PLAYBOOKS: FOR THE NINTENDO Wii

WarioWare: Smooth Moves

In WarioWare: Smooth Moves players will be able to jump, skip, and act generally silly to complete mini-games.  Players will need to be able to think and act quickly to complete poses and continue on with the game.

Game play alone results in modest improvements in real-world executive skills. Please refer to our Playbook Tutorial, general coaching and comprehensive guides to transfer game skills to sustainable real-life behaviors.

QUICK FACTS

Game Type: Action
Platform/Console: Nintendo Wii
Number of Players: 1 or 2-12 (alternating)
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
LWK Recommended Age: 5+
Buy Now From: Amazon.com

 

This Game is Good for Kids Who Need Help With:

• Making transitions (flexibility)
• Adapting to new situations (flexibility)
• Thinking before acting (response inhibition)
• Taking time to finish work carefully (response inhibition)
• Judging time needed for completing tasks (time management)

What You Need to Know About the Game:

Players may find that while there is some written story and directions given in-game, reading skills are not particularly necessary for participation; they can simply imitate another player or look at the forms displayed on the screen to understand what is expected. WarioWare content consists mainly of numerous, straightforward, mini-games that encourage players to get up and move around and to think quickly. 

Solutions:
For parents who would like a walkthrough, many great fan-made (and free!) walkthroughs can be found on the Internet. We suggest you look here:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/wii/game/932946.htmlor http://guides.ign.com/guides/826990/page_3.html.

This Game Helps Your Kids With Flexibility:

This game is good for kids who display difficulty with making transitions and adapting to new situations, because:

• Mini-games are short and switch rapidly. In addition, each game requires that the player hold the Wii remote in a different way; for instance it might need to be held in front of the nose (called “The Elephant”) for one mini-game, at the hips for the next (“The Big Cheese”), and held out in the palm of the hand for the next (“The Waiter”).  This swift change between poses and types of games encourages kids to try new activities and strategies rather than sticking with the same thing.   

Talking Points: 

• How do you know which poses to use and when? 
• How did being flexible help you to use these different postures?
• How is being able to use different poses in WarioWare like adjusting to new teachers?

Making It Real:

• Generate alternative uses to common items. Ask children 10 ways that one could use a car, book, pen, or piece of clothing. Help them to see how skills used in one area--e.g. paying attention to traffic--helps in walking, riding a bike, and driving a car safely.

• Develop flexibility in their use of toys. Ask children to make different designs or buildings using Legos or other types of blocks, or to describe different ways that they could use their toys. Help them create art projects using unconventional materials such as pasta, bottle caps, pieces of cloth, or old coins and stamps.

This Game Helps Your Kids With Response Inhibition:

This game is good for kids who display difficulty with attentiveness, thinking before acting, and taking time to finish work carefully, because:

• They cannot use the same pose or strategy for each consecutive mini-game. Obviously, using “The Waiter” pose won’t work for a level that requires “The Big Cheese” pose.  If a player reacts too quickly and uses an incorrect posture it’s fairly likely that they will fail the mini-game. Essentially, a player needs to think quickly before reacting and avoid making careless mistakes.

Talking Points: 

• Why did you need to pay attention to what poses each mini-game required?
• How did holding back your responses help you to be able to analyze a problem before you acted on it?
• How is this like thinking about your answers on a test before writing them down?

Making it Real:

• Help children become more aware of environmental cues, prompts and task demands that serve as reminders for regulating impulses. For example, prompts such as a teacher putting his/her finger over his/her mouth reinforce the need for quiet. Help children make these cues salient through visual memory or other strategies.  (WarioWare also provides visual cues by showing a picture of the correct pose before starting a mini-game).

• Use peer models who resist distractions and serve as good models of controlled behavior. (This could even be done by playing WarioWare with other players who display appropriate inhibiting responses to the game).