Animal Rescue Shape Sorting Truck

Animal Rescue Shape Sorting Truck - Includes seven animals and two drivers.

Kids get a chance to use their imaginations while loading the animals into the Animal Rescue Shape Sorting Truck. Creative play with toys like these allow kids the freedom to make up a different story every time they play.

Everything is wooden except the plastic wheels, which do turn so the truck can roll. The truck measures 10.5" front to back and is 6.75" tall. Holes are cut out on the sides of the truck, one for each of the seven wild animals included (see image above). There are three cut outs on each side of the truck and one on the back door. Each animal will have to be pushed in through his own hole as holes are cut specifically to the shape of each animal. You can push the animals in through the holes to load them, or you can lift the back door off the truck and put them in through the back. Replace the door to store the animals in the truck.

 

There are also two people included, a man and a woman, both dressed in safari-type outfits. These two people stand in slots in the front of the truck. The animals are painted all over but the features are printed on one side only. Three of the animals are facing right and four are facing left. They all stand independently.

Try this:

• Reinforce colors and animal names by describing each animal as you play, such as the grey hippo or the blue elephant.
• Line the animals up and compare them. Who's the tallest, who's the longest, who's the biggest, etc.
• Ask open-ended questions such as where are the animals headed today or what do you think it sounds like in the truck?
• Present one animal at a time and scan the truck to find the hole to push it through. Can you see the correct shape just using your eyes? If not, try different pushing it through different holes until you find the right one. 
• Present each animal in a different orientation than it will need to be to push through the hole so manipulation is required.
• Turn the animals around so that you can't see the features. Can you remember which animal is which just by the shape? Can you find the hole the animal will go through, even though you are looking at it backwards?
• Lay out a course around the room beforehand that the truck will drive to include ample opportunity to crawl on hands and knees.
• Partially hide the animals around the room, letting part of each animal peek out from behind something. Ask the child to push the truck around the room and find and load each animal.
• Take the opportunity to talk about animal sounds, habitat, food, care, etc., while you play.
• Line up the animals that are facing left. What do you think they are looking at? Line up the animals that are facing right. What are they looking at?
• Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations, position in space, color and animal recognition, manual dexterity, creative play, crawling (to push the truck), motor planning, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation 

In the box: 2-piece truck (body and back door), 7 animals, 2 people

Terror Eyes

Terror Eyes -Roll the dice to match the monster eyes pattern card.

Terror Eyes is a little creepy and a lot different. The idea is that the monster can't see anything without his eyes. Choose an "eyes" pattern card, throw the dice one at a time until they match that pattern, adding them to the monster as you go.

The game consists of 4 dice, 56 cards and a box. I say the obvious "box" because the bottom of the box is the monster's face and where you will place the dice as you throw. The image below shows the box bottom and where the eye dice will go.

Back of the box.

There are three large dice and one smaller red die. The three large eye dice are identical and much larger than the red die, and they measure 1 1/8" square. Five sides of the eye dice show one eye per side and the sixth side is blank. These are the dice you will throw to match the pattern picture. The red die will be thrown by another player while you are playing. The red die has four blank sides, one side with a hand and one side with an exclamation mark. As one player is throwing the eye dice, another player will be throwing this die to stop the player throwing the die (hand). If the person throwing the red die throws an exclamation mark, the other player must perform a physical activity that will slow him down. There are 10 action cards and they include:

• Balance one of the eye dice on your head for 5 seconds.
• Touch your nose with your foot.
• Toss one of the eye dice and catch it.
• Crawl under the table.
• Roll the eye dice with you wrists until the end of the round.

There are 46 pattern cards and each have a different eye pattern on one side only.  

Object:

Be the first player to collect 3 pattern cards.

Set up:

Place the box bottom in the middle of the players. Shuffle the pattern cards and place them nearby in a face-down pile. Shuffle the action cards and place them in a face-down nearby pile. Place all the dice nearby.

Play:

Choose who will go first and give them the three big eye dice. Give the red die to the player on their left. Flip over a pattern card. Both players will throw their dice at the same time. The person with the eye dice will throw one die at a time, quickly and repeatedly, until it matches one of the eyes on the pattern card. They will quickly place that eye in the box and pick up another eye die and start throwing it. At the same time the other player throws the red die once. If he throws the hand, the turn is over and the eye dice that are left are passed to the person on the left and the red die is passed to the person on their left. If they throw the exclamation mark, they must turn over the first action card and the person with the eye die must follow the instructions. If the person with the red die throws a blank side, the die is passed to the next person who gets to throw it once. Everyone keeps throwing their dice until someone with the red die stops the person throwing the eye dice by throwing the hand. Keep playing this way until someone places the last eye (the third die) into the box to complete the pattern. That person gets to take the pattern card and the round is over. Flip over a new pattern card and keep playing rounds until someone collects three pattern cards and wins the game.

Try this:

• Skip the action cards if a person is not willing or able to perform the actions (not everyone can crawl under a table or touch their foot to their nose, or would care to try).
• Let one person throw all three eye dice at the same time. Add them one at a time to the box OR throw until all three that you need come up at the same time.
• Skip the game. Place the box and the eye dice on the table. Present one pattern card at a time and place the eyes in the box to match the pattern card. Pick up each eye die, one at a time, and turn it in-hand to the side you need.
• Cup the hand and roll the large eye die around several times without dropping it. Cup both hands and rolling all three around.
• Pick the top card off the stacks as you go without toppling the pile or picking up more than one card at a time.
• Sort the cards into three piles: one pile for one-eyed monsters, one pile for two-eyed monsters, one pile for three-eyed monsters (there is a blank side on the eye die that will be placed where ever there is a blank spot on the pattern card).
• Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations, manual dexterity, palmar arch development and strength, socialization skills, process skills, executive functioning skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 3 large eye dice, 1 red die, 46 pattern cards, 10 action cards

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