DYI: Preschool Geometry Game

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

This is a little game that I thought up for math the centre:

The game is a geometry game and also helps children work on visual dexterity skills insha'Allaah.

 This is the game board before play

 The little box is attached to the board. Inside the sticks children will need to build each shape are stored

 The children place a shape card on the black square with the side showing them how many sticks they will need. They remove the indicated number of sticks from the wooden box.

 They turn the card over and it shows them which shape they will be building insha'Allaah

 Here the shape has been built

There are a total of seven shape cards, all of which can be built with the mini Popsicle sticks.

The shapes children will build are: Rhombus, Rectangle, Square, Diamond, Triangle, and a second Rhombus from a different angle.

What was used to make the game:

1. Old puzzle - pieces removed and board flipped over
2. Piece of sandpaper glued to the puzzle board
3. Small wooden box affixed to the puzzle board
4. Mini-Popsicle sticks
5. Small pieces of felt to attach to the back of each stick
6. Piece of black construction paper cut into fourths and affixed to the board
7. Shape cards
8. Glue 
9. Glue stick (to glue the shape cards together)

The Mini-Popsicle sticks have felt attached to their backs so that they will stick to the sandpaper but still be easy to remove. This is to help children focus on building the shape without the distraction of the pieces moving around but if they need to modify their work, the sticks can easily be removed from the sandpaper insha'Allaah. Everything that the child needs to begin building the shape is located on the child's right hand side to reinforce right to left directionality (for reading and writing). It would be reversed for children learning in English. I purposely did not add an element of trying to see who can build the shape the fastest or the one who does so wins as I would like children to feel free to build visual dexterity at their own pace. 

Reflections after use: After introducing the game and showing how to use it, if the mini-Popsicle sticks were painted red ( the colour of the shapes on each card), maybe it would help some students see the shape easier in their mind and duplicate the shape on the board. Waallaahu a'lam.

Enjoy insha'Allaah!