Recommended Age: 3 and ½ to 4 years
Level of Parent Involvement: Low once shown
Prerequisites
- The child must be able to count accurately from 1-6
- The child must be able to identify numerals 1-6
Materials
- A die
- Pencil, paper and ruler
Preparation
- Create a grid on a piece of paper with 6 squares
- On each square, write numbers 1-6
- On each square, also write (or draw) an action, for example clap, star jumps,
Steps
- Invite the child letting them know that you are going to play a game (this game may be played indoors or outdoors)
- Introduce the die to the child if they haven’t used one before, pointing out the dots which represent the numbers
- Practice counting the different quantities on the die with the child bringing to their attention that the die only has numbers 1,2,3,4,5 and 6
- Show the child how to roll and read the die
- Practice a few times
- Introduce the paper to the child confirming they recognise the numerals 1-6
- Point out the accompanying illustration and practice the actions with the child
- Explain the game to the child letting them know that they roll the die and read the number then refer to the paper, the number rolled on the die is the number of times they need to do the action drawn under the number
- Invite the child to roll the die
- Model for the child how to read the die then refer to the grid and perform the action
- You now roll the die for the child and they have a turn
- You may wither continue taking turns with the child rolling the die and doing the actions or the child may do the actions each time you roll the die (depending on how active/engaged your child is with the activity)
- Leave the child to play independently
- Come back to check in if the child is losing interest and suggest an activity to transition to
Variations
- Invite an older child to create the grid and write the numbers and actions
- Use two die, one to determine which action, and one to determine how many times the child does the action
