Hedbanz Act Up!

Hedbanz Act Up! - Your chance to get up and do something!

The Hedbanz series of games are fun family games. This one is different from the others in that you are allowed, actually required, to get up and act up. Think charades. Charades is a fun game to work on balance, coordination, motor planning, body awareness, spatial relations and more.

The game includes six plastic headbands (see images above and below). They each have a slit in the front where you place a card. Your card will not be seen by you, but will be seen by everybody else. The head bands are adjustable - they have the little nubs that snap into the holes like baseball caps.

There are 180 act up cards and 6 player cards, one player card for each color headband. The act up cards fall into three categories - person, place and thing. On one side of a card is printed the category and the on the other side is printed the word that the guesser will be guessing. Some examples are:

• Person - dentist, life guard, Bigfoot
• Place - closet, bowling alley, zoo
• Thing - toothpick, cowboy hat, blender  

Also included are plastic chips for scoring, a custom color die and a 20 second timer.

I have also blogged about the original Hedbanz game. To read that post, click here.

Object:

Be the first person to get rid of your 12 tokens. Get rid of a token by correctly guessing the word on your headband or by acting up to help another player guess their card.

Set up:

Give each individual a headband, the matching color player card and 12 tokens. Adjust the headbands and put them on. Each player places his player card in front of him to remind him of his headband color. Mix the act up cards and put them in a face-down draw pile. Each player picks one card and, without looking at it, places it in the slot on their headband so that the other players can read it. Place the timer and die nearby. Place the rest of the tokens in the middle, this is the bank.

Play:

Players take turns. On your turn you are the guesser. Throw the die and whoever has the color that matches the die will be the actor. Turn the timer over and the actor has 20 seconds to act out the person, place or thing on your headband. Acting up includes movements but no words, writing or props. If the guesser throws the die and his color, or a color that was not taken, shows up, all players act out at the same time.

Once the timer has been turned and the actor(s) starts acting, the guesser can throw out as many guesses as he wants. If the guesser guesses his card he, and any actor(s) who was involved, return one of their coins to the coin bank. The guesser removes the card from his headband, draws a new card and places it in his headband. If the guesser guesses his card and there is still time, he quickly removes the old card and replaces it with a new card and the game continues until the time is up and his turn is over.

If the guesser does not guess his card, his turn ends, no one returns coins to the bank and he keeps the same card for his next turn. If he does not want to keep the same card, he can remove it and draw a new card, but he will also have to take one coin from the bank.

Play until someone has returned all his coins and wins the game.

Try this:

• Set a timer for longer, say three minutes, and see who can guess the most cards in that time.
• Allow sounds.
• Play a game drawing instead of acting (Pictionary).
• Take turns acting for the guesser until he guesses it. Start on the left and each player gets the 20 seconds until the guesser guesses it. Guesser and player who succeeds get to return one coin to the bank.
• Work as a team of two when acting. Give the actors a few seconds to consult and then they must coordinate their efforts to get the idea across.
• Play charades, where one person acts and everyone else guesses. The actor chooses a card, reads it, and then puts it in his headband backwards, so the other players can see the category. The actor acts it out and the correct guesser gets the card. Person to collect three cards first is the winner.
• Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations, motor planning, body awareness, balance, coordination, creativity, process skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation 

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

Leaning Tower

Leaning Tower -Pull out a block without toppling the tower.

I have a game similar to Leaning Tower that I only bring out around Easter because, instead of the colored wooden blocks, it has colorful Easter bunnies. The kids always liked it, so I was happy to find this "neutral" version. 

The game includes eight donut-shaped rings, 36 blocks and 1 large die, all made out of wood. The die is extra large, 1 1/8" square, with a different color on each side. You can see the scale of the pieces and the die in the image above.

Some may find this game equally difficult to set up and play.

Object:
This game has a loser instead of a winner. Don't be the one who pulls the block that makes the tower fall.

Set up:
Set up as in the image above, repeatedly layering one ring then six evenly spaced blocks until all the pieces have been used.

Play:
Players take turns. Throw the die and this will indicate which color you will pull on your turn. Pull a block of that color from anywhere on the tower without making it fall. Repeat this until the tower falls.

Try this:

• Forget the die and just pull a block that you feel will keep the tower standing. Let skill and not the die dictate who will lose.
• Throw the die and then say the color to reinforce colors, or skip the die and call the color the other player must remove or let the other player call their own color and remove that piece.
• Allow players to move the blocks on their turn. For instance, there may be three blocks left on a level and pulling one out will definitely leave the tower unbalanced and make it fall. Allow the player to carefully slide one of the blocks to the other side of the ring so that the tower will not fall. However, if the tower falls while they are moving things around, they lose anyway.
• Change the object of the game. Collect the most rings and win the game. Last person to take off a block on a level gets the ring. Don't put a ring at the very top when you set up.
• Cup one or two hands and roll the die before throwing. If the individual has difficulty cupping the hand, place a ball in the palm and ask the player to curl their fingers around it. Then remove the ball and replace it with the die. Keep the hand(s) in that position a minute while rolling and before throwing the die. 
• Work on visual discrimination, color identification, eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity, graded movements, palmar arch development, judgment and decision making, process skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 8 rings, 1 large die, 36 blocks

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