Name of Game. Family Fortunes (Wii).

Category. Video Game – Nintendo Wii.

Manufacturers recommended age. 3 and over.

Number of players. 4 family teams available to play, solo player or two player/family modes.

Warnings. None.

Product description.

The TV game show everyone knows! Sets, family teams, survey questions; even down to the instantly recognisable ‘”uh-uhh”” sound from the scoreboard.

Family Fortunes Wii brings this family favourite directly to your fingertips!

Introduced by Vernon Kay, two family teams of five members must guess what “100 people surveyed” had said, to a question.

The ‘Top answer’ survey results are revealed on the big board and somewhere within the answers is a bonus prize.

Manufacturer. Nintendo.

If any parent has tried out this game with their children we would love to hear your comments on the game, where you bought it and how much you paid and any other information you think might help other parents.   If you have found a game or toy that you would like to share with others, let us know.

If you are looking for information on any other toy or game use our search button at the top of the page.   If we do not have it, please let us know.

Name of Game. E-stereograms – 3D images for the Kindle.

Category. Kindle download.

Manufacturers recommended age. NA.

Number of players. NA.

Warnings. None.

Product description.

Your Kindle is now 3D!  Well, at least it is capable of displaying 3D autostereograms, which look like they’re popping out of the page at you.

Looking at the 3D stereogram images in this e-book is more than just fun and fascinating. It’s actually good for you, even if you don’t read any of its words at all. How many books can make that claim?

Here’s why this book can…

Over the years, orthoptists and vision therapists have used autostereograms in the treatment of some binocular vision and accommodative disorders. It’s been proven that looking at these images exercises your eyes, and your brain’s cognitive image processing centers, in such a way that’s good for you.

So check it out! And enjoy looking at all the interesting pictures that leap off the screen at you!

Manufacturer/Author. John Craig (takes you to Amazon page)

If you have tried this we would love to hear your comments, on the application, where you bought it and how much you paid and any other information you think might help others to decide whether to buy it.    If you have found a game or toy that you would like to share with others, tell us about it.

Name of game. Dotty Dinosaurs

Category. Learning shapes and colours

Manufacturers recommended age. 3 – 6

Number of players. 2 – 4

Warnings. None

Product description.

Children will have fun learning all about shapes and colours with these friendly, coloured dinosaurs. This is actually two games in one; children can play the shapes game or the colour game.

In the shapes game, players choose a dinosaur board and place it in front of them with the shapes side uppermost.    All the shape pieces are spread out on the table, and the player rolls the shape die.    If they can find a shape piece that matches the one on the die and is also the same colour as their dinosaur, they place it on their dinosaur board and play passes to the next player.   If they already have that shape, they cannot play and the next player takes their turn.    The winner is the first player to cover all the spaces on their board.

The colour game is played in a similar way, using the reverse of the boards, and a colour-spot die to match the coloured spots on the dinosaurs.    This is a very simple, colourful game, made of sturdy, wipe-clean board, and the educational guide on the box shows how it can contribute to your child’s education.

Manufacturer. Orchard Toys Ltd.   www.orchardtoys.co.uk

If any parent has tried out this game with their children we would love to hear your comments on the game, where you bought it and how much you paid and any other information you think might help other parents.

Name of Game. Cluedo the world of Harry Potter.

Category. Board game.

Manufacturers recommended age. 9+

Number of players. 2 – 6.

Warnings. None.

Product description.

Cluedo game with Harry Potter theme.

Discover the secrets of Hogwarts in this version of the classic mystery game.   Enjoy new game play features and a moving Hogwarts game board. Dark magic has been performed at Hogwarts.   A fellow student has vanished from the famous School of Witchcraft and Wizardry—and it is up to you to solve the mysterious disappearance.

Play as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna or Neville and try to discover WHO did it, WHAT spell or item they used, and WHERE the student was attacked.   Was it Draco Malfoy with a Sleeping Draught in the Owlery?   Move around Hogwarts making suggestions, using the Floo network to travel faster through the wizarding world, but watch out for unlit fireplaces.   Think you’ve gathered all the facts you need?  Go to the Burrow to make your final accusation to win the game.

Contents include: Gameboard, 6 identity cards, 6 movers, 29 help cards, 32 dark cards, 21 mystery cards, 1 notepad, 40 Floo powder tokens, 6 suspect tokens, 6 item tokens, 1 envelope, 1 green die, 1 black

Manufacturer. Hasbro.

If any parent has tried out this game with their children we would love to hear your comments on the game, where you bought it and how much you paid and any other information you think might help other parents.

Name of game. Bananagrams.

Category. Word game.

Manufacturers recommended age. 5+

Number of players. 2 – 8

Warnings. Not suitable for children under 36 months/ Adult supervision recommended.

Product description.

Played with lettered tiles.   Players play independently and all at the same time to create words in a crossword fashion.   Non scoring game so is ideal for mixing young and old, experienced and  inexperienced players.

Bananagrams is a fun word game that requires no pencil, paper or board. All you need is a table. One hand can be played in as little as five minutes. It is great for family fun as well as being educational. Bananagrams’ portability makes it perfect for travel. Just grab the pouch and go.

Manufacturer.  Winning Moves UK Ltd.   www.winningmoves.co.uk

If any parent has tried out this game with their children we would love to hear your comments on the game, where you bought it and how much you paid and any other information you think might help other parents.

Name of game.   Alphabet Lotto.

Category.   Word/letters

Manufacturers recommended age. 3 and over.

Number of players. 2 – 5 players.

Warnings. Not suitable for children under 36 months.

Product description.

Designed to help very young children to recognize letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make.

Each player takes a lotto board, and players must agree on whether  to play with the letter or picture sides of the boards.     Cards are placed face down on the table, and players take it in turns to pick up one of the cards, which they show the other players.    If the card matches one of the pictures or letters on their lotto board, they cover it with the card.    If not, the card is returned, face down, to the table.    The winner is the first player to cover all the spaces on their lotto board.

There are 4 versions of the game; players can choose to match picture cards to the picture lotto boards, or letter cards to the letter lotto boards.    Or, to make it slightly harder, they can try to match the picture cards to the corresponding letter boards, or match letter cards to the corresponding picture boards. Although this game is ideal for children aged 3 and over, even younger children will enjoy being helped to match the pictures.    You can also ask children to find a card with a fish on, or a card with something red on it, or a card with the letter ‘s’.    The letter cards can be used to spell out words as well, so there are many opportunities for extra play value.

Children will have so much fun with this game, yet they won’t realise that they are learning at the same time.

Manufacturer. Orchard ToysLtd.   www.orchardtoys.co.uk

If any parent has tried out this game with their children we would love to hear your comments on the game, where you bought it and how much you paid and any other information you think might help other parents.

The reason is quite simple.   A friend of my called Christian was supposed to be on the show with someone who dropped out and I got called in because I was the only one that would do it at short notice.   The lengths I will go to for a bit of fame (with a small “f”).

Christian and I (The Contestants) had to sit in a nice warm and comfortable studio, supplied with BBC tea (I don’t want to upset the nice chap that made it, so I will just say it was the way Cyn makes my tea!) and some lovely Easter themed cakes supplied by the wife of Andy.   Thank you Mrs Gelder, they were munchelisious.

We had to decipher the clues to different locations for a young lady to follow.   Jenna “Bonsai” Benson and her driver “The Beast” did all the physical work, driving from location to location, after we had worked out the clues, and picking up new clues.

With the help of a considerable number of phone call, and texts, from listeners we managed to get Jenna around all the correct locations.   Unfortunately we had struggled with two of the clues and wasted a considerable amount of valuable time so Jenna had to leap from the car at the last location and run (whilst commentating!) to reach a gentleman who had the ultimate treasure.    Whilst she was doing this the clock was ticking down.

10…9…8…7 “Get a move on Jenna” some Looney sitting next to Christian was calling out..5…4   This was getting exciting…3…2…”Have you got my treasure” cried Jenna,…The man said “Ye”….BONG went the alarm, ”TIME UP” said Heather in the control room.

I blame Christian and Andy for this.   If they hadn’t been so polite and listened to my stupid suggestions we wouldn’t have wasted so much time.

I might not be getting invited back in the near future; it could be the screaming “WE WUZ ROBBED” very loudly into the microphone that did it.

Anyway I have said this before, getting invited to all these different events provides me with opportunities to meet interesting people and discover new facts.

For instance did you know that during the Second World War, the Czech government in exile had some officials staying at The Old Manor House in Wingrave, Buckinghamshire.

On his travels between his various offices he had noticed that the local people had to stand out in the open when waiting for a bus, so as a gesture of thanks, the Czech President gifted a donation of  cash to build a bus shelter on the cross roads of the A418 and the Wingrave/Winstow road.    (It is still there).

Did you also know that the motto on the Banner of the Czechoslovakian President translates to “Truth Prevails”.

Very interesting, but so what, you are thinking.   Well the clue we were given for this particular location was as follows;

The top memorial is angry, but has a gift from where the truth prevails.

So could you have worked it out?   I have given you some highlighted clues so you don’t have any excuses.

I still say we wuz robbed.

My tame human Tom, was doing some research on animal intelligence.   Look no further I advised him with a small nip to the ankle, but no, you humans seem to want to do things the hard way.

He came upon the BBC 1 site that was doing a series called “Super Smart Animals” and there was a short video of a Border Collie (as you all know, that’s what I am) that can recognise over one thousand words  mostly identifying  soft toys.   (Woof to that I say!)   The Collie’s name is Chase.

I don’t know what all the fuss is about.   I know loads of words and even full sentences like “Jessie, get off the sofa.” or, “Jessie, stop chewing my shoe.”  Or “Jessie, stop chasing the cat.” I just choose to ignore them!

Anyway, my female human buys me lots of soft toys from the car boot sales and I chew them to bits, so I don’t have them long enough to get to know them well enough to give them names.

Now I am sure some of you humans out there have some clever animals (or at least you think you do!) so if you wanted to send in a picture or some information on how clever they are, my human said he would put them up on his blog and they could be as world famous as “moi”.   I would love to hear of one that can count.

One last thing before I get the male human to take me for a walk, (he was easier to train than the female) perhaps you could “LIKE” this blog and “SHARE” and  possibly ask your friends to do the same, I would love to see the male humans face when he realises that I got more response than him.

One very last thing, when you go for your “walkies” (don’t humans talk like idiots to their pets) don’t forget to take your Poo bags.

Watch the video

They have 5 weekends when you can take the kids to see the lambing and get to cuddle the lambs and even feed them with milk.   Nice little business sideline.

In the fields which surround the village they let the sheep graze until it is time to take them to the lambing sheds, but occasionally the farmer misjudges and some lambs are born in the field.

Today it started out a pleasant sunny, but chilly, morning and Jessie decided to take me out for a walk across the fields.   As you know, Jessie is a border collie that was born on a chicken farm and isn’t quite sure what she should do when she comes into contact with the sheep.

Jessie has managed to train me to throw a ball and she will run after it, bring it back and drop it about 15 feet from where I am standing, and then get me to fetch it and throw it for her to run after and so on….most times when the sheep are in the field we have to skirt around them, with Jessie making sure there is plenty of leeway just in case the sheep get a bit frisky.   For those who don’t know, if you are called a “Big Jessie” in Scotland it means you are a bit of a fearty, or a girls blouse or the American version would be a Pantywaist.   So without meaning to we managed to give her the most appropriate name.

Anyway some of the ewes had given birth a few days ago and the lambs were up and about tottering rather unsteadily on their wobbly legs.   The sight of the lambs seemed to interest Jessie, perhaps it was because they were smaller than her, or they were something she had never seen before.   Whatever the reason, when we came across two ewes with their lambs standing away from the main flock, Jessie decided that she wanted to have a closer look and have a sniff.

When Jessie moved, very slowly and cautiously, towards them, one of the ewes made a mad dash away from her and was closely followed by her lamb.

The other ewe did what a lot of protective mothers do; she stamped her hoof on the ground a few times and put herself between Jessie and her lamb.   Jessie did the sensible thing and got me to throw the ball again.

So why do I say that “Sheep and human parents have some things in common”?   I’ll tell you why, when we have done demonstrations of Numenko some parents see the board game and when they realise it is a numbers game involving a little arithmetic they panic and rush off dragging their kids with them thereby instilling a fear of maths in their children.

Then there are the other kind who show an interest and get their kids to try out the game, encouraging them not to be afraid of something as simple and basic as numbers, arithmetic or even the dreaded “maths” word.

What kind are you, a Big Jessie or a foot stamping Mamma?

On the show he also introduced Melanie Spanswick, who is a classical pianist and lives in Chesham.   Melanie was not what I expected.   I thought that classical pianists or classical musicians in general, would be sort of stuffy and uptight.   You know what I mean, some chap dressed like a penguin in tails.

But as usual most pre conceived ideas are wrong.   Melanie was a charming lady who was very down to earth.   She is like the rest of us who are trying to earn a living, her way is through something that she obviously loves and is good at.

I have said it before that I have been very lucky since I started to market Numenko, I get to meet some interesting and lovely people.   Nick Coffer a Radio Presenter and Melanie Spanswick a Classical Pianist all in the one day!    More about Melanie in a future blog.

I did a number trick with a couple of listeners who phoned in.   One of them nearly gave me a heart attack when he said that his answer didn’t agree with mine!   Fortunately we managed to salvage that one.

You can listen to the programme via this link