Triple Talk Vocabular Cards Review

Super Duper sent me a game of vocabulary cards called Triple Talk to use and review. The game consists of 240 laminated playing cards in a cute tin mini-lunchbox type box.

The game gives players 60 word cards (see the example, "fair" in the photograph) and 180 photo-definition cards. There are three photo-definition cards for every word card, and the photo-definition cards represent three levels of difficulty.

I really appreciate the fact that the photo-definition cards say "Level 1" or "Level 2" or "Level 3" on them instead of grade levels. My teen who is academically delayed becomes upset when I introduce a game or book that is clearly labeled a grade level that is much younger than she is.

The cards are bright, the colors and photos are attractive, they are the size of a deck of playing cards and they are laminated to be sturdy. The photos are a big help to students who need that visual cue. The metal case makes them look more like a game or toy than anything "educational".

The description calls for a fast paced game where the word cards are face down in one pile and the photo-definition cards are dealt to each player. As each word card is turned over, the players look to see if they have the photo-definition card and the first player who finds a photo-definition card wins that round. Other photo-definition cards that match the word are discarded. The player who discards all his cards first is the winner.

We haven't used that set of rules at our house. My child with autism needs a slower pace for additional processing time. And, like most homeschoolers, we modify everything we get. We use nothing exactly as it was intended to be used. Triple Talk is easy to modify for our needs. My child recently completed some achievement testing and she needs practice and experience in visualization. I've been pulling the photo-definition cards and we've been going over them to come up with one word that captures all three definitions. It's our own version of the "Learn the Definitions" variation from the rule book that comes with the game.

We are working on nouns, verbs, and adjectives at the moment, and one of the game versions is "Noun or Verb?" and another is "Nouns and Verbs in Context" (which includes adjectives, too).

My girl needs practice and experience defining terms and concepts, too, and I have struggled with how to model that. Defining a word without using the word is challenging. Now I have a game that models that for me.

Other games mentioned in the game booklet include, "Fill in the Blank!"; "Multiple Meanings Jeopardy"; "Pick a Card, Any Card"; and later, a way to use the words and definitions to learn figurative language, something we need practice with in autism.

Triple Talk is priced at $34.95 and can be used at many levels, which makes it a good value in my opinion. This is not a product that we'll use and finish quickly. We will pull this one from the shelf again and again.

Super Duper sent me a free game of Triple Talk Vocabulary Cards so that I could use and review it for you. I was not paid for this review. The opinions are my own. I am not obligated to provide a positive review. 

NorthStar Games: Say AnythingFamily Edition

Say Anything from NorthStar Games is a game of perspective taking for 3-6 players ages 8+, retail priced at $19.99. If you're looking for a fun family game that works for a family that includes an individual on the autism spectrum, this is it.

Say Anything

The set up and rules are pretty simple. One player each round is the judge. The judge draws a card from the stack of Question Cards and chooses a question to read aloud. All of the players write an answer on a mini dry-erase board and each player places the dry erase board face up on the table (or floor - we like to play games on the floor) in front of them as quickly as possible. The judge chooses his/her favorite answer by marking it on the game piece called the SELECT-O-MATIC 6000 (which looks like a teeny spinner from a game, except it doesn't spin - the judge dials the arrow to the color of the player whose answer he likes the best).

The players guess which answer the judge chose - and that is how points are earned.

The player who wrote the answer that the judge chose earns a bonus point, so there is an additional level of perspective taking and strategy here if you know the judge well and know what answer he or she might choose.

Here's an example of some questions:

What would be the worst place to talk on a cell phone?
Who is the greatest musician or band ever?
What animal would it be the most fun to be?

The game is over once everyone has asked two questions. The winner is the player w/ the most points.

This is my kind of game. It's short and sweet. Say Anything is the type of game that autism moms, professionals who work with kids with developmental delays and with individuals w/ autism like. We rarely play any game out of the box by the rules, and Say Anything has outside-the-box value. The little question cards are little gems in terms of practicing shared attention and perspective taking.

And yes, of course I used the question cards outside of the game. ;) They're great dinner questions or riding in the car questions that can be used to grow perspective taking for actually playing the game.

One aspect that I really like in terms of playing w/ a child who has autism is the context of question-asking in the game is a context that does. not. require. the one-right-answer. (So much of our early autism intervention involved bombarding my kid with questions to which there is only one right answer, something that doesn't happen to the rest of the world in real life.)

In order to play the game w/ my homeschooler, I must preview the cards and questions. There are vocabulary words she doesn't know (yes, this is a great way to learn new vocab in context). For example, there is a question about the strangest aquatic animal in the deck of question cards. We got an opportunity to talk about the word "aquatic".

The game is really easy to set up and to play - and it is super easy to customize, as well, to grow perspective taking skills when you create your own questions to which there are really obvious answers. In fact, if you have a child who needs practice and experience in this area, I suggest your creating your own sets of questions as a first step. Here are questions from our house: "What is the best instrument in the marching band?" (I have a really good guess what my marching band student will say or what she would vote for if she were the judge of the round and I can spotlight that for my child w/ autism.) "What is the best sport in the world?" I know what my baseball player would say. "If you could move to any state in the United States, which would it be?" (I'm pretty sure my kids would want to return to Michigan.)

I'm not sure why, exactly, but my child w/ autism tends to like games that come with little dry erase boards and markers. And Say Anything does.

The downsides of the game are the fact that some of the vocabulary is difficult for my child w/ autism - I think the 8+ age recommendation is spot-on - and I have another wrinkle in that getting the other players to slow down and interact at a pace where my homeschooler can keep up can be a challenge.

This is fun family game; a fun game for groups of teens and preteens, may be a good travel game (I wouldn't use the tokens to show player guesses of what answer the judge best likes - the tokens will be lost, I'm sure), and I think speech therapists and special ed professionals will like it a lot, too.

To read my Crewmates' reviews of Say Anything, please go here.

NorthStar Games sent me Say Anything to review as part of my participation with The Old Schoolhouse Crew of reviewers. (I get to keep the game.) I was not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Always Ice Cream

Always Ice Cream is an virtual-world type online game for girls.

In some ways, it is very much like other online virtual-world type games my children have played.

Always Ice Cream differs from other virtual-world type games in that there is a specific emphasis on learning (academics) as part of point-earning and playing. The bonus at my house for my homeschooler is that Always Ice Cream is enough like the (mindless) games she's played that she will push through the learning pieces in order to earn points (scoops) to play the virtual-world part.

She hates math. She screeches in protest at math. And yet she happily counted on her fingers to do the addition for a game. I had to pick my jaw from the kitchen island when I saw that. She had resisted my showing her how to add on her fingers, and all of a sudden, she was doing it, and it was her own idea.

'Rella asked for help identifying the states in the geography game; I am embarrassed to admit that I get some of the states mixed up when I am given a blank map. 'Rella and I learned together. Always Ice Cream covers other subjects, too, including science, language arts, music and art.

We have reviewed several keyboarding programs and I was concerned that she would not want to do this game. It isn't her favorite, but she will do this one.

And Pet World is her favorite; it is the most like the games she has played before.

The part of Always Ice Cream that brought me the most pleasure is the chat feature. Children are able to chat with one another and 'Rella has been engaging in simple exchanges with other children about what games they like to play. For a child on the autism spectrum, the ability to chat online can be good practice for real life conversations and she and I talk about what to answer and what she might ask next in the ongoing conversation that happens over the course of several days. The online aspect gives us lots of time between exchanges to process and decide what to answer and ask next.

The recommended age range for Always Ice Cream is 7-12; my 12 year old is developmentally delayed and this product has been a fun way for her to learn. Always Ice Cream is priced at $4.99 a month; $29.99 a year; or $99 for lifetime access.

Always Ice Cream offers a parent account where we follow progress (there are weekly emails for this as well) and we can set/limit chat options.

We continue to enjoy Always Ice Cream. The product has been a neat way to let my girl experience fun and learning at the same time; it helps her discover that she is, indeed, a learner.

To read my Crewmates' reviews of Always Ice Cream, please go here.

Always Ice Cream provided my homeschooler lifetime access so that we could review it for you here. I was not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Scruble Cube, a TOS Crew Review

We naturally look for something familiar in the new. Scruble Cube is no exception. A blogger for Forbes calls it "Scrabble With A Twist". My first impression was a Rubik's Cube with letters. Upon closer inspection, our family has discovered that Scruble Cube has multiple uses for a wide range of ages and is lots of fun.

The makers of Scruble Cube have given us a letter and word based game that can be used simply for the fun of it or for academic purposes or both. The 4 x 4 cube twists vertically and horizontally like the puzzle cube with blank colored squares, and the object is to spell words on the sides instead of matching colors.

According to the company, Scruble Cube is appropriate for the 8+ age range, (there are ways to use it with younger children, too) and retails at $24.95, and comes with the cube, one pad of score sheets, and an hourglass (sand timer) along with a sheet of instructions and a getting started guide. The cube has 96 letters on rows that twist, and each letter has a point value. Scruble Cube gives players an opportunity to boost points with Wild Card and 2x and 3x word score cubes.

This statement is so important that I'm taking it straight from the press package:

"At Scruble Cube headquarters, we believe that 'engaging each other through play' is important. Many life skills, that are sometimes lost, come from playing together - team work, good sportsmanship, problem solving skills, listening skills, oral communications, and strategic thinking."

I agree. And Scruble Cube does the "play" part well. Any toy that makes play and interaction the focus with learning an important background piece rates high with me.

We have not played competitively against one another with the Scruble Cube at my house. I have one child who is a Rubik's Cube expert, who understands the algorithms for solving the traditional cube, and getting letters in the right places is easier for him. And I have one who knows more vocab than the sibs. And I have one who is developmentally delayed and struggles a bit with all of it. For families whose members whose developmental range is really wide or whose children who are poor losers (or who are poor winners), the fact that we are able to compete against ourselves, trying to beat our own best score, is a huge positive.

For a family with younger children, the cube is a tool for learning letter recognition or for linking sounds to letter shapes. (Which letter makes the "buh" sound?)

In our autism intervention, Scruble Cube is a super activity for practice sharing attention, for guiding and apprenticing, and for referencing a next step and for higher level objectives of creative problem solving. Scruble Cube is a really nice background activity for developmental, relationship intervention.

We have handled our Scruble Cube with care and it has remained in good working condition. The cube layers twist and turn with ease. My Rubiks Cube expert gives it a thumbs up in that department.

Scruble Cube is a two-fer, offering both play and academic value. Multiple-award-winning Scruble Cube offers owners an online bonus with "lessons to help teach math, language, logic, spelling and/or science" according to the press packet.

Scruble Cube would be a great travel toy, doctor's office waiting room toy, toy to put in the bag for a sib's baseball game. It would make a super Christmas gift or donation to a school or co-op class.

We continue to enjoy Scruble Cube.

To read my Crewmates' opinions of Scruble Cube, please go here.

Scruble Cube sent me a Scruble Cube to review. I was not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review. I get to keep the Scruble Cube.

Flea Circus (review and discount code)

Games! We love to use games to work on relationship building and social experiences in autism intervention at our house. Games that sneak in some academics are a bonus.

Flea Circus from RnR Games is a game for 2-6 players ages 6 and up.

Packaged in a box that reminds me of animal crackers, Flea Circus is priced at $15.95. The game comes with a deck of Flea Circus cards and one set of dog tokens and one set of cat tokens.

The concept of the game is pretty simple: Cats are worth 1 point; dogs are worth 2 points. The object of the game is to collect more points (with dogs and cats) than any other player.

The cards in the deck tell players what to do, whether to take animals from the center pile or whether to take animals from the piles other players have collected during the game, or whether to put animals back in the middle.

If you're looking for games to play with a child with special needs, Flea Circus offers a variety of opportunities for developmental and academic experiences.

Reading is not necessary; the cards use pictures instead of words.

The rules of the game have players taking or giving animals with different cards, which requires players to pay attention to the rules and to what the cards mean.

There are lots of rich opportunities for attention sharing, attention shifting, gaze following, turn taking here.

The games are relatively short in length. I love the opportunities to stretch attention time by achieving success with short games without having to cut it short without completing the game because it was too long.

Because cats are worth 1 point and dogs are worth 2 points, there is an opportunity to practice simple math within the game.

Flea Circus provides the background for fun, for relationship building, for social practice in a game where younger children or children with developmental delays can play with older kids. I like that it can be played with two people or six people (not every family is a family of four).

This is a game I will consider on days when my 'Rella has a cold or is having an 'off' day. I need games and activities where she can experience competence on 'off' days, and this one will work well for that purpose.

And it will be a game I consider on days when we plan a picnic on a blanket on the ground or some other event (outdoor concert, outdoor play, sib's baseball game) where we might be on a blanket and need to pass time in a fun way. Flea Circus is compact enough to take along for events like that.

Variations: We have enough little animal figures from play sets that I think we could add some of our own for more points and increase the math practice of the game.
WARNING – Small parts choking hazard, not for children under 3 years old or chewers.

We like this game; it is simple without being too babyish, and provides a background activity for a lot of relationship / social experience. Thumbs up from my house. ;)

RnR is offering 20% off through 2011 with the code CREW20. ;)

To read my Crewmates' reviews of Flea Circus or another RnR game, Pig Pile, go here.

RnR games sent me Flea Circus for review purposes as part of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's Homeschool Crew of reviewers. I get to keep the game. I received no compensation for the review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Downtown find: CHAT PACK for kids

(Updated 05-May-11 with new info)

I found this game in a store in the little downtown of our new town. It's called CHAT PACK for kids. Good enough to share with my readers. Amazon dot com has the game at half the price I paid for it. (I hate when that happens.)

Company web site is HERE.

The questions on the card tap into episodic memory as family members answer questions, and, when played as a family, gives children on the autism spectrum all-important experience in self-awareness, in perspective taking and joint attention. I'm going to use it with my girl in some one-on-one time, maybe even use some of the questions as story generators or writing prompts as we homeschool, and I'll use some of the questions for dinner time.

Here are some samples of the questions on the cards:

"What big ideas or dreams do you have right now that you would like to see come true someday?" Li'l Bit liked this one. I love to hear her dream. She would like to be a voice actor for an animated show or movie one day.

"What is one thing you're pretty certain you'll be very good at when you're an adult?"

"What is your favorite sight, scent, sound for each of the four seasons?"

"If you were keeping a list of all the fun things you've done so far in your life, which three things would you put at the top of the list?"

There are so many "creative questions to ignite the imagination" (quote from the box).

Love it. Why can't I think of questions like these? I'm glad someone did.

And, the company helps to employ individuals with special needs to package the product! Go here for more info.

Check it out. As I look through the web site, I see a version to generate ideas for story-telling and a Christmas verson as well. I want them, too. I see many uses for relationship building, for using episodic memory, for experience sharing, all the pieces we're working on at my house.

Alison Brown from QuestMarc wrote me, "The Christmas are harder to find right now so your best bet would be to look at a Barnes & Noble and if they don't have it they can order one in for you-same with the Stories. I would like to warn you that the Stories are more for a teenager to adult because you hae to have lived a little to be able to answer many of the questions. We do have another one coming out soon, in a few months, that is based on animal questions."

Educational Card Games and a Board Game

When Eldest and I shopped a few weeks before Christmas at a bookstore that was closing, I bought two $10 card games at 40% off. They're all made by the same company, called Out of the Box. I'd never seen any of them.


They're worth sharing with you.


7ATE9 is a game that challenges your addition and subtraction skills.


Super Circles is a game that requires visual discrimination, multi-tasking, and speed. Everyone plays at once, no turn-taking, and players must match a combination of ring color and placement to the previously played card, which takes quick attention shifting and visual discrimination. As you play your card, you call out the number of the ring. Players continue until all the cards are played.

I found one board game, Backseat Drawing, that, for a mom of a child on the autism spectrum, with delays in shared attention, perspective taking, and experience sharing, is a fun gem. (yes, it was also 40% off - I do like a bargain!)


If you are looking for games that sneak academics, aspects of different therapies, and relationship building pieces in the 'back door', you may want to look at this company for products or inspiration.



As that big bookseller is closing stores, you might just find a bargain, too.

Pick and Draw Game

Pick and Draw is a drawing game of making simple cartoon faces.

Pick and Draw creator Rich Davis sent me a game to review and one to give away.

Each player begins with a blank piece of paper and a pencil with an eraser. The rules are simple. Each player draws a face card, nose card, eyes card, mouth card, hair card, all face down. Flip over your cards and do the best to draw your cartoon face, one piece at a time.

Adorable!

Pick and Draw is a great game for a wide age range. Adults, tweens, teens, and littles can play this one together. Creator Rich Davis asked me for some input as the parent of a child on the autism spectrum. I have trouble looking at a game for just the fun factor; I'm the parent of a child with autism, and I mentally evaluate every game for therapeutic or academic value. I can't help it; it's a Pennyism.

First of all, if you're an RDI® family, or use another developmental or relationship intervention (like Communicating Partners, for example), I think you'll see huge developmental and relationship value here.

The game is simple. Cards. Paper. Pencil. I like that, because it allows the relationship pieces to shine through, as opposed to a game with too many parts and pieces, too many rules. When there are too many game parts, game parts and pieces become objects to stim on. If you have a player that stims on the cards, limit the number you put on the table.

The steps of the game are simple. Turn over the head card. Draw the simple shape of the cartoon character's head. Turn over the nose card. Draw the simple shape. There are no complicated figures to draw. Even an adult like me, who somehow did not seem to inherit her mother's ability to sketch and draw, can copy these shapes. Mom's gift skipped a generation; my kids draw better than I do. Pick and Draw puts me on a level playing field with them.

Here's a bonus: There is no winner. A lot of parents and teachers look for games that grow relationship experience without being competitive. Another bonus: No shuffling of the cards is required. Yet another bonus is that you don't have to hold the cards in your hands. No trying to fan them out for little hands. Pick and Draw isn't that kind of card game.
No reading is involved in Pick and Draw.

Li'l Bit and I had fun with this. We giggled together as we flipped over the cards to see what silly cartoon face we would be making.

There is an opportunity for working on a variety of relationship and academic goals:

Being with. Never discount the value of "being with" your child. Smile. Delight in what they draw. Emotion share at non-verbal levels and with simple words and phrases.
Short and sweet: One game takes maybe five minutes. Sometimes our kids quit trusting us when we push them too far, too long. The fact that we can stop Pick and Draw after one fun round is really positive, it adds to our trustworthiness as a guide and play partner, and it is a foundational piece to attention length and shared attention with other.
Turn-taking: You turn over your card first, and draw it. Then I'll draw mine. You show me what you drew, and I'll show you what I drew.
Visual discrimination and imitation. Is the head/face shape a rectangle or oval or circle? There's a difference. If you turn the cards upside down, can you draw the face and features upside down, turn it right side up, and it look like a face?
Visual memory: Can we look at card or series of cards for 15 seconds, turn them over, and draw them from memory?
Coordination: Let's flip over our cards together and draw them together.
Non-verbal interaction: Scrunch your mouth like the one you just drew. Make an "ooooOOOOoooo" ing sound of surprise when your child draws something fun. Gesture. Families who are spotlighting different aspects, different channels of non-verbal communication will find opportunities here.

Perspective taking: Flip over your card, show it to the other players, give them time to view it, say, "See what I got!" After you draw it, hold up your drawing, let everyone see. Players who need practice referencing and shifting attention have lots of opportunities here.

Declaratives and Experience Sharing Language: "See what I got!" "Look what I made!" "Look what you made!" "I love it!" "Mine is silly looking!" Resist the urge to question your child. Slow down, wait for him/her to speak. Avoid prompting for speech. To borrow from Dr. Jim, make yourself "possible" for your child. Pick and Draw gives you the background activity to do just that.

Collaboration: All of the players could take turns penciling/drawing one piece of one cartoon, passing the paper and pencil around from player-to-player. Or the players could get up from their seats and move clockwise around the table, drawing parts on different pictures.

Comparison: All of the players could draw the same cartoon from the same cards. Or not. Either way, decide whose is biggest? Meanest looking? Silliest? Neatest? Messiest?

Variations on a theme (same but different, different but same; "just noticeable differences"): Use different kinds of paper and pencils, pens, markers. We used markers on the back of square paper plates for our first game. (We forgot to freestyle some ears onto our cartoon faces.) Play in different places. We played cross-legged facing one another on the couch.

Use those little pencils you only see at church, miniature golf, and IKEA or some teeny pieces from broken crayons and you have the set up for some fine motor work and a good tripod grasp.

You could draw side by side at a white board. For the child who needs gross motor activity, big cartoons at a white board might be exactly what the PT ordered.

Learning from past experience and creative problem solving (don't forget to model this with self-talk, aloud): "Last time, I didn't draw my head big enough and ran out of room. This time, I'm going to draw the head bigger."

Identifying shapes, hopefully, with declaratives. "My cartoon guy's eyes are ovals!"

Episodic memory: Looking back at cartoons you made earlier, remark about how you laughed so hard when you drew that funny face! You could use an art pad or binder for the game in order to save your drawings and look back on them, or you could put your drawings on the refrigerator wall of fame.

Creativity and more being with: Add features not on the deck of cards. Ears. Hat. Mustache. Chin hairs. (ew)

Self-discovery: I'm a cartoonist! I'm an artist! I'm creative!

Experience sharing: Who does yours look like?
Workboxes: Give your student two sets each feature, tell him/her to draw four unique faces using those 10 cards. How many different combinations could one draw with two sets of features? That's a math problem!

Creativity: Make up a background or story about your character. Creator Rich Davis includes idea starting suggestions with the deck. Give your drawing a name. What does he/she like to do or is good at? What's his/her favorite kind of music?

You could make your own game variation where one person looks at the cards and describes for the other what to draw, building listening skills and describing skills. That would be fun in teams.
For a child who isn't able to hold a pen or pencil, Mom or Dad could draw approximations of the shapes on clear plastic sheets (I'm thinking of the kind you'd use on an overhead projector) and layer the plastic sheets for a cartoon face. (Might be a lot of work).
The games would make great gifts for teachers, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, professionals who work with children with developmental delays.
I suspect that Pick and Draw would be a great game for a dyad or triad of children learning to navigate relationships and friendships.
Mom Jenny Herman reminded me that the deck of cards fits in your purse. Great for waiting rooms. All you need is a notebook. Those teeny, fit-in-your-palm-sized notebooks w/ the spiral at the top would be great.
That's my short list. *wink* What ideas do you have? I'd love to hear from you.
Rich Davis blogs here. Be sure to check out some of the new cartoons he demonstrates there. You can order your own game, here.

Rich Davis, the creator of Pick and Draw, sent me a game to review, at no charge, and a second game to give away. I am not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Wits & Wagers Family from North Star Games, a TOS Crew Review

North Star Games sent me and some of my Crewmates a board game called Wits & Wagers Family.

The age range for Wits & Wagers Family is 8+ and for those of us with more than four in our families, Wits & Wagers is a 3-10 player game (woo hoo!).

The game is easy to learn, easy to set up, does not require a lot of reading and studying the rules before you begin. In a nutshell, you draw a card, read a question from the card, each player makes a guess at an answer, players compare answers, vote on the answer each player (or team) thinks is best using one or two Meeples, check the back of the question card for the correct answer, score.

We learned a lot of history and trivia when we played this game. There are 150 question cards; each card contains two questions (yes, that's a total of 300 questions). Each question is read aloud; each player or team of players guesses the answer (the answer is always a number, how much, how many, how long, how fast, what percent, etc) and then players vote (wager) on which answer is closest to the correct answer without going over.

Right off the bat, we were stumped - the first question we read was about Fruit Loops cereal. I don't buy Fruit Loops because one of my children can't have them (Fruit Loops are not gluten free). Didn't matter that we were stumped, because Wits & Wagers is a guessing game, and we were able to guess, and ultimately score our answers.

My homeschooler and I had fun naming all of the Disney Princessess as we tried to guess how many there are; there is lots of Disney trivia here.

On the answer side of each card, Wits & Wagers Family gives us additional info about something in the question. (Did you know that Joe Jonas auditioned for a part on Wizards of Waverly Place? I didn't, until we got to that card.)

I like the way the game uses kid-friendly questions. I like the fact that we can play a really short game for a child with a short attention span. I like the way the questions are worded, and we talked through the answers aloud, some together (yes, I know that is not the intent of the game, but the questions are worded for "we-go" and collaborating, too, and we are working on that at my house in our autism intervention, and this game is a wonderful activity for that).

We get to work on "guestimating" in a fun way, where we can not be close to the correct answer and still earn points (by voting for an answer we believe is better). Players gain practice and experience making appraisals in Wits & Wagers Family, too. Because a lot of the answers are impossible to know, there's a lot of guessing without pressure in a game, which leads to laughter, when you realize how far over or under your answer is.

I think that we may try to write some of our own questions for the game. Might be fun to measure people or items in our home in feet or inches and make up a question for "our" version of the game.

My teenager wants to play this game with a group of friends in teams. She says that will be "sooo much fun!"

Wits & Wagers Family is a keeper at our house.

Wits & Wagers Family retails for $19.99 and is available at major retailers in stores and online.

North Star Games has a facebook page here.

Read my Crewmates' experiences with Wits & Wagers Family HERE.

North Star Games sent me a Wits & Wagers Family game in exchange for my review and opinion about it. I was not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Knot So Fast

When Timberdoodle contacted me about reviewing Knot So Fast, I was intrigued. A game of knot making??? The autism-therapy-mom in me became excited with the possibiities.

A game like this one could be the background activity for a list of developmental and relationship objectives, for speech and communication, for fine motor work, for motor planning, for plain 'ol fun.

Priced at $17.25 (retail $20.00) on the Timberdoodle web site, Knot So Fast is a game for one to four players ages eight and up. It's meant to be a family game, a race, with the objective to see who can tie knots in the soft game ropes faster than the other players by following steps on one of the 40 challenges pictured on cards that are a part of the game.

Like many families with a child on the autism spectrum, and like many homeschoolers, we tend to change the rules and make games our own, and this is no exception. We have used it a little bit outside of the rules and I have plans to continue to use it in more ways outside of the game rules.
When the game arrived, I was experiencing a horrible upper respiratory virus that sent me into coughing fits when I exerted myself. Talking, walking across the room, being upright prompted choking coughs, and I watched the kids play with the game from a prone position on the couch.

My eldest was really intrigued by the game, and her interest showed me more uses for the game. Eldest played alone, competing with herself, challenging herself to study the cards and create the knots.

By comparison, my homeschooler, my learner with special needs, resisted the whole thing, choosing to turn several ropes into one big mess. (FYI: The mess she made was easy to untangle. I like the texture of the ropes. They shape easily and unknot just as easily.) I know where she is, developmentally, and I am able to choose some simple knots to show her as a confidence builder. It was interesting to me to compare the two reactions; one child dove into the challenge head first; one resisted.

I can work with resistance, and Knot So Fast will give the two of us some opportunities to conquer some of it with the game as background activity.

One of our developmental objectives has been to give our girl opportunities to copy our meaningful actions, where she is responsible for focusing her attention on the right things to create a positive outcome - showing her how to tie a knot is one way to do that. She gets developmental practice and learns to tie different knots at the same time.

Eventually, I will have HER show ME, tell me how to tie a knot, and we'll write the steps down together. We'll get some speech practice with the game. She's not ready for that, yet, but she will be one of these days.

One of the other things that my eldest brought to my attention was the educational value of the game. She kept asking, "Why would anyone need to learn to make this kind of knot?" Each challenge card offers a brief explanation about what that particular knot is used for, and I can imagine our making a little unit study about knots using this game in our homeschool.

I wonder if one person could direct another person, blindfolded, to tie a knot, using nothing but spoken directions? Hmmmm.

In addition to being a family game, I think that Knot So Fast would be a workbox activity (one new knot with one rope in a box); a great travel game (I'd leave the little hourglass timer at home). Speech therapists, occupational therapists, professionals who work with students on the autism spectrum would have fun with clients while working on therapy goals within the context of a game. Knot So Fast could be a neat gift for your favorite OT or autism therapist.

We enjoy looking through the catalog that came in the mail; there are lots of unique toys at Timberdoodle.

Visit Timberdoodle for your homeschooling needs, for single player games (great for workboxes); and for family and educational games. Free catalogs for homeschoolers are available here. Timberdoodle has a facebook page, too.

Legal Disclosure:

As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of Knot So Fast in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

PyraMath™, a TOS Crew Review

Hi-my-name-is-"pinny"-and-I-have-PyraMath™-Addictive-Disorder."

Who knew that a $6.95 card game could be so addicting?

PyraMath™, from ISeeCards, is a card game that uses and reinforces basic mathematics facts. The 54-card deck holds numerals 0-9, which players use to create a mathematical pyramid in a sort of Solitaire fashion (if Solitaire were a pyramid). The PyraMath™ deck is not four of each numeral, like a "regular" deck of cards; there are more of some numerals than others. And each card features the numeral in "English, Spanish, Chinese, Roman, French and Arabic translations and symbols on the front".

Deal five or seven cards in a row and begin adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing! The remaining cards go into a face-down pile. Deal three cards from that pile. Try to play the top card. Look at all the side-by-side pairs. Can you add, subtract, multiply, or divide them to get the number of your top face-up card? On a 9 and a 3, for example, you can play a 3 (9 divided by 3); a 7 (9 times 3, using the "7 in "27); a 6 (9 minus 3); or a 2 (9 plus 3, using the "2" in 12).

Play a 5-or-7-card game online, free. The five-card game is HERE.

Why would you want to buy the cards if you can play online for free? You can do a lot more with the deck of cards. The cards are excellent travelers; the cards fit into my purse or a backpack for waiting rooms or hotel rooms.

For the littles, you can use the deck to introduce numerals, placing numerals in numerical order. You can create a row of numerals where you leave one or two out and the child must place the missing numbers in the empty spaces. You can pull out the higher numbers and work on ONLY *adding* lower numbers. There are lots of ways to use the cards to create a simple game for younger learners.

For my homeschooler, who memorized her multiplication tables from Schoolhouse Rock and is still learning to add and subtract (we haven't gotten to division yet), and whose anxiety shoots sky high when we do anything that looks to her like academics, *I* held the cards, placed the cards, played the game and asked her the math facts that are within her developmental range. "3 and2 , 3 and 2, what could I play on 3 and 2? " And I'd ask aloud, "3 + 2 = ?" One day, soon, she'll join me at the table or on the floor when I play, but for now, she's on the periphery, watching, figuring it all out.

You can take turns creating puzzles for players to solve. Here's a puzzle created by the PyraMath™ folks that my eldest and I worked:

Thee's a two-player version of PyraMath™ that is somewhat similar to Double Solitaire. PyraMath™ cards can be used in a PyraMath™ version of "War" or Snap". There are lots of variations. Educators share PyraMath™ ideas here.

Creator Professor Eaglin's blog is here (not updated in a while); and the PyraMath™ facebook page is here, where fans can chat and where the company offers giveaways and contests with prizes and news of upcoming games.

I really enjoy PyraMath™. Late at night, I can get stuck on the online version for too long. It's a fun way to practice math facts that is waaaaaay outside drills and rote memorization.

If you'd like to see what others think about PyraMath™, go HERE.

I was given a complimentary PyraMath™ game through my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew of reviewers. I am not otherwise compensated for reviews (I don't consider a free product a form of compensation when I must have the product in order to use it and review it) and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Baseball etc

Our son had three baseball games today.

One yesterday.

The girls and I went to one of the three games today.

We won the first three games.

The fourth game is in progress as I type.

During the baseball game, the girls opened a new board game:

I found a Cirkis game by Hasbro on clearance at Target.

Reg price was $14.99; I bought it for under $4.

I adore a bargain.

And just look at the visual discrimination and critical thinking skills this game lets players experience...

Finds from Michaels and Target gave the girls lots to do during the baseball game.


The play scape was empty today. No gang of teens blocking the slide.

Scratch & Solve Puzzles + baseball

I always find fun concepts in the book section of the warehouse club. Last week, I found something new to me: Scratch & Solve Puzzles. Priced at $4.99, I bought two versions of Hangman and a Yahtzee Scratch & Play book.


The publisher is Puzzle Wright Press at http://www.puzzlewright.com/. Type "Scratch & Solve" in the search box.


I pulled them out for the girls tonight as we tried to watch my son's baseball game from a very poor position in the parking lot. My younger daughter wanted to head straight for the playscape at the ball park, but I wasn't comfortable with her doing that. The playscape was too crowded tonight. Too many kids. Not enough parents watching them. And I knew my younger daughter would make a scene if we got out and tried to watch the game. So, we stayed put. And I waited for her to calm and quit asking to go to the playscape. I wanted to leave while she was calm --and she needed time to do that-- and without going to the playscape.

I could see little more than third base. That's my husband coaching third base with my son on third. We had absolultely lovely seats. (That's sarcasm, in case you can't tell.)

My homeschooler calmed herself. (WOW) She watched her big sister play one round of Scratch & Solve Hangman and picked up her own book and began to play her own game. The two of them figured out quite a few puzzles, too! At one point, she commented to her sister that the puzzle books were more fun than the playground. (I'm not sure I believed her, but she did say it.)

Thank goodness for a zoom on the camera.