Figure Ground

Visual figure ground is a visual perceptual skill that refers to the ability to find something specific in a busy background. Have you ever searched for Waldo, a young man with a red hat and striped shirt that hangs out in crowded places? Where's Waldo is a figure ground puzzle. Another example that I think most people are familiar with these days is a word search puzzle: Find a list of words embedded in a grid made up of letters.

Can you count the pieces of cheese in the image on the left? Which mouse has the red nose on the right?

But seriously, silly puzzles aside, figure ground is a skill that most of us use over and over during the course of a day without even thinking about it. Consider these situations where this skill is used:

• Copying from a book or the board
• Finding a specific piece of clothing in a full drawer
• Finding a specific toy in the toy box
• Locating road signs while driving
• Looking up a word in the dictionary
• Finding the scissors in the junk drawer
• Scanning a book for relevant information while studying
• Finding pieces while working a jigsaw puzzle
• Finding a can of beans in the food cupboard 
• Finding a specific Lego piece in a pile of Lego pieces

You can see this list could go on and on. You can also see why this is an important skill to target for improvement when someone has difficulty in this area. There are lots of ways to do this, but since this blog focuses on games and toys, we'll focus on that.

Some games require figure ground skills without it being the focus or goal of the game. Think of games with busy game boards, like Chutes and Ladders. If you can't separate the different images on this board it will be impossible, or at least extremely frustrating, to play. Bingo cards, games with lots of dice or cards and games with multiple small manipulative pieces may also be a challenge. Logic games that require manipulating a lot of pieces in a crowded space would qualify. Games like Bounce Off that require you to aim and create a pattern in a busy background, and to recognize it when you have it are also good examples.

On the other hand, there are some games that are designed to exercise figure ground skills. Check out the long list of I SPY games, by Scholastic Books. They are known for their figure ground games and I own, use, and have blogged about many of them. Search and Find books are also based on finding specific items in a busy background and are very popular with kids. Find It! buries small objects in tubes filled with colorful pellets.

The key is to choose activities that meet the individual where they are and then push them to go farther, at their pace, to keep moving forward. This is the just-right challenge. Here are a few strategies that I use in therapy when working on these skills with kids and games:

• Start slow. Give only a few of the pieces that the individual will need as choices. Sometimes you might start with only two or three. For instance if you are assembling a Lego model, give the person three pieces to choose from, one of them being the piece they will need. Of course you will always have to be one step ahead of them so that you are offering what they need as one of the choices. When this is easy, offer four pieces, then five, etc. Work your way up as fast/slow as they need to go to succeed. If using a bingo game, start with a card with a 3 X 3 grid, then go to a 4 X 4, then 5 X 5, etc. Upping it only after they are successful finding patterns at the current level. Use a 6 image Spot It! game before moving to an 8 image game.
• Show them what they will be looking for. If they are going to find an embedded pattern, such as with bingo, tic-tac-toe, or Bounce Off, show them what a win will look like. Line up the markers in the exact position(s). Then embed a win on a card with extra pieces around it and let them practice finding it that way before actually playing a game.
• Start simple with an exact copy. If you are looking for an image in a crowded background, such as with a search and find book, start with images that will look exactly like the image they show you to find. Sometimes they will show you a character to find, but that character will be doing something different in the picture (for instance swimming where you only see half of the image, instead of sitting). Sometimes characters are dressed differently. Or they will show you a picture of a chair but in the busy background it will actually be a silhouette, or in a different orientation, so shown from a different perspective. Move to these kinds of matches after they are successful at the exact ones.
• Block out extra background that is not necessary and gradually add it back in. For instance, Q Bitz has 16 cubes that must be placed in a tray in a particular order to replicate a pattern. If necessary I will block out the whole pattern except one cube. Then we usually move to looking at one line or column at a time. Then move to letting the whole pattern show that you have already worked on. Work your way to showing the whole pattern card without anything blocked out. I usually use plain white paper to block out and I typically have paper with these shapes cut out that I leave in the boxes for the next time we use it, so I won't have to be grabbing at whatever is handy, and sometimes not very effective. Q-Bitz also incorporates other visual perceptual skills, so might not be where you would want to start.
• Make a pattern card of what they are looking for. For instance, I usually start bingo games with a horizontal win, then move to vertical, then diagonal, then horizontal and vertical, then any way. I will copy the bingo card in black and white and color in a horizontal win with a bright yellow marker. We will keep that next to us as we play a game to remind us what we are looking for during a horizontal game. Remove it after they have mastered it.
• Show them a 3D model. if they are looking at a 2D model but need to find a matching 3D model, I will show them the same 3D model (if I have one). I SPY Dig In, a very popular game with kids, is a good example. There are 32 4-piece sets of different shapes, 128 small pieces in all. If kids are overwhelmed by the 128 pieces I will start by using fewer pieces or play on a flat surface so there is only one layer, and/or separate out one of what they are looking for so they can refer to it as they look.    

Below are some games that feature figure ground that I have blogged about. Most also incorporate other visual perceptual skills along with figure ground, such as visual form constancy, visual closure and spatial orientation. Click on the links below to check them out.

• I SPY Games 
• Charlie Brown Look and Find
• Find It!
• Q-Bitz
• Spot It!
• WordSearch Jr. 
• Search and Find Family Fun Pad 
• Search and Find Cards 
• Animal Soup
• Finder's Keepers  
• Monster Munch
• Find it Fast Floor Puzzle
•  

I SPY Spectacular!

I SPY Spectacular - Unusual spinner

I'm expecting great things from a game that has the word "spectacular" in its name. I SPY does figure ground like nobody else, so I'm sure I won't be disappointed with I SPY Spectacular.

I SPY Spectacular includes a 3-level spinner, something I've never seen before, and 36 double-sided I SPY cards. You can see the spinner in the image above, but here is a picture of the back of the box because I think it shows it better. 

Back of box showing game set up for play.

The spinner is sitting on a square red base made of a sturdy card stock. In one corner of this red base is a yellow arrow that points to the spinner. The spinner is blue plastic and has little indents in the sides where you can put a finger to help you spin. It spins easily and all three levels spin together as one unit. On each spinner level (3) in the image above you will see a white ring with images. These images match the images on the picture cards. The three rings are two sided and the largest ring is blue on the other side, divided into six sections, each with one image. The middle ring is green on the opposite side with the words AND and NOT alternating around the ring. The smallest ring is yellow on the opposite side with six images, one per section.

There are 36 double-sided image cards. They each have a colored border (red, blue, yellow, green) that is not important to the game. Each card has a white background on one side and a lightly tinted background that matches the border color on the other side. The white side shows nine images and has a two line rhyme at the bottom. The tinted side has five images. Images are of common items including scissors, star, dinosaur, top, astronaut, sunglasses, pig, rose, hanger, frog and marble. Each item looks exactly the same whether on the card(s) or on the spinner. The only different is that the size may be a little different.

Front and back of cards, couple of game tokens at top.

If you would like to read more about the I SPY games I have blogged about, click here. 

There are instructions for two games - a competitive game and a cooperative game.

Competitive Game

Object:
Be the first player to collect 10 tokens.

Set up:
Place the spinner in the middle of the players and line up all of the cards, white side up, around the spinner (see the image above). Make sure the rings in the spinner are all white side up.

Play:
Players all play at the same time. Spin the spinner and notice where the arrow is pointing. There will be three items in that section on the bottom ring, two on the middle ring, and one on the top ring. Players race to find one card that has the image from the top ring, one of the two images from the middle ring and one of the three images from the bottom ring - 3 images in all. When a player finds one of the cards he takes it. All players continue to look for the second card. The person who finds it takes it. One token is awarded to the finder of each card. Cards are returned to the playing area around the spinner. Before returning the cards, read the two line rhyme at the bottom of each card. Of the three items that matched your spinner on that card, one of them will be the answer. Can you find it?

Spin again for a new round. Play until someone wins 10 tokens and wins the game.


Cooperative Game

Object:
Be the first person to collect 25 points.

Set up:
Place the spinner in the middle of the players. Flip the rings so that the colored rings are face-up. The top and bottom rings are each divided into six sections, each section having one image. The middle ring has the words AND and NOT. Place all the cards around the spinner, tinted side up. Get a paper and pencil to keep score.

Play:
All players play at the same time. Spin the spinner and note where the arrow is pointing. If the middle ring is AND, be the first player to find the one card of the 36 that matches the two images on the spin (top and bottom rings). If the middle ring is NOT, collect as many of the cards that do not have either of the items that were spun. Win one point for the AND game and one point for each card you collect in the NOT game. Play until someone gets 25 points and wins the game.

Try this:

• Skip the game. Read the rhyme at the bottom of each card and find the pictures in the rhyme on the card.
• Sort the cards into piles according to border color. Hold some in the non-dominant hand and push them off the top with the thumb, one at a time, to be taken to sort with the other hand.
• Skip the game. Spin the spinner. Look over the cards and find all the cards with the image from the top ring. Then look over the remainder for all the the two images from the second ring. Name the two images, repeat them as you look to help you remember. Try to remember and clear them without having to look back at the spinner. Repeat the three images on the bottom ring, saying them a couple of times out loud to help you remember. Look over the remaining cards and remove any that have any of these three images on them. Try to remember the three images, repeating them as you go to help you remember them without having to look back at the spinner for a reminder.
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, visual memory, eye-hand coordination, using both hands in a coordinated manner, socialization skills, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: Spinner, three rings, 36 I SPY cards, 40 tokens

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