my new favorite game (the children dig it, too)

Here's the gist of it:

You have a child who's at a practicing point in his educational experience. For example, he's got a pretty good understanding of the symbols 1-9 and their quantities, but he doesn't have them quite mastered yet. Or, she knows her letter sounds, and she's really into identifying letter symbols. Maybe, he can match and name colors, but he's not exactly ready to grade them from darkest to lightest. Oh! The possibilities for this game are endless!

Ooops! Back to the gist of it:

Basically, this game is a variation of lessons the child has already done. It's like extreme matching...

Here, the child has set out the numerals from "numerals and counters" on a rug. The counters in this particular lesson are pigs, and we have placed them in a tin on a table across the room. Because I know she knows her number symbols, I point to the 8 and say, "Please bring me this many pigs." If I wasn't sure she was sure of the symbol, I might say, "Please bring me 8 pigs."

It's a fun challenge for the child to be able to go across the room and count out the right quantity of pigs to bring back to the rug.

Here's another variation of the game. A few children and I have placed letter cards on the blue line. The cards are like little books - the letter is on the cover, and inside is a picture of something that begins with that letter. Anyway, I sit across the room, far away from the blue line. I ask each child I'm playing with to bring me a letter (by sound not by name). For example, "Please bring me e." This game would work well at home, too - you could set the cards up in the living room, and then, as you cooked dinner or something, you could ask your child to bring you back certain letters.

This game can be played with all kinds of materials...
color tablets, rhyming objects, matching fabric, sound cylinders...seriously, aren't the possibilities endless?!

Doesn't it sound fun? It is! And, I forgot to say this earlier, it's perfect for the child who just needs to move!