Topple Tally Tray: An Activity for Practicing and Assessing Tally Marks

On New Year's Eve, as Luke and Daddy played Upwords together, it became apparent to me that Luke had not mastered tally marks yet.

The Inspiration

Some of Luke's tally mark sets contained the requisite four perpendicular strokes with a fifth horizontal stroke crossing through them.  But, others had only three vertical strokes.

Someone needs more tally mark practice.

Thus, one of our first math focuses for the New Year became the practice and assessment of tally marks, which is a Kindergarten and first grade skill that both Nina and Luke have enjoyed working on... and mastering! 

One activity I made up to help Luke and Nina practice tally marks was:

The Tally Mark Topple Tray

a math game for practicing tally marks, counting and fine motor skills while also exploring balance

Nina plays Tally Topple.

Materials

• a piece of paper, folded into eight parts
• a writing utensil
• a tray
• the Topple Game

Preparation

1. To prepare, fold a piece of paper into eight parts.  
2. Put the paper, a writing utensil and the Topple game pieces and an assembled Topple game balance on a tray.

 Presentation

1. Invite your child to watch you play Tally Topple.
2. Place a Topple piece on the Topple balance.  Mark one tally mark in the top left rectangle of the folded piece of paper.
3. Place another piece on the balance and make another tally mark.
4. Continue this way, occasionally stopping to count the Topple pieces and your tally marks to be sure they are equal.
5. When you topple the balance, begin again, marking tally marks in the next rectangle of the folded piece of paper.
6. Then, of course, invite your child to play by him or herself, using your tally marks as a model.  

Skills

• Math (tally marks and counting)
• Fine Motor Control and Pincer Grasp (making tally marks and manipulating Topple pieces)
• Science

Nina counts pieces to double-check her tally marks.

Assessment/Quick Tips/Extensions

• Through observing your child doing this activity, you can easily glean if your child understands how to make tally marks or needs some further demonstrations and teaching.
• For variation, play using one color at a time.  Or, use the dice that comes with the  Topple Game to determine which row of the Topple balance to place pieces on.  However, try not to layer on variations until your child begins to master the tally marks themselves.  (Focusing on mastery of one or two skills at a time usually works best.)
• If placing the pieces and making the tally marks is too confusing for your child, make it a two-person task.  One person does the pieces and one the tally marks.

 

Nina was excited to have tallied up all the Topple pieces without tipping the balance over.

As a side note, of course, Luke played this game, too, but I happened to have the camera handy when Nina was playing it.  Both children opted to play it a number of times, and through this game, as well as another adapted game I made up with Tumble, mastered tally marks while having a lot of fun.

What regular games might you adapt into independent learning challenges?

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We Build It: An Impromptu Family Time Game

When our family is actually all home together after dinner at the same time, we sometimes play games as part of our quest to SMILE.  Not too long ago, we came up with ain impromptu post-dinner family time game that was a big hit.

We Build It

A Family Time Game that Promotes Early Reading, Early Math, Creative Thinking and Cooperation

Materials

·       a basket or bin of SmartMax Extreme (one of our favorite Timberdoodle splurges ever; other building materials could work too, such as pipe cleaners, Tinker Toys or Wikki Stix)

·         a spinner with numerals on it (We have one from an old Game of Life with missing pieces that we tossed. We like its 3-D aspect and the fact that it has numerals 1-10 on it.) 

·        scrap paper with target words written on them (We used basic CVC words, with some challenge words and words from favorite DK Star Wars early readers thrown in, such as "blaster", which Nina surprised us by reading!)

·         imagination



a blaster gun

Goal

Cooperatively design and build a creative structure.

Building a Star Wars Blaster

Set Up

1. Place bin of building toys and deck of word cards in the center of all players.
2. Spin to see who will go first.
3. Have Player One draw and read a card.

Simple Steps to Play

1. Player One draws a word card and reads it.  Whatever it says is the inspiration for what the group will build.
2. Player One spins the spinner and chooses the same number of pieces from the building toy pile as is shown on the spinner.
3. Player One begins building the structure with those pieces.
4. Player Two spins the spinner, chooses pieces according to the number shown and adds to the structure.  (No one may take another player’s pieces off the structure.)
5. Play continues as such until a player finishes adding his or her pieces to the structure and suggests that the structure is complete.  when this happens, the other players must come to a consensus of if the structure is, indeed, complete, or it other turn should be taken to complete it.
6. Once a structure is complete, Player Two begins a new round by drawing a word card.
 

Skills

• Reading (decoding phonics, recognizing sight words or both)
• Fine Motor Skills (picking up cards, spinning spinner and manipulating building pieces)
• Numeracy (recognizing numbers, adding pieces, etc.)
• Creative Thinking (creating and adapting structure)
• Cooperation/Teamwork (working together to create a design)
• Problem Solving and Flexibility (figuring out how to adapt the design someone else has begun match the one you envision in your own mind)
• Focus (concentrating on the goal of building the structure to match the word card)

Quick Tips/Extensions

• If the youngest children in the family don't get how to play, simply give them a chance to add a few pieces on theri own.
• This game can work for individual play, too.  After playing as a group, my children liked simply reading cards, spinning the spinner and building creations singly at times while I was occupied with chores.
• To encourage crossing the midline,  set bin of buildable pieces on one side of the playing space and designate the other side as the building area.
• For children who need extra proprioception, set spinner and pieces at one end of a hallway or room and a tray for building on at the other.

We’d love to hear your ideas for variations an extensions of this game, as well as TV-free ways you enjoy post-dinner for family time!

The Clothespin Sight Words Game: Combining Heavy Work for the Hands with Early Reading Work

Earlier this week, when I was at one of my night jobs (tutoring), a student of mine cut something in front of me.  Although I am not an OT, I immediately recognized that her scissor hold is awkward. So, I immediately asked her mom for tweezers and tongs and adapted some planned word work games to Montessori-inspired pre-scissor/ pre-writing work. 

The following day, when it was time to do some word work with my son, I decided to combine the model of the games I had played with my tutoring student with the concept of using clothespins to provide Heavy Work for the Hands (based on a piece I had just written for Special-ism, a newly launched sight that I am excited about and happy to be a voluntary writing for. ) The game was a hit – and made me realize that although my son’s pencil grip has always been good, he definitely is engaged by and can benefit from more clothespin work.  It's an effective twist on similar reading games we sometimes play.

For others that want to try this game out to support a child's sensory diet or reading development, here’s a quick run down:

The Clothespin Sight Words Game

a word work game that requires little preparation and ties together two things many young children need:  sight word repetition and practice and fine motor “heavy work” input

Materials

• slips of paper
• a writing utensil
• a collection container (box, tray, basket or similar)
• a clothespin

Presentation 

1. To prepare, choose a selection of sight words that your child is working to master.  Write these on slips of paper and fold about ¼  to ½ inch up on one side of the paper, folding up the right side  if your child is a “rightie” or the left if your child is a “leftie”.  (Your child can actually do the writing and folding for some extra handwriting and hand work practice, if you wish.)
2. Lay these on a table or work mat and place a box, tray, basket or other collection container nearby.
3. Give your child a clothespin.  Say one of the words aloud and have your child pick the corresponding slip, using the clothespin, and drop it into the collection container.
4. Continue until all the words are in the container, being sure to note how your child is grasping the clothespin and to coach accordingly.  Below you can note examples of what you might see and say my son and my different rounds of play.

Here, my son is using his “strong” hand almost-effective hang placement.  I suggested he move his finger and thumb tip pads up just a little bit.

Here my son wanted to try to use his “weak” hand.  As you can see by his grasp, he had difficulty manipulating the clothespin with that hand one way.

And another.

So I asked him to try to pinch the clothespin and to use a helper hand if need be.

This worked for him.

 With practice, he was able to use the clothespins single-handedly, too.

5. Then, to give your child’s hand a break while encouraging him or her to read aloud by asking for the clothespin and taking the word slips out of the collection container one at a time, while asking your child to read them as you do.  Place these back on the table or work mat.
6. Play several rounds.

Skills

• Reading (Sight Words)
• Finger/Hand Strengthening
• Motor Planning
• Fine Motor

Quick Tips/Extensions

• Be aware of your child’s hand strength and fatigue level.  Coach as needed, but also consider switching the activity up (say to one with tweezers or tongs!) if your child is struggling too much with clothespin grasp.
• Work sentence formation by using a variety of words that can make short sentences and have child try to move word slips into logical (or silly!) sentences on a tray instead of into a collection container.
• Make it more Montessori-inspired by replacing the collection tray with matching word strips or picture cards that match the word strips.  Then, students can play independently with control of error.
• To add a gross motor (proprioceptive/vestibular) element to the game, place the word slips in one spot and the collection container a distance away.  Ask your child to run, jump, gallop, hop, crawl or otherwise move to the container to deposit each word slip, without dropping it from the clothespin’s grip.
• Be aware of your child’s focus and reading level.  Select only three to five words for true beginners or for children with difficulty looking at many things at once.  Build up to as many as your child can confidently handle.

Also, as shared in Heavy Work for the Hands at Special-ism, a piece that contains five other fine motor clothespin ideas, please note:

• Light, wooden clothespins are often easier to manipulate than plastic ones. So, consider your child’s needs when beginning clothespin activities. Test clothespins out yourself before offering them to a child and, then, mix, match and graduate the types you use depending on the child’s growing hand strength.
• Be aware that some children may need to begin clothespin activities by using fingers from both hands to open them. As hand strength and stability (as well as personal confidence!) increase, they can be encouraged to use only one hand to manipulate clothespins
• Some children have difficulty knowing where to place the pads of their thumbs and index fingers in order to manipulate clothespins. Drawing colored circles on the clothespins, or putting stickers with a theme that interests a particular child, exactly where thumbs and index fingers should be placed can help with this.
• Be aware that clothespin activities may be too difficult for certain children. A good indicator that a child is not ready for them yet is if you see a child clutching a clothespin into the palm of the hand, with the thumb pressing into the palm, or the thumb tip hyper-extended (bent backwards). This can be a result of the child compensating for weak hands and/or coordination. It can also mean that too much demand is being placed on the finger muscles. If you witness such things, other hand strengthening activities should be considered before presenting further clothespin ones.

How do you adapt traditional reading goals to your child’s physical and developmental needs?  Do you have any favorite clothespin activities? Please add ideas or links in the comments.

Address Label Sticker Drawings: Frugal, Fast and Freeing

Part of Luke's Address Label Sticker Drawing

As I have been writing our Summer Sensory Diet Series, I have been thinking about how summer should be all about fresh air, freedom and healthy exploration.   But, sometimes gets interrupted by sickness or injury, which limits outdoor fun and necessitates ideas for  -- in our family's case -- frugal, fast and freeing fun to keep whoever is not "down" content.

Still Smiling Even with a Sore Eye

In our home over past couple weeks, Luke had a fever one night, I trudged through a migraine and body aches the next day,  and, Jack?  Poor little guy!  He not only suffered a now-healed eye-abrasion on one his big blue eyes, but also just finished nursing his way through a draining fever that lasted from Saturday night through Monday morning, with aches and pains that kept him from crawling or cruising along furniture straight through Monday night. (Or, at least possible aches and pains is why we think he paused his usual joy-filled ambulation for several days.)

Thankfully, my frugal habit of clipping junk-mail address labels into stickers and putting them into baggies by categories came in handy for an easy-to-prepare activity that busied big brother and sister both at home and at the doctor’s office.  Yep, Address Label Sticker Drawings did the trick. It kept Luke and Nina happy and, thus, freed me up to book appointments, chat with the doctor with fewer interruptions and attend to Jack as needed at the doctor's and at home

Since it is such an easy and engaging activity, I wanted to share it.  So, please allow me to interrupt our Summer Sensory Diet Series once again.  This time, in order for a quick how-to on:

Address Label Sticker Drawings

Nina's Parade Go-er

Materials

• the picture portion cut off of junk-mail address labels 
• the blank back sides of misprinted documents
• crayons and pens

Presentation

Offer your child a themed selection of address label stickers, paper and drawing utensils along with a suggestion of what they might create. 

For example, I collected a number of American flag stickers and, one day, suggested that the kids make parades like the one we saw on the Fourth of July.   Another day, I brought flower and butterfly stickers to a doctor’s appointment and asked if the children might create a beautiful gardens or bouquets to give the gals at the front desk before we left.  Still another day, I gave the kids stars and moons and asked if they might imagine their own missions to Mars.

Skills

More of Luke's Parade

• Fine Motor
• Pincer Grasp
• Motor Planning 
• Imagination
• Storytelling
• Tactile Desensitization 
• Pre-Writing

Quick Tips/ Extensions

To encourage a wide range of movements (not to mention oodles of silliness), don't give all the stickers to your children at once.  Hold a few back, and when you see the kids getting antsy, offer these extras to them by sticking them your children’s backs, heels, shoulders, elbows, etc.  Your children will get some great extra input while they reach and twist to get the stickers.

Or, play a bit of hide and seek with the stickers, by placing some on your own body parts or on furniture or walls (with one side of the sticker flapping up for easy removal).  Doing so will add some extra movement and fun to the activity.

For variety, switch out the paper with other backgrounds.  craft sticks (or tongue depressors at the doctor's office) can make for fun sticker stick puppets.  A paper plate can act as a flying disc to decorate.  A recycled box can be the background for a sticker diorama or 3-d construction piece.  Use your imagination and let the kids use theirs!

How do you recycle junk-mail address label freebies?  
Do you have a great frugal, fast and freeing (for you or your child) activity?  
Please share your idea or link. 

Also, enjoy links at Life as Mom's Frugal Friday for other budget-friendly tips.

Living the Liturgical Year: Three Days for the Three Kings!

Liturgical Table 2010

Whoo hoo!  I almost forgot to order The Story of the Three Wise Kings from the library this year and was so excited to see that, despite putting it on hold "late", the book came in yesterday.  That means we'll be able to do a mini-book study of it to build upon last year's Epiphany fun!

In fact, the kids and I were so eager to start "studying" the Epiphany this morning that we began doing so even before picking up the book. Upon Luke's request, we began by using lots of fine motor skills and a dash of creativity to make some crowns "just like last year's" (see pictures below of last year's; this year's to come later).  We also did some three kings coloring and dot-to-dot's from the activity book that Santa left Nina as her "frankincense" gift.  (More on the kids three gifts in a later post.)  And, then, there was some spontaneous reenactments of being the kings on camels (a.k.a. a big, stuffed Clifford dog and an equally large horsey one) delivering gifts to baby Jesus (played by sleeping Jack.)  Later in the day, we also,  of course, read the book.

Tomorrow morning, we will read it again and do some further child-led explorations for the Three Wise Kings and Epiphany.  Can't wait!

Grasshopper Kit Review

Simple, specially-designed for skill-building and sensory-friendly. We just love this new-to-us find!

During the time our computer was down, we received a Grasshopper Preschool Prep Kit: Getting Our Hands Ready Kit for review at Sensational Homeschooling.  We've been having so much fun with it that I wanted to review it here, too.

When the kit came in, the kids dove right into it and have been enjoying semi-structured learning and play with it since.   Truly, we find the kit simple, yet awesome.  Why?

It contains stretchy dough (different from both the store-bought and homemade playdough we have used before), dough stamps, a dough roller, a Mr. Crunch head, a mini set of bug figures, a full set of mini-crayons, two sheets of re-usable stickers, a sticker board and coloring sheets.  It also contains an illustrated guidebook that can stand up so the kids can follow along with the step-by-step illustrations for each of the activities, while I browse the easy-to-read formatted text that helps remind me why certain activities are good for age-appropriate skill building and how to adapt the activities to make them easier or more challenging.

Also, it meets some basic criteria for any activity that becomes a hit on our household:

-         It provides multi-age challenge and fun.  Yep, the Grasshopper Kit is challenging enough for our now-five year-old Luke to enjoy while being easy enough for our still three-and-a-half year-old Nina to use right alongside him.

-         It causes less arguments than it does enjoyment.  Indeed, the Grasshopper Kit has enough components to offer a variety of choices in one self-contained, low-to-no-mess “set”, meaning lots of focused play with little reason to fight over things.

-         It can be open-ended as well as independent.  The Grasshopper kit involves creation and coloring – key features in Luke and Nina’s enjoyment-quotient book.  And, the tasks can be done step-by-step as directed or used in more self-initiated ways.

-         It is sensory-friendly and age-appropriate.  The activities in the kit inherently provide fine motor practice and tactile input – which are so important at Luke and Nina’s stages of development.  Plus, it is low-tech.  (I do love toys and activities without batteries, voices, flashing lights, bells and whistles, especially at this time of year when the opposite seem to lurk everywhere you go!)

Plus, there are stickers involved.  And re-usable ones at that.  Oh, how the kids love stickers!

So, it is that  we have been thoroughly enjoying our Grasshopper Kit during post-dinner wind-down time, long, cold afternoons and other times by request.  It’s living up to the promises made on the Grasshopper Kit site by providing hours of fun without a worksheet in sight!  Plus, I think Grasshopper Kits are very Montessori and workbox-friendly and great for folks who like hands-on activities to “get kids ready for school all through play: no workbooks... no pencils... 100% fun.”  In my book, that makes them Reggio-friendly and Charlotte Mason-friendly as well -- open-ended enough to ignite some emergent curriculum, hands-on enough to be handiwork friendly.

Yep, we give this product two thumbs up - or, perhaps more accurately, whole hands in!


I know we will be putting the ABC & Following Directions and Snip, Glue and Grow Kits on our wish list while continuing to enjoy the Getting Our Hands Ready one.

Thank you so much to Grasshopper Preschool Prep Kits' Rachel Rudman,  the talented Occupational Therapist with a specialty in Pediatrics who created the kits, for sending us one of your awesome products for review. We had so much fun with it and will continue to build skills and enjoy learning through play for quite a while with it.  We think others will love it, too and encourage them to check out your Grasshopper Kits facebook page for news about the product, occasional giveaways and your many great tips.

The Hallway Duplo Game

<-  Nina jumps her duplo bricks down the hallway while Luke slithers his.
 How can you mix gross motor skills, fine motor skills, manners, following directions, using descriptive language, feeding the sensory diet and encouraging creativity, all while redirecting “wired” post-dinner behavior?

The Hallway Duplo Game!

We made this up the other night when the kids’ evening craziness was demanding some directed, ye full-of-movement play.  Here’s how to play:

• Sit at one end of the hallway with a container of Duplo blocks.  Have the kids bring empty trays down the other end.

Nina shows off her trays

• Then, have the kids come to you to request a specific color, size, number or shape block, using good manners.  For example,  “May I have a yellow one, please?”  Or, “May I have three long ones, please?”

• Reply in the affirmative, but with a gross motor challenge as a stipulation.  For example “Yes, you may, but you must crawl/run/hop/slither/turn/jump/skip.”

• Then, the kids move in that way up the hallway in order to add the Duplo’s they requested to their trays.

Luke drives part of his share down the hall.

• For extra fun, make the number of directions equal to the number of bricks they request.  For example, the request, “May I have a red one?” gets a single command response, such as, “Sure, please jump it back down the hall.”   But, a double request such as, “May I have a blue one and a yellow one?”, gets a double-command response, such as, “Of course!  Hold them in the bottom of your shirt and hop like a kangaroo.” And, a triple request, such as, “May I have a person, a long one and a black trailer one?”, gets a triple-command reply, such as, “Absolutely!  Hold them high up towards the sky, take two giant steps and, then, jump then spin the rest of the way down the hall.”

• When all the Duplo’s have been requested, observe the creations on the trays at the end of the hallway and continue with some free play.

Nina's Ship

Luke's Farm

This game proved very successful for us!  The kids focused their energy with giggles and smiles, while working age-appropriate skills, practicing habits (how to ask for things politely and how to listen and obey Mommy's words) and getting sensory input (particularly proprioceptive through all the different ways they moved and vestibular through lots of spinning commands).  Meanwhile Mommy and Daddy benefited from the the kids' transition from wild behavior to directed movement to calm, but creative, free play.

Focused and having fun.

And, with the way Nina and Luke chose to play the game independently after playing it with Mommy, we know the game is a keeper!

"Nina,may I have a...?"

Success!  Calm, kind play together...

We hope you enjoy it, too, and look forward to hearing about your own post-dinner focus-and-fun activities.  Please share in a comment.

(We're sharing this at Works for Me Wednesday.  Please check the lins there for lots of wonderful ideas.)