Thumball Goes To College

Thumball is making waves on campuses and with co-eds. At first they arrive on the scene and get casually investigated. Then they are used for juggling or extreme catch.

Eventually however the players read and think about what's on them and begin to play with interest. Then the fun starts and everyone is clamoring for more Thumball.

Icebreaker, Who Are You? and Meet & Greet Thumball are perfect for orientation and social events to get students interacting and feeling less awkward.

Emotion Mania and Move Your Body Thumball get grabbed up by drama departments and PE classes. Act out feelings, exaggerate movements and learn about body language. You couldn't refrain from laughing if you wanted to.

Category Mania Thumball can get competitive and surprises everyone by how challenging it can be to name things in categories quickly and accurately. Name as many flowers or birds or noisy things as you can and just try not to stammer.

Virtues and Values Thumball really inspires personal thought and reflection. Three attributes are revealed under your thumb and you decide if you have them, if you observe them in others or if you would like to have them. This activity changes with age and is appreciated by families, counselors and coworkers.

Catch Peace Thumball inspires students to learn more about world geography, languages and cultures. Find on the map the countries that speak Malay or Persian. Enjoy trying to pronounce the word peace in them too.

We are pleased to see Thumball's reach expand and whether they are used for learning and communicating or juggling and radical acts of catch it brings people together. That is our ultimate goal to come together and recognize our similarities and differences without the need for judgement.

Can a ball do that? We say "Yes". Now we just need to get the warring factions on our planet to play catch and maybe they will come together too.

Our Business is A Ball

Where did this company, Answers In Motion start anyway and why are people calling me an entrepreneur (I hate words that rhyme with manure)? I don't want to forget why I do all this. Business has been very business-y (not fun) and I need to go back to that day when a small stuffed ball and a sharpie got together and created what would later be know as Category Mania Thumball. I love the photo we have of the hand made original, the first prototype and finally the finished product.

Students love games and when they get to play them in the classroom they really feel they are getting one over on us. This keeps them focused and actively participating and that is why a game can teach more in less time if presented with limits and a zero tolerance policy for out of control behavior.

So when I was working as a speech therapist with multiply handicapped second graders I needed to keep their interest. Once I allowed them to at first pass a ball to each other, then to roll it and finally to toss it I had their attention.

Now they were asking me, "Hey what are these words doing on the ball" Now they were told to keep tossing until I said STOP and that player should life their thumb off the ball and read the word found there. It was a category term and now they were challenged to name examples of "Vehicles or Fruit or Occupations".

So there you have it the origins of what is now a real business offering 18 Thumball designs. The most remarkable thing about a game of Thumball is how intently the players focus on each other which increases the amount they are learning.

Other learning games I had tried were effective but the players only learned on their own turn and then tuned out. Not so with Thumball all my students were actively learning for the entire length of the class from the ball, their teacher and their classmates.

So Category Mania Thumball will forever be my favorite because that is where it started. It lends itself to every age and ability. A younger person might only name 1 or 2 items in a category. The older more capable might name 5 or 6. Then add a challenge by tossing the Letter Mania Thumball and getting a "D" and then Category Mania and get "Furniture" and now they must name an answer beginning with that letter. (I like dinette or davenport but there is always dresser). This skill called word retrieval is essential to language development.

If a category ever seems "too hard" for the age group use it as an opportunity to discuss it and research it. Some say "My 6 year old students don't know any European countries." and I say then let's teach some. Even our youngest are aware of countries like England or Italy and so we can locate a world map and show them the rest.

Every time our family plays we come up with an answer we had never thought of or a new way to play. Sometimes we name an item and have the player find the category word it belongs to on the Thumball within 25 seconds. Sounds silly but we like silly and as a mom I like anything that gets my family laughing. As a speech therapist I like anything new and interesting that expands vocabulary, improves communication, stimulates active learning and enriches problem solving skills.

So name a toy that begins with "T" that people learn with and never get tired of playing. Hmmmm......your guess is as good as mine.

Camp-O-Rama

I am at the point of preparation for a week long camping trip that I start to wonder what we are doing this for. It feels as if we are bringing everything we own so I wonder why not set up the backyard tent.

I will post upon return to share details. I already know that a day or two in clean air and a float down a river will make me forget all about the prep. Let's face it that is why we keep camping.

I confess I love it. The campfire is so nostalgic and we talk as a family and with our friends like never before. Even the rainy days stuck in the tent are amusing with cards, backgammon, 20 questions and our all time favorite Thumball.

Category Mania is chosen frequently as we all get better at naming words faster and thinking of more interesting answers. Instead of chair, couch, table for kinds of furniture we answer second hand, Chippendale, French provincial.

We have created a new product to compliment the Letter Mania Thumball. A camping scene printed on write-on, wipe off paper. This kind accepts any ink, crayon or marker, even Sharpies and it will wipe off. We will be doing a test run of the let's Go Camping: 4 of A Kind game on this trip.

I am imagining the early morning sounds of the birds and then the people getting up in all forms of disarray. I can smell the coffee and it never tastes better than out in the woods sitting at a picnic table. Next the aroma of fresh pancakes and bacon and happy campers ready to sit and eat.

With 2 children in college these family trips are changing and becoming less frequent. I think I will keep packing and keep praising our life so blessed. If my husband and the kids wants to take the TV I will agree because after all this is vacation and while they watch the Olympics I will watch them and smile. All the bother will be worth it in the end.