Awesome Thumball Review at www.wired.com

Savvy users of technology will learn about Thumball, the ball for learning and improving inter-personal communication skills at www.wired.com  Jenny Williams posted a super review and explained the product with clarity and finesse. Will the mounting evidence that our recent submersion in technology can reduce effective social skills increase readers interest in a fun interactive product that stimulates conversation and positive social interaction. Answer Mania Thumball indicates " Yes! It is in the stars".

Play It Smart with Thumball

Play It Smart with Thumball by Answers In Motion: "The Smart Balls" for Learning through Play! www.thumball.com

1. Meet & Greet Thumball for Family Reunions & Home Product Parties: provides thoughtful questions that stimulate interesting and fun conversations.
2. Ice Breaker Thumball for More Memorable Meetings: fun, easy way to increase employee participation & attention at trainings.
3. Virtues & Values Thumball for Building Self Esteem: encourages self-reflection on personal characteristics. How do you see yourself and how do others see you?
4. Category Mania Thumball helps "It's on the Tip of My Tongue" disorder: practice word finding with ease. Kids build vocabularies and older adults keep their brains sharp.
   
5. Emotion Mania Thumball for all including those with Asperger's: practice understanding and using facial expressions. Expands emotional intelligence.
6. Who Are You Thumball for all particularly those with Autism: fun way to socialize, turn take & make casual eye contact.
7. Move Your Body Thumball for Getting Active: teaches verbs, adverbs, body language & fitness. Act out each direction in reps of 3 to 5 for an entertaining work out.
8. Answer Mania Thumball for Making Silly or Serious Decisions: ask it any yes/no question and it helps you know what to do or not to do!
9. Thumball Literacy Set for Better Reading Comprehension: reinforces story elements (plot, conflict) and provides practice in retelling classic tales.
10. My ABCs or Letter Mania Thumballs for Learning Letter Sounds: enhances phonological skills essential to reading development.
11. Numbers Thumball for developing Math skills: count, learn 1 to 1 correspondence, practice math equations. Throw it twice and add, subtract or multiply!
12. Shapes Thumball for Early Cognitive Learning: develops visual perception, language skills and introduces prefixes.
13. Animals Thumball for Early Language Learning: develops naming skills, expands animal descriptions, perfect for Old McDonald sing along.
14. Catch Peace Thumball for Promoting Peace Around The World: increases cultural awareness and discussion of current events.
15. Soccer Mania Thumball for teaching skills & coaching: makes drills more fun, stimulates discussions about the match and reinforces rules & terms.
16. Love Always Thumball for showing you care: learn to say, “I love you.” in 10 languages and reflect on 20 quotes about love. Great for anniversary, wedding, showers, Valentine’s Day.
    

Thumball Bible Set Arriving in August 2009.
Baseball Thumball, Full Deck Thumball and Football Thumball soon to follow!

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

Educators Come Together for Education

We here at Answers In Motion have the opportunity to show Thumball at conferences and converse with the attendees. This was a stimulating month with our participation in the New Jersey Education Association convention in Atlantic City and then the American Speech and Hearing Association in Chicago.

Thumball created a stir because it provided teachers and therapists an instant lesson plan. Educators need things they can use quickly and easily and with a definite target goal in mind. The educators we met were appreciative of the goals and objectives provided on the web site for each Thumball. With 18 designs people had difficult decisions to make. Did they want to go with the Literacy Builders, the Emotional Intelligence route, vocabulary or social interaction Thumballls. Those having very specific subjects to cover went with Numbers and My ABCs which can be customized using the free activity sheets at www.thumball.com

I have nothing but respect and admiration for the dedication of our teachers, therapists and administrators. If there were one improvement I would like to see, it would be to remember we are all EDUCATORS first and our secondary titles like 6th grade Math, speech pathologist, occupational therapist, learning consultant while important should never overshadow our primary responsibility to guide a child to learn and instill the desire to always want to learn more.

Educators have become increasingly fearful about covering curriculum, focusing exclusively on IEP goals and constantly moving from subject to subject with out the time to transition meaningfully. They feel unsure if they can go global and teach all things within the context of a greater concept. Comments from supervisors like "Why were you reading him a story? I thought you were "speech". You have to do more speech activities."are disheartening to hear. If reading and discussing a book is not a speech activity then I spent a good portion of my 22 years as an SLP doing the wrong things.

Enough of my soapbox, I really just wanted to emphasize the wonderful time we had at both of these important events. Educators became educated on a huge array of subjects and by their attendace at NJEA and ASHA showed to students we all never stop learning. I am proud Thumball contributes in a meaningful way to improved focus, motivation and perhaps to a lifelong love of learning.

New directions: Thumball as Tool for Prescription Drug Education

Answers In Motion the parent company of Thumball has a major opportunity to continue it's goal of energizing education and improving communication.

The big pharmaceutical companies, PhRMA have taken a stand on the giving of gifts both large and small to health care professional. Drug company sales reps are discouraged from promoting their brands of medications with gifts of appreciation (Can you say conflict of interest?).

The voluntary policy states that the companies discourage provision of promotional gifts like pens, mugs etc and dinners out. In a press release issued July 28, 2008 Answers In Motion was featured as the next best place for medication education with their latest project, Medicine Thumball.

These unique balls are teaching tools which when left behind in offices and given to patients do much more than remind people of a brand, they educate on the features, benefits and side effects of that medication. It doesn't hurt that it is a ball to toss and catch and enjoy as well.

See the complete press release at the link below:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/07/prweb1140504.htm

This step is long overdue and PhRMA should be commended for prioritizing the quality of health education over potential profits from orders based on gifts and tokens (Can you say bribes?).

Medicine Thumball will become the model of attention getting products that teach and serve in a fun way with the emphasis consistently in the right place: helping physicians and patients make safe informed decisions about health.

Give Peace A Chance

We are a nation at war and it still surprises me at times but most things about war surprise me and shock me. I am always amazed at the casualty numbers and how we separate our American losses from the countries we are fighting. The number of civilian losses in Iraq are staggering yet we scarcely blink an eye because it is not "our" people. Well there in lies much of the problem.

I believe in the interdependence of all things. In early science classes we were all taught about ecosystems and that organisms working in harmony as a community result in growth and life. We seem to forget it applies not just to plants and other animals. We are part of it too and it includes the people we count as separate from us based on imaginary boundary lines.

We came to create a ball of hope, The Catch Peace Thumball is covered with the word Peace in different languages just like our world is covered with different nations and tongues. We use it to discuss the many languages that exist and find on a map where they are spoken. It is fun to highlight the different way words sound and trying to pronounce words "foreign" to us.

We use Catch Peace Thumball to honor the belief that to focus on our similarities not only our differences will help cultures understand each other and lead to communication and respect. It is a small step perhaps but to share the concept of oneness to children from a young age can't be a bad thing.

The war being fought is not American vs. Iraqi. The majority of Iraqis are people like us raising families, working hard, living simply and wanting peace. Toss it around, practice saying peace. it just may give peace a chance... of growing.

Numbers Thumball Not Just for Preschool Anymore

Numbers Thumball has 12 large colorful panels each covered with the number word and numeral on them from one to ten. At first glance observers might dismiss it as a Preschool only product. But Numbers Thumball has grown wings and has become the most versatile Thumball of all.

Now available for download at www.thumball.com is a Numbers Template worksheet. In each box on the page is each number and lines. The user can personalize the page by filling in questions, spelling words, math problems, vocabulary, drawings and exercise. Once you have chosen the material you want to cover, start the game with a toss and randomly stop the action to locate the number under your thumb.

The possibilities are endless and can be adapted to counseling, speech, occupational or physical therapy, getting to know you events, study sheets and education of every kind. We know families that fill in 10 dinner choices and each day plays a healthy round of catch with Numbers Thumball to find out what's for dinner.

Players get motivated and are eager to keep playing until all ten numbers are caught. An amazing way to keep everyone on track, having fun and learning every step of the way.

Fish Gotta Swim, Kids Gotta Move

Parents, It's hot out there so the kids will be indoors more and they need activity, lots of it. Post-its have become a terrific teaching tool to me. In a matter of minutes I can jot down the names of our family, pets and friends, one on each post-it. Then I place them through out the house.
Now the kids get to hunt for the names. Older kids can carry a clip board and when they find a name they put it on the paper and write down where they found it. They must find all the names (throw in a few funny ones, Sponge Bob etc) and where they found them specifically (in the kitchen,on the counter under the microwave) before they can come back.

I tell them how many name post-its are out there. They can work as a team or take turns. The one with the most names found now gets to conduct the next hunt. They can choose to write letters, words, sentences or draw pictures and place them around the "approved rooms". The other kids get to hunt. They will be active mentally and physically and will come up with their own creative ideas in the process.
A fun twist is to pick 10 compound words (football, airport, snowman etc.) and write each word separately on a post-it. Once they find all 20 notes then they must sort them and make 10 words.

If you have younger children learning to read you can place 10 post-its all with the same word and it will help them build sight word vocabulary. Go to http://www.quiz-tree.com/Sight-Words_main.html
for lists of these important words.

The value I get from a pack of post-its is fantastic but I attest that the 3M post-it people are not giving me a kick back.
Kids love to hunt, search, explore and discover even if it's small slips of sticky paper in the house. Language skills grow and hearing "I'm bored" fades away. Enjoy some lemonade and a day inside until the cool evening air lifts the heavy heat and the kids can hunt for lightening bugs instead.