Marbulous See Through

Marbulous See Through Marble Maze

I've seen a variety of build-able marble mazes over the years, like Marbulous, and never desired to own one. But once I saw how much the kids liked it, I wished I had gone for it sooner. There's just something mesmerizing about watching those metal balls drop and swirl and spin movable parts as they make their way to the bottom, and the kids never tire of dropping them in, over and over and over.

This is a very basic set that includes 48 pieces, 16 balls, and instructions for building 4 models. As I looked around on Amazon I saw you can buy games with many more pieces - one with 216. In addition, you can even buy specialized pieces separately that jump, swing, light up and make wacky sounds. Looks like we aren't the only ones that like it.

The plastic pieces are brightly colored but still transparent enough to see the balls. They seem fairly durable. The blue and yellow upside-down "U" shaped pieces on the bottom (image above) are each made of two pieces. There is a plastic connecting piece inside the blue one that has broken off. However, you can just hold the two pieces together and putting another piece on top of it holds it together fine. The small balls remind me of metal ball-bearings. Like any small pieces that may look edible, monitory for safety.

Here is an image of the instruction guide:

LEFT: 15 piece maze.                                        RIGHT: 48 piece maze.

To play, simply empty the pieces out of the box, choose a model from the instruction guide and go to work. There are four models and they increase in the number of pieces needed as you go. Number one takes 15 pieces, number two takes 21, number three takes 29 and number four takes all 48 pieces. Then of course you can skip the instruction guide and build as many models as you want from your own imagination.

I used this with several kids who have a moderate cognitive disability and they loved it.

Try this:

• Play with the pieces before building. Get a feel for them and how they will snap together. 
• Set out only the pieces needed for the model you will be building if looking over too many would be confusing.
• Hand the pieces to the individual one at a time in the order they need for building.
• Correct errors as they are made. Wait too long and it may topple on you as you try to remove and replace pieces.
• Cover everything on the instruction guide except what you are working on to reduce unnecessary images that may be confusing.
• Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations, visual closure, figure ground, visual tracking, eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity, bilateral integration, planning, creative play, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 48 pieces, 16 balls, instruction guide

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

Barrel Of Monkeys - Candy Cane Edition

Barrel of Monkeys - Candy Cane Edition

I tried the Barrel of Monkeys game several times when I was a kid and then kicked it to the curb, forever... I thought. So what am I doing with another one? Well for one, it was brand new and I bought it for $1. Up until yesterday that would not have been enough. You could have given it to me for free, or better yet, given me $1 to take if off your hands and I wouldn't have been interested. But for two, however turned off I was by the game, this was a Christmas version, and you know how I love Christmas games. So I decided to take a look at the monkeys just to see if anything had changed over the years. While examining them, and it has been a long time, it appeared to me that one arm/hand was flatter and angled up more than it used to be, and I figured that might just be the advantage I would need to finally conquer this game.

If you've never played Barrel of Monkeys before, you get 10 monkeys and you are required to pick them up, one at a time, linking them together until you are holding a long chain. The catch is that you can only use the hand that is holding the chain while doing this. The monkeys were always sold, and stored, in a plastic barrel. The monkeys in this game seem to be a little smaller than the original ones I remember, and no storage barrel included.

Within 10 seconds bad memories came flooding back and I regretted the purchase. I couldn't then, and I couldn't now, imagine that it was even possible. But how could they keep selling the game since 1965 if it was impossible? Something we have now that we didn't have then helped provide the answer - You Tube. I figured if it was possible, somebody somewhere had videoed themselves doing it and I would find it there.

I had to go through a few, but watched one that finally provided the answer. While holding that long string of swaying monkeys, position the bottom monkey close to the next monkey you want to pick up and gently touch it to the table, just enough to still it and then, with it anchored enough to stay still, move your arm so that his arm is angled so that his hand is lying straight/flat on the table top. Then carefully pull the sting of monkeys toward the monkey you want to pick up. Oh, maybe you should just see it for yourself. Here is the video I watched. You Tube Barrel of Monkeys.

After many years, I finally figured it out. Will I start playing it now? We'll see how it goes next Christmas, but it's doubtful. Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily make it fun. If you're interested in trying your hand at it, click on the image below to go to Amazon.

To read about more than 40 Christmas games and toys I have blogged about, click here.