Fishing game

Fishing game

When I was in Australia I often visited Kidspot for ideas and inspiration. One of the great things about teaching is the ability to make connections that you develop as you experience with different ideas, methods and materials.

Among kidspot's great ideas for a (rare) rainy day was this fantastic DIY magnetic fishing game:

Make a Magnetic Fishing Game

When thinking about ways to practise their numbers, I suddenly pictured the kids at school playing the game.

· Instead of using paper fish I used felt (just a very simple outline).

· I made 11 sets of yellow fish (0 to 10)

   and 11 sets of orange fish (0 to 10)

·  I also made 2 sets of pink fish for the + and - sign (we used these later for a card game).

·  I printed off 2 sets of numbers in Spanish (cero, uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez) in large font size, as well as 2 sets of 'más´ and ´menos´ words.

·  I attached the words to the fish with paper clips.

·  I took two bamboo sticks from the garden (any stick would work),  making sure they were smooth (no splinters).

·  Because the bamboo sticks had been lying in the garden for a while they had been under the rain once or twice so they´d become a bit soft and flexible. With a cooking string I threaded a needle and I made a small hole at the end of the stick, where the bamboo is hollow. I took the needle out through the open end and made a knot.

·  At the end of the string I attached a fridge magnet.

·  I then drew two large fishbowls on the board (one yellow bowl and one orange bowl) and I wrote the numbers 0 to 10 and the two maths signs in each of them, leaving a space for the fish with the right Spanish equivalent to be placed there.

·  In class, I put the fish on the floor and I divided the class into two teams, the yellow team and the orange team.

·  The game consisted in having a member of each time come out the front to fish a certain number from the pool (or fish the numbers in order, depending on their knowledge of the numbers) and place it in the right fishbowl (orange or yellow) next to the right number or sign. I had already put some bluetack next to the numbers/signs on the fishbowl.

·  I had previously set up a handout to practise numbers so that those that were not fishing had something to work on. I initially tried the activity once with all the children huddled around the fish and I soon realised it can all get a bit too intense and loud! The handout definitely worked!

The children loved this fishing game, including the older ones. It can be a great way to revise or consolidate any vocabulary, not just numbers.