“Touchy Feely” Game from Marbles The Brain Store
Disclosure: I received a sample of the Touchy Feely Game from Marbles The Brain Store to facilitate this review. Any opinions are my own.
If you’ve been to the mall recently, it’s possible that a Marbles The Brain Store may have opened its doors. This fun and inviting store allows parents and children to experience all sorts of games, toys and activities. Their product selection includes games that you might find by well known companies in specialty toy stores, while they’ve also developed their own unique line of games and brain teasers which help adults and children problem solve while having fun in the process.
Do you ever dig around in your purse or backpack searching for a small item or object you know is hiding in there but it’s in such a small space you can’t see it? Or you might be driving and digging through your purse for your cell phone and you need to keep your eyes on the road? That skill is otherwise known as stereognosis. Stereognosis is the ability to manipulate small items in your hand and identify them without needing to look at them. You wouldn’t believe how many children struggle with personal body/space awareness, or knowing where there body is in relation to the world. They trip, fall, bump into things, when talking to you, they can be really close to you, because they don’t have a great sense of personal space. These children tend to rely on their vision a lot, so when you take that away and ask them to rely completely on their sense of touch, it can be a real challenge.
However, no matter whether it’s an easy or difficult skill, children love playing games like Touchy Feely. Touchy Feely is a pop-up container that houses 26 different items with lots of different sensory attributes. There are figures like the Eiffel tower, fake animals like a mouse, crab and rubber duck, and all sorts of toys that could be bumpy, smooth, or prickly. Each item has a corresponding picture card. Players look at the card, then with either one hand or two, reach into the container and search for the item without using their eyes, relying solely on there sense of touch.
I had a chance to use the game with several children at school. Some played against each other, while others individually tried to see how many items they could find within a specific time frame using the included timer. I had many students sort through the deck and pick out the items they wanted to include for the first round, so they only needed to search from a field of 10 instead of 26.
The images on the picture cards are great. They also include some information and sayings on them. It was funny, for some reason my brain completely ignored the information on the cards, and focused solely on the pictures. One student, when flipping through the deck pulled out the card that included the red car and said, “Mrs. Wilmot, there’s a bad word on here!?!” Seeing that the game was recommended for children ages 5 and up, I almost didn’t believe him until I read the description where it talked about the car having some “bada$$” detailing!
That same student had played a game like this one last year with me called “What’s In Ned’s Head.” It’s a similar concept where children reach in and pull out toys that resemble vomit, baby puke, ear wax on a Q-tip, dirty diapers, rats, etc. I think I traumatized him because he wouldn’t initially put his hands in this game. Thankfully I was able to unzip the top of the container a little, which was a feature I didn’t realize was there right away, so look for it! The student peeked in and once he had “control” over the items that were put in, and he could see there wasn’t anything else in there, he played without a problem.
The games are easy to play within minutes and the game folds up nicely for travel. Later in the school day, another student came up to me with the tennis ball from the game. Be careful if you are transporting it. I’m not sure if I left it out by accident or if the item fell out, but both are entirely possible. After putting all the pieces inside and shaking it really hard, some smaller figures could potentially fall out.
Games like Touchy Feely are fabulous for a variety of age ranges and skill levels, especially because once children get older, most games are dominated by the ability to read.
If by chance you don’t have a Marbles the Brain store in the area, check out their website because all of their products can also be purchased online.
If you are a teacher, the 3rd Tuesday of the month is Teacher Tuesday (January-October) at Marbles the Brain Store. The first 30 teachers to RSVP get a free game and lesson plan.
The 3rd Thursday of the Month (January through October) from 5:30-7:30 at a Marbles the Brain Store location is Game Night. Friends and family members can meet and “play fun, brain-boosting games.”
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