[blindkid] Board Games for Kids

[Deborah Kent Stein]

Dominoes generally work well off the shelf, as most standard sets have 
indented dots on the pieces that indicate the numbers.  If they slide around 
on the table too much, play on a rubberized non-slip surface.  Another great 
game that needs no adapting is Cootie (it may be called something else now - 
there are many variations such as Mister Potato-Head).  In the game I 
remember, players take turns throwing the dice and adding parts to a plastic 
insect depending upon which number comes up.  You need a 1 to start with the 
body, a 2 to put the head on, a 3 for an antenna, and so on.


Debbie



-----Original Message----- 
From: Richard Holloway
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2012 9:54 PM
To: Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Board Games for Kids

There are quite a few ways to adapt, and you can also buy some things ready 
to use. Toys-R-Us has tic-tac-toe that appears to be blind-friendly just 
because of the design (I don't think it was designed for the blind 
intentionally, but so what, right?). Two possible choices, actually:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2970358
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4070733

You might go to: https://www.maxiaids.com/store/default.asp and search for 
games. They have quite a few. I would be a little cautions about their chess 
sets, I was disappointed, returned it and adapted my own, but that was a lot 
of work too. (Nice braille chess sets are hard to find.) Maxiaids also 
offers a wide variety of balls for play with bells inside and/or beepers.

Any parts of games that are in print can generally have dymo tape (or other 
adhesive braille) added for braille text. Simple graphics can be traced with 
elmer's glue or hot glue to demonstrate the shape. Chutes and ladders come 
to mind for such an approaach. Same thing with the board portion of any 
board game. Spinners are already tactile. Raise the dividing lines between 
colors or numbers, etc. and then add braille or depending on readiness for 
braille use, if the game uses colors, adapt with textures on the spinners 
and spaces. Sandpaper for one, corrugated cardboard for the next, corduroy 
fabric, satin, glued-on rice-- you name it.

Some entire games or game pieces can be bought pre-adapted. Braille dice can 
be bought pre-made for $3 or $4 a set. There are adapted timers available. I 
mentioned chess already Braille chess is much like a travel set with pegs to 
hold pieces on the squares, but the black squares are raised or given a 
texture. Likewise, white pieces are left alone, black ones have a raised peg 
or screw on top, or I choose to give our set a texture for black and leave 
white smooth. My daughter found larger pieces easier to distinguish.

Most of the pre-adapted board games I have seen are more like Monopoly and 
Scrabble, generally for older kids, I guess. I think chess generally starts 
for kids more in the 5 or 6 range? Depends on the child, I suppose. 
Checkers, backgammon... There are some items at the link below such as I 
have mentioned, plus a tic-tac-toe set which is tactile, though it looks 
similar to what toys-r-us has.

http://www.visabilitystore.org/browse.cfm/board-games/2,66,13.html

These folks also have adapted games, including some card games like "go 
fish".

http://www.independentliving.com/products.asp?dept=139

You can adapt card games yourself possibly with a perkins, and definitely 
with a slate and stylus. I suspect that would work a lot better than dymo 
tape for those.

Often, you'll find when you buy commercial games, they are adapted versions 
of standard games, not custom built ones from the ground-up, but I think we 
all mostly feel like we go with whatever works...

Oh, and I see a few items on ebay as well-- always worth a glance.

If you really want to adapt yourself, probably look at some of the sites 
above, then use what they have for a guide to adapt things as you like.

I'm sure many others here have more good ideas too--

Good luck!



On Jul 19, 2012, at 11:52 PM, Sariah Mattinson wrote:

> I was wondering if anyone has had experience adapting a board game for
> their blind kid. I have a three-year-old who will be four soon and wanted
> to get some board games that she might like but figure I will have to 
> adapt
> them somehow to make them more meaningful and fun for her. Has anyone done
> this and if so what board games did you adapt and how did you go about
> doing so? My daughter has no vision or light perception, so anything that
> would rely on any type of vision would probably be out of the question.
>
> Sariah
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