One of the Best Toys Ever - Rory's Story Cubes

I picked these up a few days ago and have been in love with them ever since.

The concept is simple, these are dice with pictures on them.  One set has nouns, the other verbs.  You roll the dice and make up a story based on the pictures that come up.

So far all the kids I know just love this game.  They come with suggested ways to play, but you can easily make up your own rules, which is just as fun.  This simple activity encourages imagination, creativity, cooperation and a greater understanding of how other people think, which is essential to having good relationships with others.  If you choose to act out the pictures on the dice, there is a motor skill component to it as well.

Learning Express carries this game, as well as Amazon (there is a link on this site), the Wooden Horse in Los Gatos, and I'm sure they are available elsewhere.

This is a great example of an interactive, educational game that is fun and engaging.  My kudos to the people who came up with it.

Activity of the Week

Okay, make that activities of the week, since two games have been high on my list lately.

The first is Line Tag.  It works when there are 4 or more kids and an outdoor space.  The kids all hold hands or link arms, someone on one end is "it" and they have to tag the person on the other end.  Everyone has to keep holding the others' hands the entire time.  This builds strength and endurance, coordination, the sense of touch and body position in space (proprioception), cooperation, problem solving and teamwork.  That's a lot of benefit from a simple game!

The second is "Hangman".  For some people the theme is a bit gruesome, (and why do kids draw a smiley face on the figure being "hung"?), if necessary just change the theme to draw a person without the gallows.  For younger children, use familiar words and/or tell them what the category is, such as animals, dinosaurs, etc.  This game practices writing, spelling and drawing skills, and executive functioning skills.  Kids need to hold in their mind the word or phrase, the letters, how many spaces are needed for each, they need to draw the correct number of letter spaces, write the letters, decide how many body parts to draw (does the stick figure get ears? hands? feet?), and take turns.

The best part about games such as these is that they are easily adapted for children of all levels of ability.  This way each child can have success, which in turn motivates them to try other things.

Now go play!

Activity of the Week

School is in full swing, and that means homework and handwriting.  For many children, handwriting can be challenging.  So what can we do to make writing easier?

Handwriting relies heavily on shoulder, arm and hand strength, coordination and dexterity.  Here is one, fun way to increase these skills, as well as visual tracking skills which are also necessary for reading.

You will need a pair of tongs, some small bean bags or bundled up pairs of socks, and a target which can be another person or a stationary target.  The goal is to throw the bean bags or socks and hit the target, and then catch the bean bags or socks with the tongs.  It's harder than it looks, even for adults!