Using Jenga to help your child learn
Jenga is great and a game we play a lot. But why!
You touch the brick gently and nothing happens. You touch another and see what happens, you push it a bit harder with bated breath. With a clatter and a cry of despair the tower comes tumbling down.
However, prior to that moment can actually be quite academically beneficial!
The inspiration came a couple of years ago, when asked to work with a lad. One of the key issues his parents had was that you couldn’t actually read what he wrote. A referral to the occupational therapist was also being made.
We researched how to support a child with fine motor skills and supporting children with handwriting and this was a game that came up.
The co-ordination and accuracy of removing a block and putting it back on top apparently was a great aid.
Although this had been suggested turning up at someone’s home and playing Jenga without any other justification didn’t seem appropriate.
So, we have amended the game so that we could justify it and it has been a huge hit with multiple age groups ever since.
These are 4 of the areas we now use Jenga…
- Times Tables
On each brick, on one side, we write a number from 1 to 12. Pick a times tables to focus on. Once you have removed the block from the tower you need to multiply the number written on the block by the times table that you are practicing. Then replace the brick back on the top. Obviously, the person who makes the tower fall, looses.
- Number Bonds
These same blocks can also be used for practicing number bonds from 1-20. Or you might need to adapt them slightly so you can use them for 1-10 or 1-50, etc.
This time as you remove the block you need to state how many more you would need to add to make that number up to make 20 (or whatever number bond that you are focusing on).
- Handwriting and punctuation
Beyond just practicing the motor-skills, on another side I have written some of the high frequency words. For some children, I may just ask them what the word says. For others, depending on their ability and their focus, we might have to write that word in a sentence with the correct punctuation. The speed of writing isn’t important, instead, it’s about doing it as neatly as possible. Looking at putting a capital letter at the start and a full-stop at the end.
- Grammatical terminology
I use this version more with the older children that I work with.
On one side I have a grammatical term written. As you pull the brick out you need to define what that term means, sometimes I will also ask for an example and ask why the writer might use it or the effect that technique has on the reader. For example, an oxymoron uses 2 words that appear to contradict each other such as ‘darkest day’. Just as a side note they were often used by Shakespear in his writing. Another that I have seen, and I like is a great ‘evil God’. This was used to describe a T-Rex and the contrast of the words creates confusion in the reader’s mind. How magnificent is this huge, imposing beast that could pick you up like a toy and eat you. Why would you think such a beast was great, but looking at him in all his glory how could you not be impressed! The confusion, the questions!
Looking at language techniques and analysing them is particularly key in the GCSE language paper but also comes into play in the Literacy paper as well.
I guess you could write anything on the bricks, fractions, character names, plot themes, etc. It has proven really popular with children from 6 to 16 years and me. What will you use it for?
