As COVID-19 cases worsened in Chicago in the fall, I decided to take my youngest kid back out of daycare. It was a really hard decision for me because I want to be sure she continues to learn and grow in her skills, have interactions with other kids and adults, and get out of the house. We set up some play dates with people in our pod, and we’ve been taking walks and drives to get out of the house. To support her skill development, I turned to some resources that I’m going to share here over the next few weeks. I haven’t partnered with these companies- I just want to share some things that are working well for us with you all!
Today we’re starting with a game- Crocodile Hop- by that we are using to reinforce shapes, colors, and numbers. It helps with gross motor development- so much hopping and jumping, which we need now that we’re indoors more than in warmer months! My kid also likes to exercise her creativity by thinking of new ways to play the game!
This game board is actually a large rectangular floor mat and two large inflatable plastic dice. One die has colors and the other has shapes. If you’re playing the color game, the player stands at the start area, throws the die and hops to whatever color the die landed on. If you have multiple players they take turns rolling the die and hopping until one (or both if you’re playing cooperatively) reach the end. Beware of the crocodile in the middle! If the die lands on the crocodile, the player starts over!
You can also hop from number to number to reach the end. We made this a little more challenging so that when my 7 year old plays also, she jumps to the even numbers and helps my younger kid jump to the odds or vice versa. You can play with the shape die, too, which was something my kid was working on, especially differentiating rectangles from squares.
There are also 4 sets of river creature cards that you can play with if you have multiple players. That way they can race to mark all of whatever the dealer calls out- all the red things! all the squares! all the even numbers!- with their own cards.
You can find this game at the Learning Resources website. They have tons of over great products- some of which you’ll see here in the future- that you should definitely check out!