A quick Observation Game

In this post we will present to you a simple, fun and beneficial game for children.
You can play the game with random objects or with prepared set of pictures, or with special cards everyone can simply prepare at home.

The cards can be simple (shapes, colors, animals etc.), or more complex. for example:

1. letters and words
2. Numbers, mathematical equation, mathematical equation results.
3. The beginning of a an idiom, known squat etc.
4. Formulas and equations....

You can download our cards in PDF files (Acrobat), 10 A4 Colored pages here, or Black & White file that you can print and color with your kids here.

The game works on various skills, and you can raise the difficulty in different ways.

The instructions are simple:
The parent/teacher stands with the children at the starting point and asks them to bring him "X" The children need to locate a sample of this "X" and bring it to the parent/teacher or to their box/hoop.

A variation of the game can be played when one of the children is the one giving the instructions to his friends/parents/family - thus challenging him to take a lead.

Difficulty levels:

1. Hearing observation - singular, double or triple for example:
   Singular - bring me a red circle (in lower levels you can ask for only a circle/triangle etc.)
   Double - bring me a green turtle (from a group of animals)
   Triple - bring me a pink big horse.
2. Memory observation - for example, bring me a red triangle and a green square.
   Raising the difficulty level - bring me a red circle, yellow turtle and a pink horse.
3. Categorical observation.
4. Observation skills.
5. Response speed
6. Speed - who can run the fastest and collect the objects from the predefined play zone.
7. Focus - listening and perform.
8. With small children - focus them with concentrating all the cards/objects to the instructor, or to each of their boxes or hoops.

You can play this game with 1 child and more - up to the size of a class. You need to match the number of objects/cards/pictures accordingly. In my class each child has a set of cards with letters, numbers etc for different games - personal and group ones.

In my experience, children love this game because it is challenging, fast and interesting. In the social aspect it encourages a healthy competition or a collaboration against the instructor in teamwork, if they all decide to collect everything as a team and help each other.

In the educational-teaching aspect this is an excellent game for creating a flow and practicing and memorizing a recently studied material in a fun way.

For example: recognizing letters, the construction of a word or a phrase, recognizing numbers etc.

The game can be played with children in various ages.

Attached for your convenience you can find 2 PDF files with optional cards in our public Drive.

Do you have questions? Comments?
We will be happy to hear them, here, our facebook page, twitter, or ourYoutube channel.
You can tag your instagram photos with #Togiletsplay

All the posts and materials belongs to togi let's play, and the writer © 

Playing catch and self esteem

Playing catch with a ball demand motor skills:

1. eye hand coordination.
2. power adjustment.
3. catching with hands/ legs/ accessories.
4. coordination (basic or complex).

social skills:
1. willingness to play with others.
2. sharing
3. plying with friend/ friends

emotional skills:
1. diligence.
2. don't being frustrated.
3. self confidence.

Children who succeed catching and throwing a ball are exited and full of pride, while playing football or catching. the excitement is most highly to toddlers (up to 4-5 years old), but recognized in any new game, with special balls, and after sequence of no success, if happened.

The skill of catching and throwing is building gradually from very young age while rolling ball to a baby and improving the eye- tracking, the eye- hand motor, touching the ball and eventually rolling it back.
The ability to catch and throw different sized balls in games and real life, and being afraid of "not catching" might cause anxiety. we wrote is another post on gender equality and it's connection to motor skills- those are important once.

Here are five catching games that work on all the skills and increasing self esteem :)

1. Rolling balls at different sizes from one to another-
   start with big ball (to toddlers) and change the sizes.
   you can play with two balls- roll two with both hands, or roll in the same time.

2. Playing catch (soft ball in the beginning)- slowly increasing the space between and players.
   you can also play standing on one led (from age 5), in movement (from age 4).

3. Kicking- great for power adjustment, from age 2-2.5.
4. Throwing a ball while catching it with an object/ tool-
   using box, basket, bag or etc.
   It is a fun game that improves eye- hand coordination and movement planning.
5. Touch and throw, with no catching- you can play with balloons, balls, beans bags (above 6 you can use a hoop).
   The aim it to leave the ball/ balloon in the air.
   you can count up to 10/21/30 with no falls.
   The game demand high precision.

* You can challenge the children - standing on a firm bench or togo.

Enjoy :)

- Remember to fit the difficulty levels to the age and abilities of the children.
- you can play all the games also in groups.

   
Do you have questions? Comments?
We will be happy to hear them, here, our facebook page, twitter, or ourYoutube channel.
You can tag your instagram photos with #Togiletsplay


All the responsibility is on the parent and/ or educator.

All the posts and materials belongs to togi let's play, and the writer © 

Gender equality in schools - the motor aspect in the first grade

The discourse on gender equality is complex and when you enter it into the schools it's even stronger in regard to the representation of boys/girls; man/woman roles in the learning materials; the figures we learn about; the language we use in class, the local culture and more.
I've noticed that even in the beginning of first grade the girls (mainly) were unsuccessful in skills that I usually perceive as critical for plays, and it lessened their self confidence. On the same time some of the boys, and fewer girls were embarrassed, yes! In first grade, to dance, to sing and to move with their body, while simultaneously they felt that they are missing out on the fun. But the embarrassment was stronger than them.

In my class I'm a huge believer in equality and the education for equality- in opportunities, success, experiencing, behavioral. I express my education for equality through my language (Hebrew is a gender based language), by braking cultural rules, in complex discussions and more.
In this post I want to present to you five skills, that in my opinion are important to establish the class' culture of tolerance, peer learning and gender equality and influence on:

1. The individual's conducts in class- self esteem, involvement, stand up, discourse culture, listening and group work.
2. Social interactions.
3. The class' self value- as a group.

The skills are:

1. Running- it seems that everybody can run, but it's quite a wonder that girls run slower and get tired faster, not because they can't but because they are not used to it. Most of them don’t "run like boys".
   I think it is caused by the environmental feed backs, and I'm working hard to create a free fun running space and games.
2. Throw and catch a ball (in different sizes) is a weak skill for some of the children, mainly- girls, but not only.  The question is why?
   
   • Not enough opportunities.
   • Fear from the ball (various reasons).
   • Problems with regulating power.
   The lack of this skill affects their ability to play, to catch and to feel equal. it's very easy to change it- playing a lot of catch games, learning different opening strikes (volleyball, net ball, basketball etc.).
3. Climbing and jumping- I combine this two actions together, although they require different skills, because they improve our strength, jump abilities, improvisation and creativity, while at the same time they build confidence and posture.
   In our school we have a playground, and we are playing there once a week with various challenge and obstacle course games.
4. Dancing, creative movement- the age of embarrassment is decreasing every year, and children who even once heard a remark on this subject, or someone has "fixed" their dance, or think by themselves they don’t know how to dance look at their friends with anticipation. The solution is to expose them to a vast variety of improvisations, drumming games, rhythm and music games, while simultaneously giving them reinforcements so they will participate and dance.
   Boys are usually more embarrassed, but when the environment is welcoming and open, the division to boys/ girls territories diminishes.
5. Willingness to try/explore- some will say that a willingness to try and the opposite- abstaining are character traits; I believe that a big part behind willingness play former opportunities and small/ large successes.
   Success is an interesting thing. Personally I believe  that in the aspect of movement trying and doing for themselves are to be considered as a success.
   As teachers and parents we need to provide the children with a sense of confidence and acknowledgment that their choices are interesting no matter what, and that the different movement ways are the right way.

while working on the movement aspects we need to establish equal space and expectations that will make the children engaged and motivated.


Do you have questions? Comments?
We will be happy to hear them, here, our facebook page, twitter, or our Youtube channel.
You can tag your instagram photos with #Togiletsplay
:)

written by Sharon Michaeli Ramon

All the posts and materials belongs to togi let's play, and the writer © 

TOGI With Balloons Coloring page, Download, Print, Color, Share :)

TOGI  With Balloons - Coloring page

TOGI Jpeg A4

Download
Print
Color
Share :)
Download A3 PDF file from our Google Drive.
ENJOY :)

Do you have questions? Comments?
We will be happy to hear them, here, our facebook page, twitter, or our Youtube channel.
You can tag your instagram photos with #Togiletsplay

:)

All the posts and materials belongs to togi let's play, and the writer © 

Air balloons games

We are happy to introduce you to a game with 8 difficulties levels.

Balloons are accessible, cheap, light weighted and fun. Even adults enjoy playing with balloons (soap bubbles, for example).

I always keep balloons at home and in the stroller. I also keep them in my classroom, because they are perfect for playing with my pupils when we need a break, when I want to raise their energy, and when I want to exercise specific materials, or just for fun in the middle of day.

Age The games are suitable to all ages, starting from the moment toddlers can walk, given each age and developing stage it's own adjustments.

Remember, the aim is fun with added value of:

1. Eye-hand coordination.
2. Response speed.
3. Coordination.
4. In some stages we also work on collaboration and understanding instructions.

Participants The games can fit to parent-s and one child or more, and up to a teacher with a class.

Time from 5 to 20 minutes.

Accessories balloons.

Aim The balloon must stay in the air J

Difficulty levels:

1. Everyone keeps their balloon in the air; they can do it with the help of different body parts. Everyone keeps their balloon in the air but only with one body part- only hands/knees/shoulders/feet etc. The instructor or the players can determine which one body part to use and then change it after a few minutes.Playing catch with the entire group with 1 balloon- up to 21 catches.
2. Playing catch with the entire group with an identical number of balloons as number of the players.
3. Playing catch with several balloons, while every player can touch a balloon only once.
4. Every player has his / hers own area, balloons shouldn’t fall there. If a balloon falls the player is disqualified.
5. Group game- the last one who touched a balloon and didn't keep it in the air is disqualified.
6. Free play J

 Short video about Air balloons games in Togi youtube channel:

ENJOY :)

Do you have questions? Comments?
We will be happy to hear them, here, our facebook page, twitter, or our Youtube channel.
You can tag your instagram photos with #Togiletsplay
Or visit our Indiegogo Campaign for contributions.
:)

written by Sharon Ramon

All the posts and materials belongs to togi let's play, and the writer © 

Stretches are the muscles meditation

Most of us spend most of the day sitting down; in the office, in meetings, in classrooms and in our car. One of my dreams is that all educators will hold a stretch time and/ game time at least once a day. Until then, we would like to suggest you with some stretch exercises that we recommend to do with your kids, for four critical areas in your body.

Flexibility and range of motion are two parameters which greatly influence our ability to move, help preventing injuries, influences our everyday activities and our posture.
We chose to focus on those areas:

1. Shoulder belt and the upper back.
2. Lower back and hamstrings (back of the hip).
3. Feet.
4. Joints.

You can do all of the stretches alone, but we recommend that you turn it into a family activity - shared implementation gives motivation, collaboration, closeness and new ideas. You can help others in their stretches, but do it gently and with their approval.
We recommend that you exercise 2-3 times a week, 4-5 stretches every time.

* It is imperative to keep still in each posture for 10 sec. minimum.

1. Shoulder belt and the upper back

In this stretches you need to feel the work in your upper back, the area between the shoulders and the center of the back. The more you will curve your back, your buttocks and belly will also workout.
For six revisions- convex and arch your back (A)
Bring your knee toward the chest (B)

Send your hand up and far back while arching your back (A). If done correctly, you will also feel the stretch in the side of your and ribs (B).

Sit straight, and slowly move your chin back and forth. Don't force your chin to touch your chest if it's not comfortable. In this stretch we work on our upper back and the back of the neck.

2. Lower back and hamstrings (back of the hip)

The next stretches work on the area which tends to shortens and stress due to prolong sitting, too many power exercised at the gym and too little flexibility exercises. During the following exercises you will feel your buttocks, back-thigh and lower back. It is important to remember that stretching is not supposed to hurt us! If you are experiencing an uncomfortable pain – stop and rest.

Stand-up straight and then bend and stretch your hands to the floor, stay still in the most remote point you can for a few seconds.

For six revisions-  Lift your pelvis up, keep your heels on the ground and chest headed to the floor. Then lift one leg, and then the other. You can see that the back is a bit arched. You need to aspire to slowly straighten it as straight as possible.

Sit on the floor with straight legs, and then pull your feet with a towel.

Sit in a cross-legged position while sending your hands as far as you can, while making sure that your pelvis stay on the floor and does not lift up.

3. Feet

We stand on our feet most of the day, they are wrapped in shoes and they are our connections to the ground; let's give them some respect.

Open and close your fingers.

Open and close your feet.

Stand on your toes, and walk on your toes.

4. Joint

We have many joints, and we must keep working on our range of motion since it decreases on a yearly basis (starting from adolescence)

Spin them.

Open them to various sides (carefully and gently).

Twisting games.


Do all the stretches calmly, with no pressure or over stretching. Remember that the main purpose is quality time with benefits.

Remember that we are stretching our muscles and some of our tendons a bit outside our comfort zone, but don't hurt yourselves!

Enjoy.



! All the exercises in this film are professional recommendations.  However, the implementations are under  parents and/ or educators responsibility.
* If you see no improvement, or have multiple challenges consult a professional.

Do you have questions? Comments?
We will be happy to hear them, here, our facebook page, twitter, or our Youtube channel.
You can tag your instagram photos with #Togiletsplay

:)

All the posts and materials belongs to togi let's play, and the writer ©