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Cheatwell Animals Snap and Pairs
by askmeanything
I bought this dual game of Snap and Pairs, made by Cheatwell, not with a child in mind, but with an old family friend who sadly has been diagnosed with dementia. She comes to visit and I wanted so much to keep her engaged. She's so lonely and needs this time to enjoy herself. I fussed because I knew her mind would drift in ordinary ... conversation. So, I thought, that when she came to visit, I could try and focus her mind on something fun that would hopefully aid her memory function in some small way.
Before game play she talked only of how she was forgetting things and how frightening it was. She began to repeat her conversation and this was when I brought out the Snap and Pairs game.
Earlier, I had set aside a few pairs, to simplify the game and left them inside the lovely tin that the game comes in. The tin flips open. Our friend was repeating her sadness about being lonely so that was the time to try to bring her out of her depressive thoughts. On the metallic lid is a cartoon picture of a cat, dog and goat. She was very interested and amused by the tin design. The boldness of the pictures is eye catching.
I went on to show our friend this new game by bringing out the cards I had kept to one side. I left the tin out and mentioned the names of the animals provided whilst showing her the brightly coloured animal cards. This served to distract the cycle of negative thinking. Immediately our friend was leaning forward and watching what I did with the pack of cards.
I shuffled the nice large cards. I had previously reduced the pack to a smaller number of pairs to make the game a bit easier. Then I placed them face down into a grid pattern to make it easier to remember the places of matching pairs. If I had scattered the cards across the table without pattern I felt certain that game play would be impossible for our friend. Indeed, the rhythm of card placement and the appeal of the catchy design seemed to have a calming and hypnotic effect.
Quite luckily, it turned out that our friend had played 'Memory' when she was a child. With people who suffer with memory difficulties it is really important to remind them about their past so this was a wonderful opportunity to have our friend recall her childhood and about how she had played this game with her mother and brother. Better yet, and this is the bit I had been most nervous about explaining, was that she told me the rules!
Our friend turned over two cards. The pictures did not match. She turned them back over in their places on my grid system. She instructed me, 'Now don't forget what you saw and where you saw it.' Can you imagine how wonderful it is to see someone taking back a bit of control into their lives when everything has been slipping away?
Next it was my turn to turn over two cards. There was no pair. However, one picture happened to match with a card that my friend had turned over on the go she had before me. I prompted, 'That's the card that you turned over last.'
She grinned, 'Yes, it was and I know where it is.'
I prayed that she really did know. I wasn't convinced but, more fool me, she turned the correct card over and was able to recall where the card was that I had shown her on my turn. She had a match. Her eighty-year old face lit up and I could detect the little girl that she had been as she smiled and took her matching pair.
I have played this game many times with children too. We've made the sounds of the animals to add interest and fun. For some reason it is recommended for children aged eight and up. Personally, I can't think why, as I think it's better for younger children, and we've even had a three-year-old play and manage fine, again with a reduced sized pack of cards. I've also divided the pack and we've laid down our cards as quickly as possible and when we see a match, try to shout out first, 'Snap'. Hands up - I've been beaten by a five year old in Snap and Pairs. How many times? Let's not even go there!
I brought this from an independent toy shop for about £4.
This lovely tin with two game options is a simple game idea for young children and people who suffer with dementia, and related conditions, as this fun educational game works on speed, hand and eye coordination and memory. I can't fault a simple game that does all this.
I'll never forget how meaningful a small amount of power and control can be for someone who is disappearing and this came from five stars worth of game play.
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Jam Mullet Power Cards
by karalouk
I brought these cards last year as a secret santa present. I brought them for £5.00 in Hawkin's Bazaar. I believe they're also available for around the same price at Amazon, Paperchase and some other retailers. The cards are made by a company called 'Jam' who also have other cards available, including Minger Power cards!
The ... cards come packaged on cardboard backing with plastic over the top and there are a fair amount of cards per pack (about 20). Unfortunately they don't come in a box or have a case to keep the cards stored away (most playing cards and Top Trump style cards tend to come with a box or case).
On each card is a real photo of a real person sporting an epic mullet on top of their head! Underneath is written 'Special skill', 'Style', 'Odour', 'Strength in length' and 'Mullet Power' with different things written next to them, some rather rude and some a little vulgar... but mainly just amusing! Here's some nicer examples:
Special Skills - Chatroom Wooing
Style - Chuckle Brother Elite
Odour - Family Bucket
Next to each 'skill' is a number, so the cards can be played like a game of Top Trumps. If you're unaware of Top Trumps, here are the rules. You split the cards equally between players and make sure your opponent doesn't see your cards. Players take turns to choose a skill to play by, whoever has the highest skill number wins the opponents card (Eg. Strength in length 7 would beat Strength in length 4). The winner is the player who wins all of the cards.
The Mullet Power Cards are jam packed full of some awful (or brilliant, depending on how you look at it) mullets and gave everyone a good laugh at Christmas. The recipient was very pleased with their cards and others even tried to swap with them! These cards won't be everybody's cup of tea but I'm sure most people with a light hearted and rather silly sense of humour will appreciate them. I don't feel bad about laughing at somebody else's expense simply because I'm laughing at their hair, which they chose to style in a ridiculous way! I think some of the other cards (such as Minger Power cards) can be quite cruel. I prefer to laugh at somebody's silly haircut, rather than those who have an unfortunate face (you can change your hair but you can't change your face!). Not only are the mullets excellent but the game is surprisingly enjoyable too!
I recommend these cards as a fun, light-hearted, novelty gift for those who are easily pleased by bad haircuts!
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ELC Christmas Snap
by karalouk
Every Christmas I tend to seek out different Christmas themed activities, arts, crafts and games for my daughter. Last year I was browsing in The Early Learning Centre when I came across a pack of Christmas Snap Cards. I knew my daughter would like them, not only because they were Christmas themed but because she had just learnt to play ... snap!
There are a generous amount of cards per pack (48) and they come in a cardboard box, which is essential for keeping the cards stored in! The designs on the cards include an elf, angel, fairy, snowman, robin, Christmas tree, Santa and reindeer. The characters also have fun names written underneath such as 'Robbie Robin', 'Eddie Elf' and 'Sammy Snowman' which makes them seem a little bit more fun. The designs are fun, colourful, recognisable and most importantly - festive! They're sure to please all little ones. The back of the cards feature a repeated pattern of the ELC logo, so there's no way of seeing what your opponent has!
The cards have the same thickness as regular playing cards, which is slightly disappointing given that they are aimed at young children who are notorious for being heavy handed. Although I must admit that our cards are still in excellent condition, so it's not really a problem. They have a glossy finish so they're easy enough to wipe clean. The cards are recommend for children 3+ years and are absolutely unisex.
We recently got these cards out from the loft with the rest of the Christmas decorations and my daughter was very pleased to see them again! I like to put her Christmassy things away after Christmas so she doesn't have to see them all year round and can get excited and feel festive when her Christmassy things make an appearance the next Christmas. We played with the cards a lot over last Christmas and have been playing with them again for a week or so this Christmas, she still seems to enjoy them as much as she did last year (she was 4 then, she is 5 now). There are 2 games that we play with these cards, simply because I don't know any other card games (and they're easy enough for my daughter to grasp)! We play snap and pairs. I'm sure everybody knows the rules of snap, but here goes anyway! To play snap we split the cards in half and take turns to place the cards down, face up. When a matching pair appear we have to shout 'SNAP!' and place our hand on the pile of cards. Whoever snaps first wins the pile of cards. My daughter absolutely adores this game and gets really excited by the suspense! To play pairs we place all of the cards face down on the table. Then we take turns at turning 2 cards over to find a matching pair. My daughter really enjoys this game too and is surprisingly good at it, possibly better than I am! She's also happy to play this one by herself. Not only is it fun but it has educational aspects, the most obvious being memory skills. Both games usually take us a while to play and she never seems to get bored or distracted, although if your child has a short attention span you can always take some cards away to shorten the games...
The ELC Christmas Snap Cards are only available at The Early Learning Centre and The Early Learning Centre website. They cost just £2.00 a pack (currently on sale for £1.00), which is pretty good value for money.
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