Happy Feet Two, Feeding Frenzy Game

Be the first to collect your color cubes as they vibrate and jump off the game base.

My first reaction upon flipping the switch to make Erik the penguin move was "WOW! What a racket!" The plastic game base is about 10.25" in diameter. The plastic ice cubes are hollow, have five sides (one side is open), and measure about 7/8" square. There are 24 cubes of four different colors each - blue, green, yellow and orange - six of each color. The penguin is made of hard plastic, takes 3 AA batteries and when you turn him on he REALLY vibrates.

Object:

Be the first to collect all of the ice cubes of your color.

Set up:

Place the game playing surface (piece of cardboard) inside the game base. Place this on a flat surface and put the penguin on the game base. Assign each person a color of ice cubes and each player places all of his ice cubes on the game base.

Play:

Push the button on the penguin to turn him on. As he vibrates and randomly moves around the game base the ice cubes will jump up and eventually out of the game base. Each time one of your color cubes jumps out, grab it and put it next to you. If the other players' cubes jump out and you can grab them before the owner does, you can put them back in the game base and they will have to wait for them to jump out again. The person who collects all of their color of ice cubes first is the winner.

Try this:

• Place the ice cubes on the playing surface, open side up. Ask the player to pick up each cube and turn it in-hand to flip the open side to the bottom before placing on the game surface during set-up.
• Play alone and try to predict which cube color will be the last to jump off. Place all the cubes on the base during set up. As the cubes jump out, sort them into piles by color. Did you predict the right color?
• Set a timer for a short amount of time, such as 2 minutes. Place all the ice cubes on the game base and turn on the penguin. Put the ice cubes back onto the playing surface as fast as they jump out. Can you keep up the pace?
• Set up the game and turn on the penguin. Name each ice cube color as it jumps out until all are out of the base.
• Work on visual discrimination, eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, socialization skills, motor planning, speed, process skills, executive functioning skills, play and leisure exploration and participation
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•  In the box: Plastic game base, game playing surface, penguin, 24 ice cubes
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Fiddlestix

A wooden construction set similar to Tinkertoys.

Fiddlestix is a basic construction set. This set so closely resembles Tinkertoys that I did a little research to see if Tinkertoys were bought out by Ideal, but no, it looks like Tinkertoys are now owned by Hasbro. With that being said, if you are familiar with Tinkertoys, you will be familiar with Fiddlestix.

64 connectors, 70 rods and 10 flags make up this set. All are wooden except the plastic, triangular flags. The six different connector pieces are not painted. The round connector pieces each have holes (to connect to rods) and a groove around them (in case you want to add a string for motion). The rods come in five different lengths and are brightly painted. The rods fit into holes in the round pieces for building and also have slits on both ends so that you can insert a flag if you choose. All wooden pieces are very smooth.

UPDATE: These can be VERY hard to push together. I was building a ladder and a couple of the pieces slipped into place but most of the sticks took a lot of hand strength for even me to push into the connectors. Don't think I would recommend them for therapy unless that was your goal.

There is an instruction sheet included. On it are pictured 18 projects. You will need to be able to work from a picture of a completed model as there are no step-by-step instructions. 

Try this:

• Point to each piece and/or hand each piece to the individual as the individual should add it if they are not able to work from a finished model.
• Look at the diagram and gather the pieces that you need for the project ahead of time. Count all the blues, all the reds, etc. When you are finished building, did you have too many, not enough or just right?
• Talk about the model before you build. Discuss how you could build it, in what order, and why.
• Place a piece for the individual if he gets stuck. Then take it off, hand the piece to the individual, and let him put it back on.
• Talk about the spatial orientation of pieces or sections of the model you choose. 
• Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations, figure ground, visual closure, eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity, coordinated use of both hands, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 64 connectors, 70 rods, 10 flags, instruction sheet

If you are interested in purchasing this item or just want more information, click on the image below. The box below is for 104 pieces, my blog is about 144 but I couldn't find one to link to.