Games + Activities

How much do kids love playing THE FLOOR IS LAVA? This is a great game based on that and it’s perfect for siblings, because you can vary it in so many different ways to make it age and level appropriate. So how do we play?

YOU NEED:

• a dice
• 6 cushions
• whatever you wish to ‘teach’ - letters or numbers or words or colours. These can be in toy form, foam form, written on bits of paper, magnetic, wooden. Anything you have at home already!

I wanted Florence to practice her number recognition and Ewan to practice his tricky words from school when we first played, as pictured here.

HOW TO PLAY:

1. Plonk the cushions out in a line. Pop the items along the edge. I had numbers 1-6 and 6 tricky words.
2. When they spot it (Golden Rule) explain they need to take it in turns to roll the dice and then jump along the cushion stepping stones.
3. When they land on whichever number cushion matches the dots on the dice, they ‘win’ that number or word or letter or colour. They read it and pop it in their pile.
4. Keep taking it in turns until someone has collected all six of their items and has ‘won’, sometimes they will roll a number they have already ‘got’ so they don’t get to jump along that time.
5. Play until everyone has completed their pile, and collected all six items.

Now you could let a toddling baby have a ‘turn’ by letting them have a go at rolling the dice and just shouting 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. as they run/jump/roll over the cushions.

You could play grown up vs. kiddo(s). You could have a sibling who is much older practising spellings or times tables. Just put the sum out without its answer on a bit of paper, or spelling words with letters missing they need to fill in to ‘get’ it.

You can basically play this game with whomever and whatever you want. It’s hugely versatile. My lovely friend Gemma played it with her three children who are 2, 4 and 6, with them all joining in together.

So that’s it. Back to basics. There’s a video below to show us playing it. One super simple game to try at home. Let me know if you do!

This game is from my book Give Me Five, aimed at ages 1-5 and available here BUY BOOK!

Disclaimer: This post has been included by Twinkl in their blog on Teacher Interviews