Hop on the numbers: A developmental game.

Hello readers, we are here to share a simple game with you – Hop on the numbers: A developmental game for preschoolers.

This game can ideally be used with children of preschool age. However, you can try with toddlers too. This game targets locomotor and stability skills (Gross motor). This game will help in cognitive development – listening and comprehending the instructions, counting, matching and identifying the numbers, problem solving skills etc. Let us see how this game would help the preschoolers in each of this development.

You would need 3 most important resources for this game – coloured tapes, 2 dice, plastic numbers.

We have used the numbers from our number lacing set. You can alternatively use Alphabets, coloured beads and shapes.

Preparation:

1. Take different coloured tapes and tape them down vertically next to each other. Each column can have a different colour. Make colour choices as per the flooring to best pop out to attract your child’s attention.
2. Now take some different colour of tapes and tape them down horizontally over the vertical lines to make checkered boxes on the floor.
3. Now, randomly place different numbers ranging from 1 to 10 in different boxes. Some boxes can be left out to be blanks.
4. If you do not have the plastic ones,you can make the numbers/alphabets/shapes/colours from the cardboard.
5. Keep 2 dice ready for the game.

Method:

1. Now invite the preschoolers and explain them about the game.
2. Have your child/children take turns to play with you.
3. Roll the dices together on the floor. Have your preschoolers count the total number of dots on both the dices.
4. Ask them to identify that number on the game panel.
5. Instruct them to hop directly on that number without stepping elsewhere. This shall help the toddlers think critically and use their problem solving skills to reach their goal.
6. If they find it difficult to do this, you can make this a little easier for them by allowing them to use blank boxes as support to reach the required number.
7. For Alphabets, Colours, and shapes you can use a DIY dice like this one.
8. To make this dice user friendly you can use two way Velcro to stick different pictures. This can make it easily replaceable with other themes.

We hope this idea works wonders for you and your preschoolers. If you try out this game, do let us know your experience in the comment section below. Till then keep reading.