Happy Holidays - The Christmas Carols & Songs Game

Happy Holidays! It's all about the music.

In the box: Small game board, 6 pawns, 1 die, 60 cards  

 

Happy Holidays!, The Christmas Carols & Songs Game looks like it will be our new Christmas game for this year. Our family has long been lovers of Christmas music and have known the words for and sung Christmas carols (religious) and Christmas songs (secular) from our youth. As I've mentioned before, new Christmas games are getting hard to come by so when I found this one this summer I was pretty tickled. Can't start too soon to plan for Christmas.

This game comes with a small game board, about 13" x 7.5". There is a path with 31 spaces and two of the spaces say GROUP SING and names a song. I can't wait!

The game has six small plastic pawns, a die and 60 cards. Each card has six categories (the same categories are on each card). To the left of each category is a colored bow. The six categories are:

• Name the song
• Multiple choice
• Sing the next line
• Keywords in the song
• Fill in the blank
• Choose any category (so basically there are really only five categories and this chance to choose your favorite).

The answers are listed on the same card as the questions. Cards are printed on one side only. 

Game card.                                                                           Game board.

Object:
Be the first person or group to make it to the finish area.

Set up:
Place the board on the table between players. Each person or team takes one pawn and puts it on START. Put the stack of cards face-down on the table.

Play:
Players take turns. On your turn, throw the die and move forward that many spaces on the board. One of three things will now happen:

• You land on a square with a colored bow - The person to your left picks up the top card, notes the color of the square you landed on, finds that color on the card and asks you the question. If you answer wrong, your turn is over and the card is returned to the bottom of the stack. If you are right, you get to throw the die and move again. Keep playing in this manner until you either miss a question, land on blank or group sing square or win the game.
• You land on an empty square - Nothing happens, your turn is over.
• You land on a square that says GROUP SING - Everybody joins in and sings. Your turn is over.

If you are interested in reading about other Christmas games that I have blogged about, click here.

Try this:

• Play a theme game - Pick a category and ask only those questions for a whole game. There are 60 cards, so 60 questions can be asked. Spread the play out over several games to cover all the categories on the cards. Also makes sure that you ask and answer every question in the box. Either use the board and ignore the colors on the spaces or just skip the board.
• If you come upon a song that no one has ever heard before, and you have an Alexa, ask her to play it for you.
• Serve Christmas treats (this should go without saying : )
  

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

Search & Find - Giant Family Fun Pad

GIANT Search & Find fun book.

Search & Find books are a fun way to work on figure ground skills. This Giant Family-Fun Pad is made by KidsBooks (kidsbooks.com). The Scholastic brand I Spy line includes big books as well as many games. For more information about I SPY products that I have blogged about, click here. 

This book is LARGE.  It measures about 18.5" x 14.5". Let me say up front that my version of this book looks different than the one that is on Amazon now. It's the same theme, but the cover is different. I got the image above from their website so I know the Amazon image is the up-to-date version and my version must be an older version. I have been lucky to stumble onto several new books in this line over the years for $1.98 at one of my local stores. I've used them for gifts as well as used them in therapy.

The book is full of pages that you can tear out. My book has 32 pages but their website does not say how many pages the newer version of this book has. Sometimes I marvel that people can even sell products with the vague descriptions that they give (one reason I decided to start this blog). 

You can see from this image below that some of the pictures in these books can be quite detailed. If you need more of a starter book, this is probably not it just because of the number of items that can be found on one page. For starter books (less crowded pictures), look at the Search & Find books. They come in different levels. I have several of those too and will blog about them some day.

There are two levels of difficulty on each page. You can see along the top they show you pictures with words and you can search for the picture. Down the left side of the page they just give you words and you have to find the picture without any visual clues. Check the box next to each picture as you find it. If someone else is going to use it after you, don't check the boxes. Just search for each picture in order and only move on after you have found it. Sometimes if we search awhile and can't find it we move on to the next one to avoid frustration, but I ask them to keep it in mind as they look for others and someone eventually spots it.

Try this:

• Ask the individual to study a picture at the top of the page to remember. Then cover it up and see if they can find it in the picture.
• Rehearse the item you are looking for in your mind as you go. You could think it or even say it out loud several times as you look. You will be looking at a lot of different objects and it may be hard for some to keep in mind what they are looking for.
• Give the person a clue if they can't find what they are looking for. Of course this means you will have to find it first. I will say "It's on the left hand side of the picture" or "It's on the bottom" or "Look in the top right corner" etc.
• Work on writing the alphabet. After finding one of the pictures I will ask the person to make a large letter over the picture to indicate we found it. An obvious example would be to write the letter X over the picture but I have used other letters as well.
• Work on figure ground, visual discrimination, use of a writing tool, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation. 

If you are interested in purchasing this book or just want more information, go to Amazon or the Kidsbook.com website.