How a homemade board game kept a girl active and her parents intrigued | CBC News

2022-04-23 00:07:09 By : Ms. Joyce Li

Keeping young kids engaged and active was challenging for parents long before the pandemic started. For Sudheera Gangireddy, it was practically rocket science. 

She, her husband and their then five-year-old daughter moved to Ottawa in 2019 after immigrating from India the year before.

"Basically we didn't know anybody. We were spending a lot of time by ourselves in a neighbourhood which hardly had any kids, with a young child," she said. 

Games like "hide and go seek" and "Snakes and Ladders" became staples in their Alta Vista household. 

"There's a limit to how much of that you can play," Gangireddy said.

When they sought out a game that would be equally stimulating for them as it would be for their daughter, they were surprised to find most of them were designed for kids over the age of eight.

Gangireddy and her husband Manik Vinnakota were inspired to create their own board game.

The couple used an old cardboard box and activity cards they found online plus a customized Twister-esque play mat to add a physical component.

Vinnakota suggested the space theme — a common interest for the family — and called it Space Gym.

The premise is simple: you're a space traveller on a mission to settle on a new Earth-like planet by completing tasks like farming, making houses and building robots, achieving points by answering trivia questions and performing physical challenges.

Their daughter, Mihira Vinnakota, says making the game was just as fun as playing it. 

"I was bored, I had nothing to do," she said, adding she enjoyed naming the game and coming up with its physical activities. 

"My favourite thing to do in the game is the mat. I like hopping in the mat and crawling." 

Now that it felt like "an actual game," Gangireddy started bringing it on her daughter's play dates where she found it was a hit.

Gangireddy, who has pre-existing health conditions and later developed long COVID symptoms, sent her daughter to virtual school during the COVID-19 pandemic. She then realized how valuable her game would be for kids stuck at home.

In the fall of 2021, she decided to get 50 copies manufactured in India and sell them at-cost to parents in her network. 

For Annie Maswood, it was a welcome alternative to screen time for her two children, ages seven and 12, who were having a tough time finding things to do when their extracurricular activities were cancelled. 

The game also appealed because it brought back memories of Maswood playing board games on rainy days as a child.  

"I wanted my kids to also share that," she said. 

The game is now being played in Nemiscau, a Cree community in northern Quebec, and Vancouver.

Mark Tremblay, a senior scientist with the CHEO Research Institute, has conducted research that showed a sharp decrease in children's movement beginning early in the pandemic, and that has continued over time. 

He said board games can't replace physical activity and outdoor time, but it's a step in the right direction.

Recently Gangireddy hired a marketing agency to manufacture 300 copies of the board game, some to be donated to local charities. 

She also has an initial agreement with an e-commerce company in India that sells children's products.

Gangireddy doesn't think it will turn into a major business opportunity, but she thought a wider audience would enjoy the game because people of all ages could play.

"It was something that [we as parents] could relate to," she said. 

Anchal Sharma is an associate producer for CBC in Ottawa. Find her on Twitter at @anchalsharma_.

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