Teacher’s name: Mariana Georgieva – 66 Preschool and kindergarten “ Elitsa” – Pancharevo
- Title of the game : Autumn through children’s eyes
- General aim of the game:
- The game develops creative thinking and forms non-violent communication through educational robotics in the theme “Autumn through children’s eyes”.
- Tasks:
- Consolidation of ideas about the changes in nature in autumn.
- 2. Development of children’s creativety, critical thinking and social skills.
- Age range addressed: 5-6 years old.
- Robot that can be used for this game: MIND Clementoni or other type of simple robots.
- Link to the game instructions and game-boards to be printed:
Description of the board:
The playing field consists of a grid with 15 squares with a side of 15 cm. In 12 cells, 4 numbers of yellow, red, orange color are placed.
Other useful materials:
cards with Numbers and autumn pictures / 4 pictures with yellow color, 4 pictures with red color and 4 pictures with orange color.
Phases of the game:
- Preparation:
- The theme “Autumn” has been discussed beforehand.
- The group is divided into 3 teams of 4 children, according to the principle of counting from 1 to 4.
- Each child from a team receives a circle in the corresponding color.
- The children themselves determine the order in which they will play in the team.
- Everyone lines up in a circle around the net.
Start of the game:
The first participants of each team draw a sheet on which a number from 1 to 3 is written. In this way, the order of participation of the teams is determined.
Participant number 1 of the first team programs the robot and starts the game.
- Core phase of the Game
- Participant 1 of the first team starts from the Start square. The child programs the robot to move to square 1 of the same color as its team.
- When the child reaches the corresponding card, she/he sees what picture is on the other side. She/he shows it to the other team members. Everyone discusses and composes a sentence based on it with 4 words /as many as children in the team/.
- Participant 1 of the second team continues from the place reached by the previous participant. She/he must reach square 1 of his team’s color. She/He shows his picture to his team and they make a sentence about it with 4 words.
- Next, participant 1 from the third team plays according to the same algorithm.
- The game continues until all participants are lined up.
- In this game, all teams are winners.
- Conclusion:
After the game is over, the children answer the following questions: «What are the most important things you learned today?»; «What thoughts and feelings do you leave with?», «What did you learn about yourself during the game?», «How did your team cope with the tasks?”.
Through the game, children learn basic skills of composing a sentence and expressing themselves with correct speech.
The game develops algorithmic and creative thinking skills. Develops social skills by communication in the small groups and by a problem solving related to the topic.
Working with the robot forms key skills in children such as critical thinking and teamwork.
Time passes imperceptibly fast in the form of play and fun. Children learn a lot of new things.
The game stimulates children’s curiosity, creativity and speech.
Variants
Depending on the age group, the words in the sentence can be increased or a compound sentence can be made.
A proposal for a variant is the development of mathematical skills on a topic related to grouping by a given attribute.