This morning, when Sweet Pea wanted me to ‘play trains’ (running around behind him as he tooted like a train) I asked if he wanted to stop at some stations along the way and the game was born! Of course, sneaky learning was involved!
To Play:
Print Station numbers onto paper. You can specify numbers (or letters) your child needs to work on. Sweet Pea is just learning to recognize his numbers, so I used 1 through 5. I made sure to include the corresponding number of dots, so he can begin associating what the number looks like with how many dots he counts.
Place the station numbers in various places along the ‘train route’. You can be sneaky here and mix them up if you are trying to reinforce, or put them in order if you are working on recognizing.
Then roll a die. Whatever number lands face up is the next station number to stop at. If you roll a 6, simply run the whole route.
This game kept Sweet Pea running around the loop in our home for over a half an hour! (But I think could easily be played on the driveway with chalk!) He’s also beginning to recognize the numbers without having to stop and count the dots to make sure he’s correct! I think next time we play I’ll mix the numbers up to see which ones he needs help on!
Great idea! Love it