An easy, fun positional language game!

Wow! I can't believe it's Friday already! I think having a three day weekend always helps the week go faster though ;)

For this week's game, I'm sharing one that I use to develop positional language... it's basically a barrier game with a bit of a shape flavour.

Kids work in pairs for this game, they'll each need a copy of the game board. With slightly older kids, I get them to draw their own grid, but I find with new Receptions, it's just easier to give them one that's already made... I'm sure you understand :)

The game can be made easier/more complex by changing the number of squares in the grid

The kids sit back-to-back, so that they can't see each other's work. One player draws different shapes (or lines) in each of the boxes, and they then need to describe where the shapes are to their partner. The aim of the game is to have two pictures that look the same.... sooo much easier than it sounds! We generally play the game as a whole class (with one person up the front, trying to draw the pictures that we have on the whiteboard) quite a few times before they play it in pairs, just to model the type of language to use and the questions to ask.

To make the game more difficult, I say that kids can't name the shapes either.. they need to describe them, which can be a real challenge!

Once the kids have the hang of it, this is a fun and simple to set up game, great for when you have a few minutes spare at the end of a day as well as a great way to 'warm up' for your Maths lesson. :)