Giggle Wiggle

Giggle Wiggle - Place the marbles in the hands as it sways and turns

If you're familiar with Scatterpillar Scramble, then you're already half way to Giggle Wiggle. I see on Amazon that the older Scatterpillar is no longer available and Giggle Wiggle seems to have taken it's place, with a few changes, but it's made by a different company.

Giggle Wiggles includes a 10" inch tall, segmented, green caterpillar with 12 sets of arms (24 total). Once you put the caterpillar in the orange base and turn it on it will sway as music plays. The instructions say that the caterpillar can rotate 360 degrees, but I have not seen it. It will turn toward the left until its back is facing you and then turn back the same way. It never turns toward the right. There is a scooped out dip in each hand where you will place plastic marbles. A thumbs up to the Goliath company for including four more marbles than you need. Most games give you exactly enough pieces and if you lose even one, some games are no longer playable. Before you play for the first time you must place the eye and bow tie stickers on the caterpillar.

The base is orange and has four divided sections at the bottom where you will sort the marbles by color (purple yellow, red, blue). Each one of the sections is at the bottom of a column of six arms. Push the button on the front of the base to turn it on, press again to turn it off.

One of my favorite things about Scatterpillar Scramble was the tweezers. I liked them so much that I took them out and used them for other games. Giggle Wiggle, unfortunately, does not include tweezers. You will need to place and remove the marbles with your fingers.

Requires 3 AA batteries and a small screwdriver to open the back. My 10 piece small screwdriver set is the best purchase I've ever made at the dollar store.

Object:
Be the first player to place all six marbles on the caterpillars hands.

Set up:
Add the batteries. Place the green caterpillar into the orange base. Sort the four marble colors into the four sections at the bottom of the base and assign each person one color. 

Play:
Turn on the caterpillar. As he moves, place your six marbles in the six hands above your section. The caterpillar will try to shake off the marbles as he moves. If any marbles fall off, pick them up and put them back on. Play until someone has all six marbles on the caterpillar and wins the game.

Try this:

• Try it with the music off first to get the feel of what you will be expected to do under more difficult conditions.
• Skip the game. Leave the caterpillar off and place the marbles into the hands. Hold two or three marbles in one hand and bring each one to the fingertips, one at a time, and place it in a hand.
• Skip the game. After loading the hands with the marbles, take them off one at a time, squirreling them in your palm as you go. Pick off as many as you can without dropping any.
• Sort the marbles into the base before the game starts by holding several in your hand and dropping them one at a time in the correct sections.
• Work on visual discrimination, fine motor control, manual dexterity, eye hand coordination, motor planning, in-hand manipulation, grading, proximal stability, balance, executive functioning skills, socialization skills, process 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.

Trucky 3

Trucky 3 - Use logic to build puzzles in trucks that really roll

Trucky 3 is another in the long line of one-person logic games from SmartGames. With three plastic rolling trucks and 10 colorful plastic shapes, most have wanted to give this one a try.

Your goal is to use the pieces shown on a puzzle page and load them into the truck(s) shown so that they fit and are flat across the top (nothing sticking up out of the back of the truck). You can see two trucks loaded this way in the image above.   

The trucks are sturdy and each truck has a wooden base, cab and wheels. The beds are clear plastic. The 3 trucks measure 3 1/8", 4" and 4 3/4". The 10 pieces are each a different shape and they are hollowed out on two sides. It will help you while solving the puzzles to remember that the hollowed out sides will always face out.
 
The puzzle book is spiral bound so it will lie flat. The front of each puzzle page shows the puzzle and the back of the page shows the solution. The puzzle pages show the empty truck(s) at the bottom and the pieces that need to be loaded at the top (see image below). The Trucky 3 puzzles fall into four categories which get more difficult as you work your way through the book. Here are the four levels:

• Starter - 12 puzzles, 1 truck per puzzle, 2 to 3 pieces per truck
• Junior - 12 puzzles, 1 truck per puzzle, 2 to 4 pieces per truck
• Expert - 12 puzzles, 2 trucks per puzzle, 4 to 6 pieces per truck
• Master - 12 puzzles, 2 or 3 trucks per puzzle, 4 to 8 pieces per puzzle. Only 2 puzzles use all 3 trucks with 7 and then 8 pieces. The other 10 puzzles use 4 to 6 pieces.

Below are images of the first and last puzzle, each with their solution, so you can see how they increase in difficulty.

Trucky 3 puzzle #1 with solution.

Trucky 3 puzzle #48 with solution.

I was very happy the day I discovered the SmartGames line of logic puzzles and have used them successfully in my practice for years. To read more about one-player SmartGames that I have blogged about, click here.

Try this:

• Play with the pieces before working the puzzles. See how they look different in different orientations, see how they fit into the trucks, etc.
• Build the trucks from the solution pages if figuring out the challenges would be too difficult.
• Show the individual how to load a truck or load it from the solution page. Then take the pieces out, turn them into different orientations, and let the individual solve the same puzzle.
• Place the first piece in as the individual is learning and let them add the rest.
• Ask the individual to turn the piece in-hand before placing it if they pick it up in the incorrect orientation. Make sure the pieces are lying in the incorrect orientation before you start a puzzle if you want to make sure they practice this.
• Fill the truck will all but the last piece and let the individual add it. Then fill the truck will all but the last two pieces and let the individual add them, etc.
• Continue to use the game if the individual cannot get past the first section, separating and giving them the pieces to only one truck at a time on more difficult puzzles.
• Give verbal instructions to someone who cannot solve the puzzle on their own. For instance "Put the pink piece on the bottom, fit the green piece over the cab, add the last piece". 
• Study the solution page. Then flip back to the puzzle page and see what you can remember.
• Talk out loud as you solve a puzzle and the individual looks on, teaching how to apply logic and solve problems.
• Allow the individual to roll and play with the truck(s) a little after solving a puzzle. If it has wheels, people are going to want to roll it :)
• Work on spatial relations, visual discrimination, visual form constancy, visual closure, manual dexterity, logic, problem solving, process skills, executive functioning skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 3 trucks, 10 plastic pieces, puzzle book with 48 challenges

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