More Than Just A Ball: Catch A Conversation

Go beyond a game of catch with Thumball. Utilizing the brain-based principles of novelty, motivation, interaction and movement Thumball makes learning more fun! Thumballs are pleasingly squeezable balls with imprinted panels. Throw it. Catch it. Discuss what is written under your right thumb.

Want to improve listening and speaking skills while building vocabulary? 

• Select Category Mania Thumball or move Your Body Thumball

Need to promote self awareness and discuss feelings in an easy effective way?

• Select Emotion Mania Thumball or virtues and Values Thumball

Have to get acquainted quickly and easily?

• Select Who Are You for kids and Icebreaker Thumball for teens and adults

Eager to teach youngsters early learning skills?

• Select Numbers Thumball, My ABCs Thumball, Animals Thumball 
• and Shapes Thumball

 Want to make a business training or workshop more interactive?

• Select Meet and Greet Thumball or Best,Worst First Thumball

Having a get together or family gathering?

• Select Entertainment Talk Thumball

Thumball is the only ball that can do all this and more. Improve social skills, learn concepts, stimulate conversation and share memories with Thumball. The premiere tool used by trainers, educators, parents and leaders to maximize communication opportunities
Easy to play! Inexpensive! Fun! Competition free! With over twenty designs there is a Thumball for every age to meet any need. Thumball Gets Everybody Talking!
Catch a Conversation!

Thumball Adds Fun To Busy Blended Family Life

One heartfelt Thumball™ testimonial can make our whole day here at Answers In Motion!

"I wanted to let you know how much fun we have with your Thumballs! I can’t tell you how many hours of laughter these little balls have brought to our house. We have a blended family with seven children and a revolving door of friends and family members. It’s not uncommon that when we are gathered in the family room after dinner, someone will pick up a nearby Thumball and start the game rolling. We love the ice breaker questions and the simple ABC ball has sparked many types of games such as categories. Some of the categories that people can come up with are real side splitters! It really sparks the imagination. These simple little inexpensive toys are great for people of all ages. We were discussing the balls last night and my sister, who is a teacher, is now going to add one to her classroom!"  Thanks for all the fun! Jo Green, Owner The Green Clean Team, NJ

Thumball Now Available at target.com

Answers In Motion and Talicor/Aristoplay are pleased to announce Three Thumball Designs Now Available online at Target.com. Shapes, Animals and Ice Breaker Thumballs are the first offerings of major retailer Target. They have a great, easy to use website making it simple to purchase Thumballs.

Shapes and Animals are the ideal toddler gift, teacher gift or baby shower present. Ice Breaker is the most popular Thumball design and is perfect to bring to work, parties, family reunions, senior centers and trainings. Everyone will be talking and interacting in seconds.

Thumball has increased exposure, brand recognition and easier availability which means greater growth and new products to come. Our perfect aim has hit the bull's eye.

Thumball Reviews Rank High, Share Your Testimonials

An educational consultant from Texas called a bit out of breath to order an Icebreaker Thumball. It seems one of her students may have taken hers and she simply can't get by without one anymore, that is how essential her Thumball has become to her practice. She shared the testimonial below and recommends everyone get a Thumball carabiner to hold it in place so it won't "walk" away on it's own.

"The Thumball, has given me extraordinary results in breaking the ice.

The students just love it. I usually joke, that at no other time they would be allowed to throw a ball inside of a building unless they were in the gym so I encourage them to just have fun,while getting them to loosen up, while secretly preparing them to listen to me...I love it,it works...

So Thanks again...I could not perform my job successfully without it."

Gayla
Collegeville Station, TX

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.

An Entrepreneur? Give Thanks for the Terror

Blogs are wonderful but like most wonderful things it takes focus and discipline. I posted less in August than expected but I am on a quest of self forgiveness so this gave me a chance to express it.

As we wait for our first shipment of Thumballs made under the stricter European standards (CE), for half the shipment to go to the UK establishing us as a worldwide company and for the new designs our customers asked for I take a moment to reflect. The past 4 years since the pivotal dream, literally a dream that urged me on to manufacture our product I am amazed. Defining ourselves as entrepreneurs has been exhilarating, enlightening and terrorizing. Gregg and I have taken a bigger risk than we ever thought possible.

With my husband's tenacity and business sense we have created something that was not there before and that is stunning. There are more reasons not to do this than to do this unless you want some real excitement. Now my goal to make Thumball™ a household word like Frisbee™ or Magic 8 ball™ or Duncan Yo-Yo™.

I believe Thumball™ is truly beneficial and powerful in a surprising way. One toss of an Icebreaker or Who Are you Thumball and you can be communicating with someone you may never have spoken to in your life. One toss and the playing field is evened whether for students having autism, learning disabilities, ADHD or for diverse employees brought together for trainings. They may have all seen each other and even nodded politely but actually engaging in verbal interaction probably not.

So it is time to give thanks for those that believed in our dream. Family members and friends willing to work on our project and attend the trade shows with us and watch our dogs when we went on the road, thank you.

We have businesses to thank for their orders and support including;
Trainer's Warehouse, S & S Worldwide, Nasco, Self-esteem shop, Marco Products, Courage To Change, Self Help Warehouse and recently added to The Speech Bin catalog.

Of course our independent toy store retailers gave us an early start as well and we are grateful for them. There are so many others and we appreciate all of you. Thanks to our customers who ordered through the website or sent a PO from a school or business.

I don't always know where a blog post will take me as I write it. This foray led to thankfulness and that is a great place to go on any day for any reason. Giving thanks gives back every time. I am thankful for this journey the good, the bad and the terrorizing.

Adults 55 plus Enjoy Icebreaker Thumball

Have fun while visiting parents, grandparents friends or family in the hospital or nursing homes with Icebreaker Thumball.
Ice Breaker Thumball is a soft stuffed ball, 6-inch in diameter. Every age and ability level can participate. 1 to 100 can play. Throw it, Catch it, and respond to the panel under your thumb!

Players interact in a group setting while developing ease of verbal expression, improved social awareness and meaningful communicative interactions.

1. Participate in a turn taking game, circulating Thumball by passing, rolling, tossing with increasing ease and accuracy.
2. Answer questions related to personal preferences & experiences to practice staying on topic.
3. Ask other players questions about their likes/ dislikes and life experiences to stimulate opportunities for friendships based on shared interests.
4. Recall answers given by other players to enhance short-term memory skills.
5. Ask family, friends, staff, peers to participate in favorite things survey and keep data.
6. Create charts & graphs to present findings in front of a group for public speaking practice.
Our response from active adult communities, senior care centers and acute, rehab and long term care facilities has been overwhelmingly positive:

“Thumball has brought our social time alive. Everyone gets a chance to play and it keeps our members interest. Memories are relived in a great way."
Meredith, Activities Co-coordinator

“We have introduced Thumball into our physical, occupational and speech therapy groups with wonderful results. Each resident finds it easier to accomplish tasks with this fun game during our exercise, cooking and conversation-time activities.”
Lynn, Rehabilitation Supervisor

Try Thumball on your next visit and get everybody, young and old, fast and slow interacting, relating, thinking and creating with Thumball.

Meet and Greet Icebreaker Business Style

I am jumping the gun as I am prone to do. My excitement for our latest Thumball design just gets the better of me and I get all giddy and spill the beans.

Our most popular Thumball used by the most age groups in the most settings has been the Icebreaker design. Great at the high school/college clubs, orientations and parties to put players at ease, increase meaningful communication and generate fun.

Our Human Resource customers use it to start meetings and play again half way through to keep everyone perked up during a long presentation. HR leaders tell us again and again how Thumball play improves the feeling in the room and keeps employees more alert and responsive.

The Icebreaker travels to senior centers, nursing centers and long term care centers to stimulate older brains, create interesting conversation and recreate memories from long ago.
Often rolled across the table, instead of tossed about, recreation therapists report more participation from members during group activities.

Drum roll please, "Introducing the next great Icebreaker: Meet and Greet!" Interesting questions to ask others or answer for yourself. Increase the fun by predicting another players answer.
Many questions relate to personal preferences or experiences. Others panels relate more to the workplace and ways to work efficiently. It is easy to adapt to every kind of business, educational settings, clubs, organizations and even home parties.

The 6 inch size makes it easy to catch and toss. There is something about a ball that makes everyone smile and feel a little more playful. A round of catch is simple fun, are you ready to play?
Meet and Greet Thumball will be available in August 2008. We will provide a list of stores and catalogs which carry Thumball products on our blog.

Thumball At Work? What is it Good For?

Thumball is ideal for trainings, meetings and teaching. Employee inservices become more interesting with the introduction of ball play. Audience participation increases. An alert brain retains more information. Co-workers from different departments that may have never met are now talking together. The Icebreaker Thumball is perfect for sharing preferences and experiences in a casual yet stimulating way.
Workshops turn into word play with My ABC's Thumball. Throw it, catch it and respond to the letter under your thumb with a word relating to the topic that begins with that letter. Challenges our brains and creates a lively interactive learning experience. Human Resource directors praise Thumball as the easiest most useful tool ever.