Children play a tabletop “shuffleboard” game, using little and big pushes to land plastic lids in close and far zones.
Give the lid a BIG push to get it to the green circle.
Give it a LITTLE push to get it to the black circle.
Materials
- Chart paper or poster board
- Markers (black, red, green)
- Plastic lids, such as from yogurt cups or small food storage containers (lids should be about the same size)
Preparation
- Use a large sheet of chart paper or poster board to create a play surface with three different-colored zones. Make a row of three large circles on the paper. Use a different color marker for each circle. (See activity slideshow.)
- Tape the chart paper onto a table so it does not move around or wrinkle as children are doing the activity. You can roll up the play surface after the activity and put it away for future use.
Directions: Lessons 1, 2
Learning Center
- Introduce children to the tabletop shuffleboard game. Help them make connections to the similar “Big Push, Little Push” game they played with cardboard blocks on the floor during Guided Small Group time. Possible discussion ideas:
- Who remembers what happened when we gave the block a (little, big) push on the floor?
- Why is the lid not moving? How can we make it move?
- What do you predict will happen when I give this lid a (little, big) push with my hand? Do you think it will move far or not too far? Why do you think so?
- Encourage children to announce whether they are going to give their lid a big, medium, or little push and to predict in which color zone—close (black circle), middle (red circle), or far (green circle)—the lid will land. If the lid does NOT land where predicted, talk about why it landed in a different color zone and then encourage the child to try again. Next time, are you going to push the lid with a bigger force or a smaller force? Why?
