hat, shell, kite, bucket, map, sand, boat, etc. Look at the image and the word in the opening on the blue ring, then find the picture on the card. Once you find the picture, the word will start adjacent to the picture. Words are vertical, horizontal or diagonal in a straight line.
• 3) Green word only puzzle - Read the word and find it on the card. There are between 15 and 18 words per side. Topics are transportation, sports gear, clothing, my body, food and school. Sample words from my body include chin, foot, belly, finger, cheek and back.

Object:
Be the player who has used the most marking chips at the end of a game.

Set up:
Choose a pattern card. Place it on the red base, place the clear piece on top and snap on the blue ring. Place the opening in the blue ring at the top of the card.  Each player chooses a color of marking chips and takes them all of that color.

Play:
Players take turns moving the blue ring to reveal one word or pattern at a time. When it is revealed, all players search to see who can be the first to find it embedded on the card. When someone finds it, he grabs the squeaker and squeaks it. He then places his plastic marking chips on top of the letters or pictures in the sequence. Play until all the images have been shown and found, or until someone runs out of marking chips. The player with the most chips on the board, or the player who ran out of chips, is the winner.

Try this:

• Play alone. Find each image or word on a card and cover it with the colorful chips in any order. Go through all the cards. Go through the cards in order of difficulty.
• Hold several plastic marking pieces at one time, pushing them off with the thumb to drop into place.
• Sort the marking chips by color. The game board is a ready-made tray with four sections.

In the box: Game board, 140 marking chips, squeaker, 9 puzzle cards

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