©Gamewright

Knock Your Blocks Off is one of the latest game releases from one of my favorite companies, Gamewright, which is a great family game to add to your game night! I have used this educational game over the last few weeks with several different boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 13 as part of school based occupational therapy services.  Though it can be a little tricky initially learning the directions, once the children have taken a few rounds to understand the game, they LOVE IT and have been requesting it from week to week, not even realizing how many academic skills they are learning in the process!

In this game, each player takes a stack of the same colored patterned blocks. The player is also provided with a structure guide card. The player picks a structure on their card (wall, tower, steps, etc.) to recreate using the blocks. However, the key is to build the structure in the right pattern, because the colors on the blocks need to match each other. If you look in the picture to the left with the blue tower of blocks, notice how the blue spot on the bottom block, must be alligned with the blue space on the next block placed? Looks easy, but harder than you might think, especially when you are trying to be the first to build your structure correctly! Be the first to complete the structure in the correct pattern and win a victory point.

Building the structure is only the first part. The second round involves rolling the “demolition dice.” Roll a boulder, flick the dice at your opponents structure. Roll a dragon, drop the dice over the top of the structure. Roll an ogre, perform an underhand throw.  If you are successful in knocking the crown off the structure with the dice, you win a victory point. If you are not successful in the demolition round, the builder can win extra victory points for defending.  The first player to accumulate 7 victory points wins. The game is a little more complicated with the directions than I am describing here, because there are additional ways to win victory points based on the degree of difficulty in the structure you built, but those are the basic steps.

When we play, I often act as the facilitator to monitor that the block patterns match in the structure, and to assist with keeping track whose turn it is to destruct or defend. The boys have really enjoyed destroying the structures, but what I like is that it’s organized destruction with clear rules!  One thing I have found is that the more you play, the more you remember what patterns will let you build each structure the fastest, which can add to your strategy. This game has been excellent for children who tend to have difficulty noticing small details to improve their approach and organization. Some children can still be impulsive with the building portion, potentially not being the first one to capture the demolition dice, but there are so many other opportunities to win points, it has been fun for a variety of children with academic levels and abilities to play together.  We have even seen kids 4 points behind the leader catch up and win, so the outcome can change quickly with each round.

This is a fast moving game, where we have  inished it entirely with 2-3 players in about 15-20 minutes. So it’s a great family game to play as well even when you don’t have a lot of time.  We’ve also incorporated writing assignments such as, “Why or why not would you recommend this game to a friend?” Some children who are working on their organizational skills have chosen to write down the steps of the game to serve as directions to the next group of players.

Gamewright provided this game free to facilitate a review. The opinions are my own.

I work with many children that are working on their visual memory skills – simply – the ability to look at information, and remember its significance, even after several minutes or hours have passed. This is a great skill needed for more intricate note taking when children are in their older grades, as they look up at the board and copy their notes into their homework assignment books. So, I adapted Bingo Link to work on visual memory.

We played a few rounds of Bingo Link as the directions suggested, then I kept the markers in my gameboard and hid it from the student’s view. I asked the student to look at her gameboard for a few minutes at all the pictures that were currently under the green markers. Then, I removed the gameboard and asked the student to to write down all the pictures she could remember on lined paper.  Afterwards, I encouraged her to look at an empty gameboard to see if there were any that were forgotten, then write them down on the list. Finally, we used my finished board to cross reference the list with the gameboard. I have no idea how  many pictures or pieces of information children should be able to retrieve at different ages. However, what I do know, is that is is great to practice these types of skills with something that will keep their interest, so when they need to take notes in class or write down their homework from the board, they will have had some great practice!

Gamewright provided Can You See What I See? Bingo Link free to facilitate a review. The opinions are my own.

Inventors of GUBS at Gamewright Booth ToyFair 2011

www.ToyQueen.com interviews Rory Story Cubes game inventor at Toy Fair 2011

Hasbro ToyFair 2010 Event

These snowy days in Boston have been filled with researching and planning our Toy Fair 2011 plan in New York City, starting February 12th through the 16th, 2011. Last year attending Toy Fair for the first time was such an exciting and overwhelming experience, as we were honored amongst the first to preview some of the newest and most exciting toys and games that had yet to hit production or the stores! You can read about my favorite celebrities of Toy Fair 2010 last year here.

As the days draw near, we are contacted daily by both large and small companies gearing up for one of the largest toy shows in the Western Hemisphere! Please let us know if there are specific products or companies you would like to know more about!

February 14, 2010 - New York, NY - Keri WIlmot from www.toyqueen.com at the Disney preview of Toy Story 3 in New York City gets shown some of the new toys for 2010 by one of the Disney executives

Like last year, we hope to bring you interviews with company executives and imagery of these new products to help you as a parent or caregiver make more informed decisions about the products that you purchase for the learning enhancement of the children you love.

Here is a link to some of the other Toy Fair coverage from ToyQueen.com in 2010!

Keri Wilmot from ToyQueen.com appears with Fitarella on Fitarella TV, talking about toys and products that promote health and wellness. General development tips for all ages are discussed, as well as toys and family games that enhance movement, strengthening, balance, coordination and fitness. Toys and games are featured from companies such as Hasbro, Sassy, Infantino, Fisher-Price, Leap Frog, Gamewright, Barefoot Books, VTech, Gymnic, Street Surfing, Shred Sled, Swinxs, Nintendo, XBox, & Wild Planet.

Here are some suggestions when playing this game with young children:

- In the beginning I acted as a facilitator, to take control of the dice, help the kids keep track of whose turn it was, help them recognize the numbers and complete the corresponding shapes, as well as to monitor the four cards in the playing space and to make sure all of the shapes were matched
- There are three different colored cupcakes on the cards: yellow, pink and blue. The yellow cards have one shape to match, the blue cards have 2 shapes to match and the pink cards have 3 shapes to match – so if you are playing with younger children you may want to just play with the yellow cupcake cards until they understand the concept of the game, then progress to adding some blue and pink cards the more they are able to multi-task
- I played the game with two almost 4 year olds, using all 16 cards, and due to their age, it was challenging for them to organize all the steps, especially if a lot of shapes emerged from the sprinkler. It was also hard for them to understand that they could use all four cards because they thought the card directly in front of them was theirs. So it may also be helpful to have children sit next to each other with the cards in rows in front of them and in this case, the role of being a facilitator allowed even younger children experience the fun of this simple game
- This game is great for fine motor skills just using your fingers to place the sprinkles back into the container, want to add even more fun? Use a pair of tweezers or tongs to place the unused shapes back in the sprinkle container, and this is greatfor preschoolers learning how to use three fingers to hold a marker or crayon

Gamewright provided Take the Cake free to facilitate a review, the opinions in this blog post are purely the bloggers own.

Links to reviews I have completed with some of my favorite Gamewright Games are  below:

Sumo Ham Slam

Rory’s Story Cubes

Boochie

Can You See What I See

Ringo Flamingo

Disclosure: Gamewright provided the above games for review.

Last week, I saw a lot of children smile playing Sumo Ham Slam. Who wouldn’t have fun feeding funny looking Hamsters food pellets before placing them in a center ring where you use a magnetic wand to try to knock the opponent back into their corner on the game board? I think as adults it was just as fun for us to have a little comic relief, for sure.

So what did we work on with Sumo Ham Slam?

The understanding of new directions, fine motor coordination to plan how to use your magnetic wand to guide your hamster without being able to really see it, and planning on how to win by wrestling him back into his respective corner. Not to mention turn taking and social connections with peers. You all know me by now if you read my posts regularly, I’m a big proponent of encouraging children to write but my biggest roadblock is finding a way to motivate them. So here were some creative writing topics we identified after playing this game by writing a story on your Sumo Hamster:

What’s his name?
What kind of pellets does he like to eat that makes him so strong?
Where does he live?
Why is he wrestling in the ring?

Please comment under this post with any other creative topics you can think of to make this game educationally fun.

Gamewright provided Sumo Ham Slam free for the process of a review. The opinions expressed in this blog post are purely the bloggers own.

At a Gamewright GameNight, boxes of popular games are shipped to your local school and children and their families get together at the school to have fun and play them together. Games are available on site for purchase and the school receives a donation of up to 50% of sales to raise funds! The event we attended at a school in the Greater Boston area was an amazing success. There were many children and their families gathered together, laughing and socializing over a fantastic educational activity. I would encourage people who are looking for a fun, exciting, educationally based fundraiser to bring a Gamewright Gamenight to their community.

I attended this event for my own knowledge to understand more of the process before posting. The opinions expressed in this blog post are purely the bloggers own. We would like to thank the Community Charter Public School in Lawrence, MA for allowing us to visit their Gamewright GameNight!

Photo credits to Derek Wilmot

Review of Rory Story Cubes by ToyQueen. Is a game that promotes several ways to inspire creative play. Ages 8 and up. Price $7.99 at www.gamewright.com

So from a motor perspective this game gets kids moving whether they play indoors or outdoors while it facilitates hand/eye coordination.  Boochie also promotes visual spatial concepts of near/far/close, encourages simple math through it’s basic point system, and is most of all quick, fun and easy to play in a short time frame. Another tip over the summer to keep kids current in their measuring and math skills would be to encourage children to use a ruler or yard stick to measure the distance between items when it’s too close to call!

I had a great time using this game with children first grade and up.  I did need to repeat various directions and assist with point scoring, so it would be beneficial to have an adult or older child who understands the point system nearby to act as a facilitator.

Gamewright provided this item free to facilitate my review, the opinions expressed are the bloggers own.

Can You See What I See? Gamewright game review by ToyQueen. Educational card game that helps you learn how to visually scan images & match.

Fun game to play at school or as a family that works on a child’s fine motor skills to develop coordination, speed and dexterity. Also Incorporates math with simple addition and subtraction based on how many life savers land onto the gameboard.