Using the Game Upwards with Young Children

Durability There are various levels of quality in this game. Mine is an older version but it has lasted quite well.

.Play quality This is a fun game for adults as well as children. It is a great way to teach children spelling and reading.

Safety The tiles should be kept away from children under three as they are a choking hazard

.Age interest The game is designated for eight years and older but the ideas below can show you ways to use it with much younger children.

Storage and portability Everything fits neatly into a small box.

Price Price varries from this featured $14.00 version to $80.

Recommendation highly recommended.

https://amzn.to/33ndzDV

This post is suggesting a cooperative way to play with young children. Opponents can’t have large differences with spelling abilities so it isn’t suitable for a four year old and a ten year old. But there’s a way even young children can enjoy it. Play my cooperative version.

How do you win?

If you can use all the tiles in the box to form words, you are Word Champions! If you don’t get them all (pretty difficult) on the board, set a goal to have fewer orphaned letters the next time you play.

Only use one rack. Let the child pull out ten letters from the bag and say their names and sounds. Together, create a word to place on the boards. Pick enough letters out of the bag to get back to ten on your rack. Keep working together.

Variations

1. Just make words.
2. Make a list of simple rhyming words. You make one and the two of you make the rhyme Some interesting variations in spelling sounds will come up.
3. Create short vowel words. What ones can be changed to long vowel words by adding an E?
4. Show them how to join words.
5. Show them how to lengthen the word with suffixes like “ed”, “s” and “ing” and prefixes like “re.
6. Show them how to change a word by building up. This is the only way you can ever use all the tiles.
7. Now they are ready to play real “Up”.

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange: Book Review

This is the story of an Irish family reuniting after a well-kept secret drove them apart.  The devotyed daughter, Sunday, fled to New York for a mysterious reason. Her three brothers and her boyfriend do not understand why she has cut herself off from the family. When she’s involved in a serious car accident, while driving drunk, her older brother it’s called by the hospital staff as next of kin. He brings her back to thier hometown where event unfold.  Two of the brothers are opening a second bar and one is keeping secrets from the other which could cause financial ruin. Her boyfriend has married and has a child but still feels the same about her. Sunday slowly unravels the secrets and motives, including her own.

 It has the flavour of Heartland or Virgin River. When the whole story comes out, everything makes sense. It is a story of loyalty, love, family,  deceit, and forgiveness. Tracy Lange portrays the characters in such a way ice to make the reader feel they know them. They’re the kind of people you would like to have in your own family. The writing style is simple and straightforward, linear, and told from an omniscient viewpoint focussing on Sunny.

It doesn’t seem possible to have a happy ending after everything that’s happened but Tracy Lane brings it all to a satisfying conclusion.

4 stars

Zoologic Game Review

Purchase link https://amzn.to/3qc3u3V

This game has a plastic stand, a book of challenges, a hint and instruction book, and seventeen pieces of tile. It is a game for one person but two people helping each other can be a lot of fun. The tiles have friendly dogs, unfriendly dogs, mice, cheese, fish, bones, and cats. The book of challenges contains a pattern of tiles that must be followed. Some of them have additional animals or items on it as well. The challenge is to organize a prescribed set of tiles in such a way that no food gets eaten or no animals fight. For example these tiles should not be beside each other: cat and dog, dog and bone, mouse and cheese, cat and mouse, and cat and fish. The tile arrangements begin with easy and increase in difficulty. There are 60 puzzles to complete.

Durability The plastic stand is very thin and can be easily broken. The plastic tiles are sturdy but the paper pictures glued onto them are beginning to peel.

Play quality This is a fun game for adults as well as children. It is a great way to teach children logic and the process of elimination .

Safety There are no sharp edges. The tiles should be kept away from children under three as they are a choking hazard.

Age interest The game is designated for five years and older but that seems a little young. I would say six or seven.

Storage and portability Everything fits neatly into a small box.

Price $25.00 well worth the price.

Recommendation highly recommended. Addictive and brain stimulating activity that even adults will enjoy.

Be Patient, Little Chick – Little Animal Adventures – by Patricia Jensen – Book Review

This charming picture book tells us about the hatching of an independent-minded and curious little chick. He  boldly sets out to explore the world without his mother. He wants to fly like the robin, swim like the duck, eat bones like the dog,  and face down the big scary rooster. In the end mother hen has to drive off the rooster and the little chick finally excepts her wisdom that growing up takes patience.

The illustrations are realistic but lack any originality or pizzazz. It could have been more humorous.

The story ends with two pages of facts about baby chicks and hens.

This is a good book to teach a child that chickens are more than just meat and egg producers. They are living beings with relationships and personalities. As well, most children can relate to the little chicks impatience at not being able to do everything the grown ups do. It’s suitable for ages 4 to 7.

 This is a good book to stimulate discussion about animals and about maturing at a safe and reasonable  pace.

Buy link https://amzn.to/36ho6jm

 

Chick toy purchase link https://amzn.to/37eCvMg

Toy Review – Spuzzle Game by Disney

“The crazy racing puzzle game” Frozen by Disney

Two to four player build the characters Anna, Elsa, Hans, Olaf, and Kristoff containing four puzzle pieces each. Players take turns blindly picking up puzzle pieces. Duplicates are left behind. For added fun a player can occasionally put back an opponent’s piece. Once a four piece character is complete they are locked and safe from opponents. A “Spuzzle” card means every player gets to pick up a piece. When a player completes all five four-piece puzzles, they win.

There are other movie variations of this game.

Durability Four stars Well made heavy cardboard. Thick puzzle pieces.

Play quality Five stars. Loads of fun for small children especially Frozen fans. Rules are easy.

Safety  Five stars.

Age interest Four stars. Labeled 4+ but teens might be bored. Some three-year-olds could play this.

Storage and portability four stars. Fits into a comfortably sized box.

Price Three stars. Averages $45 to $50 on Amazon.

Recommended for children ages 4-9.

Other variations.

Buy link https://amzn.to/2JfR8XC

Buy link https://amzn.to/3muCxG4

Bathtime for Biscuit by Alyssa Satin Capucilli. Illustrations by Pat Schories. Book review.

Buy link https://amzn.to/2Vhcgz2

The Biscuit series of books are classed as “I can read!”. They are perfect for very beginning readers. Biscuit is an adorable puppy who does the kinds of things real dogs do. In this story, he resists getting into the bath.

The little girl wants Biscuit to get into that tub but he wants to dig instead. She struggles to manipulate him into the water but, after a short emmersion, he escapes and chases another puppy named Puddles. The two of them dig in the mud and play in the water. Then they roll in the flower bed where the girl tries to catch them with a towel. Both puppies latch on and a tug-of-war ensues. It ends with the little girl falling into the bathtub herself. Children laugh out loud at this ending.

It is difficult to find emergent reading books that have engaging, logical stories children can relate to and enjoy reading. The Biscuit stories are perfect. Capucilli captures the mischievous and endearing nature of puppies while Schories draws them with simplicity and charm.

Highly recommended for emergent readers in Kindergarten and first grade.

I am accepting books for review. For information on how to submit, go here: https://bferrante.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/get-featured-on-my-blog/

Pirate Smells – Interactive Fun for the Whole Family

Purchase link 

Hours of things to do with this book:

1. Read the story. Enjoy Pirate’s adventures and the child’s imaginings,
2. Before reading the answer, try to guess the source of the smell from the close-up pictures that represent Pirate’s viewpoint.
3. Write and draw your answer to the question about Pirate’s last adventure.
4. At the back of the book, you will find a list of well-known books, classic and recent. Look for images or words on the cloud-framed pages of this story that remind you of the books listed. Write down the page number of any you find.
5. Find 68 gingerbread men.
6. Read the books listed. They’re great.

Here’s a video with illustrations. https://youtu.be/i5TED_gpJYg

Fairy in Waiting by Sophie Kinsella. Illustrated by Marta Kissi. Book Review.

Buy link https://amzn.to/3fIfPrI

 This  popular humor writer now has two children’s books. Both feature a girl whose mother is a fairy and father is  a mortal. This isn’t your typical fairy story however, as she uses a computerized wand and presents herself as a normal woman most of the time. The husband is reminiscent of the early Bewitched  television series. He’s not too crazy about her using magic.

  Kinsella  uses humor and suspense  effectively and engages a young audience from the first page. My almost six year old granddaughter listened eagerly as I read this book to her in four sittings.  This early chapter book is supplemented with many pictures.

 If you are a traveler to resorts, you’ll chuckle at the scene where two fairy mothers have a wand battle over reserving poolside seats with their towels. There is also a chapter with wacky monkeys that children will love.

All in all, this is a light-hearted romp through modern magic and family dynamics.

 

I am accepting books for review. For information on how to submit, go here: https://bferrante.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/get-featured-on-my-blog/

Buy link https://amzn.to/3ljMNj4

Pushball A Game That’s Tasty to Eat! by Thomas Leavey. Illustrated by John Buck. Book review.

 

I procrastinated reviewing this book for quite some time because I was unsure what to  say about it. I read it a few times to my granddaughter and  solicited feedback from others.

The storyline is quite peculiar. A duck tries to get a groundhog to play Pushball with a giant ball. The groundhog dislikes the game and wants to eat the ball. The game does not go very well; the groundhog thinks it is too rough. At the end the groundhog eats the entire ball which swells him to four times his natural size.

The story is written in humorous rhyme abcb. Each page has from 1 to 3 quatrains. Here’s an example.

 The groundhog was puzzled

And stopped in his tracks.

He said, *that’s what I get (sic)

 for playing with quacks!”

 There are 42 quatrains in total which seems more than necessary for such a simple story.

The author explains on the last two pages that the moral of the story is “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.” Then he explains  each animal’s secret for success.  This felt a little awkward.

However, the other reviews on Amazon  are all five stars. But the people I shared this with felt more like I did. My granddaughter thought it was funny and strange but long and wasn’t interested in subsequent readings.

 The illustrations are great. Vivid, lively and funny.

I have mixed feelings about this book.

The Gatsby Kids and the Outlaw of Sherwood by Brian Michaud. Book Review.

Buy link https://amzn.to/3lc0a4Y

This is the first book in a series of time traveling adventures.  Three Gatsby siblings, the youngest in the 6th grade, are targets of some pretty extreme bullying at school. As a  retired teacher, it horrifies me that anything so obvious could be happening but I’m sure it does somewhere. The three kids stick together but seem to be resigned to the horrific treatment they receive from older violent students. However, they show great courage, pluck, and ingenuity when they travel back in time.

The author has come up with a  unique way of having a having the kids go back to the 13th century. Here they must rescue Robin Hood before he has joined the merry-men. The story is fairly gentle and without gore. It suits children aged seven and up although some might find the vocabulary bit of a struggle.

 The story comes to a conclusion but the  school bullying is not resolved. I suspect there will be more time travel and this will help the children overcome the challenges at school.

 The best part of this book and the most enjoyable is the humor. The children are hilarious, especially the youngest. Kids will laugh out loud at their banter and behavior.