I based this on the old-school ‘beetle drive’.
Resources
- Die
- Numicon or numbers
- Plates
- Squirty cream for snowman’s body and head
- Matchstick chocolates for arms and hands
- Blueberries for eyes
- Carrot for nose
- Chocolate raisins for buttons
- Slice of satsuma and a milky way star for bobble hat
Method
Step 1: Demonstrate how to build a snowman.
Step 2: The youngest player rolls the die first, then play continues in a clockwise direction, with players throwing the dice in turn and collecting body parts of the snowman depending on the number they have thrown. There are a total of 11 body parts to collect.
- Roll a one for each of the two arms. You must get an arm before you can add a hand.
- Roll a two for each of the two hands.
- Roll a three for each of the two eyes.
- Roll a four for the nose.
- Roll a five for each of the three buttons.
- Roll a six for the hat.
The final picture is them all over. Finn got covered up to his elbows while eating the whole snowman. Ioan wiped every last bit of cream off the body parts before eating them.
Two years on
The big boys were keen to teach Cian how to play this game. Ioan started to explain the rules, but when Cian was about to tuck in to the snowman, I suggested we start. Cian rolled his buttons and fingers, meanwhile Finny got his nose.
They carried on rolling, with Finn rolling some eyes and Cian a nose.
Cian, unsurprisingly rolled the die in the squirty cream. He got to work cleaning it with some kitchen roll.
Cian got lucky, but Finny desperately wanted to roll the numbers to finish his snowman.
While Finny excitedly finished off his snowman, Cian found some of the body parts.
DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)
Physical development
ELG 04 – Moving and handling:
Children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements.
Mathematics
ELG 11 – Numbers:
Children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20.
