Friday Book Club Special:
Review of the Game "A Fist Full of Coins"

Every Friday is book review day for the Harried Parent's Book Club, but this week's selection is a little different: Instead of a book, it's a game designed to increase children's expressive language and working memory, and make them more available for learning.

"A Fist Full of Coins" sounds like it should be a game about learning money, and that would certainly be welcome. But in this case, coins are just the reward for reading instructions on a card, committing them to memory, arranging a number of small game pieces in accordance to them, and using your words to describe what you did.

I'm surprised at how much my kids have enjoyed doing this, even though they're both in speech therapy and have a certain amount of difficulty with language. They've been enthusiastic about it, and so have the friends we've invited to join us.

Check out the Book Club review, then stop by the Harried Parent's Book Club Forum to discuss it. Coming next Friday: The Facts of Life ... and More.