This balancing game will help sharpen your kids’ fine motor skills
As a kid, you played games for hours. And if you grew up in the early to late nineties, chances are those games involved your fine and gross motor skills. We’re talking about string games like Cat’s Cradle and Jacob’s Ladder. And games of skill like Operation and dominoes. For gross motor skills, there were Hacky-Sacks, jump rope, and hop-scotch. These games were good, old-fashioned fun and a great way to spend a rainy day, especially if the rest of the family got involved.
These days, we’re all looking for ways to have fun at home. While you can immerse yourself in any of these top video games to play during quarantine, it’s also fun to try your hand at some physical games of skill. You’ll also strengthen family bonds in the process. Nothing is more powerful than laughing and having fun together. It’s these benefits that the makers of YEHUA!, the wildflower balancing game, want you to have.
Need another reason to play more hands-on games with your family? Medical schools have noticed a marked decline in students’ dexterity. The likely culprit, they say, is too much time spent swiping screens rather than developing fine motor skills. Apparently, if a student can tie a series of square knots around the neck of a teaspoon without, even slightly, moving the teaspoon, he or she has the hand control necessary to be a surgeon. Whatever your child’s aspirations, everyone in the family can enjoy trying their hand at this wildflower balancing game.
A stacking activity that’s easy to set up and play
You’ve played those board games that are complicated to set up and whose directions take a good half-hour to understand. In the end, these games just end up sitting on the shelf, unplayed. YEHUA!—the Chinese word for wildflowers—is none of that. Simply take turns stacking the wildflower pieces atop the rocker board in various configurations (depending on your skill level) while connecting them to the side vines. The objective is to avoid knocking off wildflowers or causing the vines or rocker to touch the playing surface. Each round takes no more than twenty minutes to play. So you can totally squeeze in a round between homework sessions, after dinner, or before everyone heads to bed.
YEHUA! Wildflower Balancing Game on a White Table
YEHUA! is a fun way to develop fine motor skills
This balancing game that involves careful stacking and balancing of wildflower pieces on a rocker board. Therefore, winning requires a steady hand and visual coordination. Sadly, most kids don’t get enough practice with those. Also, since players must accurately plan ahead for balance, this game can improve spatial and analytical reasoning. It’s a true game of skills. And since this balance game is designed for ages four and up, even the smallest member of your family can have fun developing their skills. Moreover, since two to six people can enjoy YEHUA! at once, it’s also a great way to strengthen those all-important family bonds, which, in turn, fosters emotional intelligence.
YEHUA! Wildflower Balancing Game with Dice
This wildflower stacking game boasts three skill levels
Another great feature of this balancing game is its adaptability. With three levels: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced, you can alter the game’s difficulty depending on who’s playing. The easiest level is suitable for ages 4 and up, so your preschooler can join in the fun. Older children, teens, and adults alike will find the intermediate and advanced levels a good challenge. One that they’ll want to practice over and over. There’s even a bonus extreme level for those who really want to test their abilities.
YEHUA! Wildflower Balancing Game with Rocking Board
Make up your own rules
Best of all, YEHUA! is an open-ended concept game that lets you modify and invent rules every time you play. So you won’t be constrained by rigid rules that require the same actions for each session (Monopoly, we’re looking at you). This balancing game is ready for your interpretation, which might possibly be its best version yet. And once the company’s website is up and running, you can submit your photos and share your favorite way to play YEHUA!.
YEHUA! Wildflower Balancing Game as an Aerial View
This fine-motor challenge has a long-lasting design
This wildflower balancing game features New Zealand pine and hard, child-safe plastic. So YEHUA! won’t wear and fade like games whose pieces are made of cardboard. This means you won’t be throwing it out in just a few years. The makers say that if you keep all the pieces in the game bag, the balancing game should last a century. So it’s a game you and your family can play without worry about durability issues. And it’s one you can pass down to your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
YEHUA! Wildflower Balancing Game on a Black Table
A canvas bag protects the pieces
Instead of arriving in a cardboard box that can easily get damaged and worn, your YEHUA! will come in its own sturdy cotton canvas bag that will last for years. What’s more, since it’s a bag and not a box, you can easily tuck it away in a drawer or toy bin. Also, this design highly portable, so you can pack it in your suitcase on vacation or tuck it in a backpack on trips to grandma’s and friends’ houses.
YEHUA! Wildflower Balancing Game Next to a Brick Wall
Feel good about your purchase
Also, this wildflower balancing game is one you’ll feel good about buying. The game’s wood toy manufacturer has received acclaim for its eco-friendly and safe materials. The company also maintains safe and employee-focused practices in its factories.
YEHUA! Wildflower Balancing Game
What we love about YEHUA!
We love that this wildflower balancing game is a fun, skills-based way to bring the family together for gaming of the old-fashioned sort. Kids, as well as adults, can benefit from the strengthened fine motor and analytical thinking activities. And this game provides a fun, interpersonal way of doing so. Best of all, it gives families an opportunity to have fun together and build bonds right at home. Finally, we love that this family game is designed for kids as young as four, letting most of the family participate.
What we would love to see
We’d love to see the makers come up with a similar game or toy for even smaller kids. Anyone with toddlers knows that this age group also wants to be included in family game night. Perhaps with future products, the makers could design a wildflower puzzle that could keep the under-fours busy while older members of the family play.
Get YEHUA! for your family
This wildflower balancing game is available for pre-order from Kickstarter for $40.
