Scrabble Me

In the box: 4 individual Scrabble boards, 100 wooden standard Scrabble letter tiles, 4 wooden tile racks, drawstring cloth storage tile bag, Prize tile podium
Ages 8+, 2-4 players

When it comes to word games, I'm the first to the table! I thought I had played most Scrabble versions until I recently spotted this one. How did I miss it? 

Setting up the game includes giving each person an individual board (2-4 can play), placing a number of tiles face-up on the blue, round podium, and each player choosing 7 tiles from the bag to place on his own rack.

For each round, all players create one word simultaneously on their own individual boards from their own tile racks. When everyone is done, each word is scored. To replace the tiles on the racks for the next round, each person takes one tile at a time, either from the face-up tiles or the unseen tiles in the bag, until they again have seven. Unique twist - if a player plays a blank tile, he must trade his board with anyone else's board of his choice. Or how about this twist: After each round, players push their boards to the person on the left. All players add their new word, score it, then pass it to the left again. Keep going until the tiles are gone.

The game ends when all 100 tiles are used. The highest scorer wins. I personally like the interaction and challenge of playing on other people's words, but this is a fun version to mix it up for Scrabble lovers like me.

If you would like to purchase this game or just want more information, click on the image below.

Crayon Rubbings

Klutz Crayon Rubbing coloring book includes 8 bumpity bump plates, 6 glitter crayons, 28 pictures to color, and 1 rainbow crayon brick. It is spiral bound and the the plastic storage bag on the front is held in place by the spiral. A nice set up for the book to lie flat while you use the rubbing plates.

Rubbing plates, like the ones included in this book, may help increase proprioceptive feedback and body awareness for light writers because you will have to put pressure on the crayon for the pattern to show up. The plates are attached by the spiral so you can either keep them attached or cut them out and use them with all kinds of coloring projects. The pictures are approximately 7.5" X 7.5" and are geared toward children (farm animals, dinosaurs, outer space aliens).

A coloring page in the book.

The eight plastic bump plates are 2 on one page, so they are half page sized.

The transparent bump plates.

 

Tear out the picture you want to color, place it on top of the plastic bump plate you want to use, and color. The individual will have to press hard for the pattern to appear. You can also just use your own coloring pictures. Large objects to color will work best.

I have also bought rubbing plates from Oriental Trading. They come alone, no book, coloring page or crayon. I have a set of fall plates and a set of Valentine plates. They are fun to use.

If you would like to read more about games that require writing or drawing in some form, check out my post Games That Require a Writing Tool.  

Try this:

• Start with deep pressure to the hands and arms before coloring, which might include animals walks or chair push ups.
• Use the rainbow crayon brick, which is rectangle and flat, to color the picture faster. Color with the side of the crayon instead of the tip for broader strokes.
• Work on body awareness, bilateral hand use, motor planning, finger strength, fine motor control, manual dexterity, tool use 

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

Create a Mosaic Puzzle

Mosaic Puzzle box.

 

Let me start off by saying I got mine second hand, so I am not exactly sure of the contents. I did some research and did not come up with anything definitive, so if anyone knows for sure, a comment would be appreciated. However, what I have is what you see above, which is an image taken from Amazon.

The pieces are all hard plastic, including the container. The lid snaps on tight. I have the same three large pictures as above and there are pictures on both sides of each sheet, six total. The six images are bear/Santa Claus, penguin/alligator, and joker/parrot. The white grid on the lid comes off easily so you can take it off, put one of the pictures on the lid, then put the grid back on top. That is what you see in the picture of the bear at the top of this blog. There is an additional picture book that I have not used because the pictures are quite small. Working from the book will take more time and the ability to work from a 2D model, not just place matching pieces on top of colored squares, but counting spaces on a grid. There are 24 pictures in this booklet, but six of them are the same as the large pictures.

 

 

The plastic mosaic pieces fit nicely into the grid with no slipping or sliding around once in place. Two triangle pieces equals the size of one square. The pieces come in white, black, red, orange, green, blue, and yellow.  There are white mosaic pieces, but not enough to fill in all the unused portion of the images. For a quick cleanup, take the white grid off and then just dump them out.

 

 

 

Try this:

• Dump the pieces out before starting. The tray is deep, the pieces are square, and it is just harder to keep digging the pieces out of the tray.
• Work on in-hand manipulation, over and over and over. Pick up a few at a time and move them to the fingertips one at a time for placement.
• Use as a color sorting activity.
• Use a marker and a straight edge to draw a grid on the large pictures. Then place the picture on the side of or in front of the grid and make the picture. Wherever there is part of the picture there are grid markings, but there are none on the white blank areas of the picture so it is hard to tell where to start each line in some cases.
• Cup the non-dominant hand and drop pieces in when putting away. See how many will fit in the hand without dropping.
• Cup the non-dominant hand and hold several pieces as you work. Pick them up from there and place on  the grid.
  
• Work on manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, fine motor precision, palmar arch development, visual discrimination, visual closure, spatial relations, figure ground, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation 
  

In the box: Plastic storage box, lots of small mosaic pieces, large  

 

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

Connect 4 - Five Ways

Connect 4 - Play 5 ways!

This Connect 4 version has an extra column down each side and boasts 5 ways to play. I was excited to see this game, because I thought with the extra grid column down each side there would be more places to play. Nope. The extra columns that attach to each side are printed cardboard. Yes, it will give you an extra piece in each direction so that you can get 5 in a row, but you have to plan around their images. The cardboard side columns are removable.

5 ways to play:

• Original
• Pop Out
• Pop 10
• Pop Up
• 5-in-a-row

Try this:

• Ask the individual to hold two or three checkers in-hand at once. Each turn, have him move one checker to the fingertips to play.
• Make a paper pattern of the grid. Color in the circles with red and yellow. Place the pattern next to, or in front of the grid and ask the person to make the colored pattern on the grid instead of playing a game.
• Fill the grid with the checkers, in several lines of four going in different directions. Ask the individual to find and point out all the Connect 4's that he can see on the grid. To start easier, look for all of one direction at a time, such as all horizontal, then all vertical, etc.
• Practice just dropping the checkers in the slot at the top. Make a random pattern or just free play.
• Remember the rule for all four-in-a-row games: Don't let your opponent get three in a row with a blank on each side.
• Work on visual closure, visual discrimination, figure ground, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, spatial relations, eye hand coordination, executive functioning skills, process skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: Plastic grid, 2 cardboard side pieces, 21 red and 21 yellow checkers
Ages 6+, 2 players

For more information, click on the image below.