I SPY Go Fish Card Game

I Spy Go Fish - Practice visual perceptual skills playing four games in one.

These oversized I SPY Go Fish cards come with directions for four games. The I SPY brand is famous for designing games that require coordinating several visual perceptual skills to play successfully. The cards measure 3" L x 4.5" H and are not laminated. The pictures for a set will not match exactly. The central item is the same, but may be bigger or smaller or pictured from a different perspective or orientation. The background and surrounding objects will also be different.

LEFT - Set of bees.    MIDDLE - Set of chairs.    RIGHT - Set of bikes.

The four games are:

• I SPY GO FISH - Show the cards to all players and make sure they can name the central objects (truck, fish, ball, helicopter, etc.) Then shuffle the cards and deal seven face-down to each player. Place the rest of the cards face-down in the middle of the table and shuffle them around so they resemble a "puddle" of cards. Hold your cards in your hand so that only you can see them. If you have any matching sets (of 2), place them on the table in front of you. In turn, you will ask one other player if they have one specific card in their hand. This one card will make a match with a card that you already have in your hand. For instance, you ask "John, do you have a dinosaur?" If John says no, you must "go fish", which means draw a card from the puddle of cards in the middle of the table. If you get the card you asked for, place the set on the table and ask a player for a different card. If you don't get a match from fishing, your turn is over. If a player totally runs out of cards, he may pick one from the puddle and keep playing. After all the cards from the puddle are gone, the player with the most cards is the winner.
• I SPY Riddles - Place several cards on the table. Zero in on one card, without pointing it out to the others, and start naming the items on the card.  For example, "I spy a fish, I spy a button, I spy a coin." All players scan the cards to see who can be the first to find the card that is being described. The winner points it out and takes the card off the table. Play several rounds and the player with the most cards at the end is the winner. Place more cards face-up for a more difficult game and fewer cards for an easier game. 
• I SPY Matching - Place all the cards face-up on the table. At go, all players reach at the same time to gather 2-set matching pairs. The player with the most sets when all the cards are gone is the winner. Play a one player game, no speed required. Place fewer cards at a time for beginners and add cards as the player(s) gets better at the game. There are 48 cards, meaning 24 sets.
• I SPY Memory - Place cards face-down in a grid formation on the tabletop. Players take turns turning over two cards. If you make a match, take the cards. If you don't make a match, turn them back over where they are. Players watch as other players turn cards and memorize where different pictures are so they can make sets. The matching cards will not be exactly alike. When all the cards have been taken, the player with the most cards is the winner.

Check out more fun figure ground games at I SPY Games.

Try this:

• Place two different cards face-up on the table. Give the player one card that will match one of the two cards. Ask the player to find the card from the two that matches.
• Mix and then pile the cards, stacking some face-up, some face down, upside-down, etc. Ask the player to hold the deck in the non-dominant hand and place all the cards face-up and right-side-up in a pile. Push the top card off with the thumb and take with the dominant hand. Will require flipping, rotating, etc. in-hand with the dominant hand. The cards are a little bigger, so may be too difficult for small hands.
• Practice fanning the cards by holding several in the non-dominant hand and pushing them apart using the thumb.
• Work on figure ground, visual form constancy, visual memory, spatial relations, visual scanning, visual discrimination, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, bilateral coordination, executive functioning skills, socialization skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation 

In the box: 48 cards, directions for 4 games

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

Alphabet Alligators

Alphabet Alligators - There's less than meets the eye.

I am big on reading, and recommending that others read, descriptions and reviews before buying. Therefore I was surprised when Alphabet Alligators arrived with only 13 alligators and a big, clear plastic cone inside the bucket to take up room so the bucket would look full. I expected 26 two-piece alligators, one for each letter of the alphabet. After returning to Amazon to check the description I see that yes, they made it very clear there are only 13 two-piece alligators, each with a capital and small letter on one side, and a different capital and small letter on the other side. The front and back of Alphabet Alligators push together easily and pull apart easily (will not require much hand strength), but not so easily that they will just fall apart. 

The description on Amazon also says that this is a self-checking activity, which it is not. If an activity is self-checking, there is one, and only one way that two pieces will fit together - the correct way. In fact there are three complete green alligators, three blue, three red, two orange, and two purple. So there are many opportunities to get it wrong and not know it. In addition, if an individual is supposed to be working on matching the alligators by letter, but is actually matching them by color, they will probably get some randomly correct while you are thinking they are learning letters.

Easy to use with hand-over-hand assist because of the shape. A complete alligator measures approximately 5"L x 1.5"H.

Try this:

• Start by giving only the pieces that make correct matches so that individuals don't learn them incorrectly.
• Place one front of each color on the table. Present one of the backs at a time and ask the individual to match the color. If this is too challenging, reduce the number of pieces to choose from.
• Place all fronts of one color on the table. Give the back of one of them and ask the individual to find the matching letter.
• Use as a two-handed activity and allow the individual to push any two pieces, front and back, together. Then take them apart as you put them back into the bucket.
• Place all the pieces in a pile and assemble the alligators by letter. Play with more than one person and race or take turns matching alligators.
• Place the pieces in the pile in different orientations so that some of the letters are upside-down or laying sideways.
• Work on visual discrimination, visual form constancy, spatial relations, figure ground, eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity, coordinated use of both hands, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the bucket: 13 two-piece alligators