Recommended Age: 3 to 4 years
Level of Parent Involvement: Medium, this exercise requires the adult to facilitate the game, once the child has been shown they may be able to play the game independently with an older sibling or another family member
Prerequisites
- The child must be able to name all geometric solids from the previous geometric solids exercise through 3 period lessons
- The child must have had many experiences playing the environment game with the geometric solids giving them a solid understanding of their properties
Materials
- 3 geometric solids at a time (sphere, cube and cone, you may use the same geometric solids from the previous exercise
- A basket
- A beautiful cloth to cover the solids
Preparation
- None, the basket of solids should already be prepared, ensure the cloth is now placed inside the basket with the solids neatly folded
Steps
- Invite the child letting them know that today you will be showing them a game to play with the geometric solids
- The child may bring the basket of geometric solids to the table
- Notice with the child the addition to the basket, unfolding the beautiful cloth
- Take the solids out of the basket one at a time, naming them as you place them on the table in front of the child
- Cover the solids with the cloth
- Feel underneath the cloth with one hand
- Name the solid whilst your hand is under the cloth feeling the solid
- Take the solid out from underneath the cloth and check
- Invite the child to have a turn
- Repeat for the remaining two solids
- Once the child has had experience feeling and naming the solids underneath the cloth move onto the next part of the game
- Place your hand under the cloth and feel one of the solids describing its properties for example for the cone you might say “the solid that I am feeling has a narrow point at one end, and gets thicker towards the other end, it is rounded with a circular base”
- The child should identify ‘cone’ based on your description
- When the child identifies the cone, take the cone out from under the cloth and invite the child to feel
- Place the cone back under the cloth and repeat feeling and giving descriptions for the cube and sphere for the child to identify
- Once the child has identified all 3 solids, the child may have a turn to describe the solids for you to identify
- When the child has finished they may invite another family member to play the game or they may pack up
- Show them how to fold the cloth and they may return the basket to its place
Variations
- An alternative to this game is giving the child instructions, for example; “find me the cube” the child puts their hand under the cloth and feels for the cube
Note
- Once the child has memorised 3 solids for example sphere, cube and cone from the previous geometric solid exercise they may be introduced to this game. Once the child builds their knowledge of g
