Interactive Games About Sequencing for Young Children
- One of the most common games for sequencing involves using picture cards. After hearing a story, pictures showing the main four or five events are mixed up. Children will rearrange the cards into the correct order. This can be timed with a clock, or done as a race with other kids. As skills develop, more complex stories with more pictures can be used. The winner is the child who completes the task first, or any who beat the clock.
- Another common interactive sequencing game is done with colored blocks. Children will practice by first copying a pattern of colors given by a parent or adult. After an understanding of patterns is made, kids will take turns giving each other patterns and asking, "What comes next?" Partners will have to see the pattern and determine the correct answer before a point is awarded. The child with the most points wins.
- Using and recognizing transition words (first, next, then) is vital for sequencing. Giving children directions using these words will help build their comprehension. Oral or written directions, depending on the age of the children, can be silently given for everyday activities such brushing their teeth or making a sandwich. The child will act out these directions, in a pantomime fashion, for others to guess. Children who guess the most correctly win.
- Children learn quickly when activities are paired with music. Combining music with sequencing can sharpen their abilities. Music games are available commercially, such as Simon Says, as well as on the Internet. Phil Tulga's "Curriculum through Music" website has a free online game in which children follow patterns of various tones matched with colors and then repeat the patterns. Music games can also be created with simple musical instruments such as toy xylophones or pianos. When given a pattern, each child must repeat the pattern exactly, adding one note of their own at the end. Children will be out if they are incorrect. The last child left is the winner.
- Games involving science generally happen over a long period of time, but are definitely worth the effort as the skills and knowledge gained are extremely significant to a child. These games focus on a particular event in science such as the life cycle of a frog, plant or butterfly, or a naturally occurring weather cycle such as rain or the change of seasons. Children make predictions as they watch the cycles occur. At the end of the cycle, kids compare predictions with facts. The one with the most correct predictions wins.