I love open-ended toys and games that encourage my kids to be creative! So, after taking a look at Timberdoodle’s 2001 Game of the Year, Morphology, I KNEW it would be a hit with our family! Morphology IS the game where creativity win!
Morphology is a board game where you use your use your creative juices to build words using only the building components included in the game. (The building pieces include 4 wooden people, 16 glass beads, 20 small cubes, 1 string, 8 mini popsicle sticks, 2 plastic circles, and 1 wooden barrel.) The object is to correctly guess the words that your teammates build without speaking, spelling out words, or acting. The first team to move their frog to the Lily Pad wins.
Included in Morphology are the game board, playing cards, the various building components (mentioned above), a die, timer and frog game pieces. While the game is designed for ages 13 and up, my entire family was able to play. We divided the family up into two teams; one adult on each team. We did have to help our 4 year olds a bit. Since they couldn’t read the words on the card, the adult on the opposite team helped out by whispering the word in their ear and giving them some ideas on how to build it. We also gave the little guys extra time to build. Nevertheless, we still had a great time playing together as a family!
The most fun and creative part is being the Morphologist and getting to build with the various building components included! Needless to say, we had BLAST playing Morphology!
To make it easier for the kids to access the pieces, we put all of them on a tray and allowed them to build their word on another tray. Above, my daughter was building a house boat. Below my son was building a bridge.
After playing the game the kids wanted to be “full-time Morphologists” and have some “free play” with the game pieces. Of course I agreed! They actually asked to do this multiple times after we first played the game!
Here are some of their creations:
A butterfly and a person beside their bed (with an upside-down Morphology card for a blanket):
A man & two kids on a see-saw:
A teddy bear & a house:
A frog race:
Santa & a Christmas tree: (Yes, we already have Christmas on the brain!!! I already have our banisters wrapped with garland and lights!)
My Thoughts: We love Morphology! My older set of twin boys seem to make everything a competition and one of them tends to “win” at just about all of the academic competitions they create for themselves. I recently discussed with my husband how I needed to “set up” competitions where my more creative son can “win” too! Morphology has done that for us! This game is right up my creative son’s alley and I just love that he is able to tap into his creative side and experience victory as well! While we all love the game, I especially love what it is doing to boast my son’s confidence!
A big thank you to Timberdoodle for introducing us to Morphology, which truly is the game where creativity wins! We love Morphology and it will definitely be added to the game night rotation!
Be sure to head over and check out Morphology on Timberdoodle! With Christmas right around the corner, give the gift of creativity with this super fun game! For even more Christmas gift-giving ideas, be sure to check out the Timberdoodle 2011 Gift Guide and the gift categories! And last, but definitely not least, be sure to check out the Timberdoodle Facebook page. They are having a Facebook Party on Friday, November 18th from 8-12 PST filled giveaways, Q&A, and chatting with other homeschoolers that you won’t want to miss!
As a member of Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team I received Morphology free of charge in exchange for my frank and unbiased review.
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