![]() ![]() Often, kids in Kenya will simply draw a game board (the shape of an octagon) in the dirt to play and use rocks or bottle caps as their game pieces. Once you learn the rules and practice, maybe you will be able to move your impalavali as fast as the kids in Kenya! “Water bugs” move very quickly making it hard to keep track of where they are likewise, Shisima players move their pieces so quickly, it’s hard to keep up. The game is called “Shisima” (meaning “body of water”) because the center of the game board is the “water.” And the game pieces are called the “ impalavali” (meaning “water bugs”). The math game I am sharing today comes from Kenya, a country in East Africa. I highly recommend this book, as kids learn not only all different types of math games and puzzles, but a great deal about other countries and cultures, too! I recently learned several from the book, Math Games and Activities From Around the World by Claudia Zaslavsky. A Cool Maths Game that’s Multicultural, too! And while most children in the United States are familiar with this classic three-in-a-row game, what they may not know is that variations of the “three-in-a-row” concept are played all over the world. With four kids, it seems like every time we eat out at a restaurant, one of them inevitably decides to draw a Tic-Tac-Toe board to challenge their dad or me. Please read my full disclosure policy for more information. We’ve got math games to fit all ages and stages.Disclosure: This “Shisima - A Cool Maths Game from Kenya” blog post, contributed by Bethany of , contains affiliate links as an affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. These math activities are playful and fun and will help with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, sequencing, patterns, money, and time. You play! These are the best toys and games that build math skills and are not only fun, they are going to work on math concepts. So, how can you work on important skills when the kids are just over memorizing math facts and flashcards? But sometimes, kids need extra help with practicing math concepts. Their brains are exhausted from being “on” all day, and they need to relax with movement and fun. If we can combine math skills with play, AND developing areas such as working memory and fine motor skills, we have a powerful math toy!Īfter a long day of school, kids just do not want to practice more math facts. Occupational therapy can appreciate this because STEM and STEAM also involves fine motor skills! More schools and curriculum are incorporating STEM and STEM lessons into the school environment, and math is an essential piece of that equation. Math toys support fine motor STEM skills. These math toy suggestions can work for educators and parents looking for multisensory learning, as well! When specific math toys might build on underlying areas through movement, OTs might recommend a specific toy. In the schools, occupaitonal therapists support the education of students. However, we can also recommend PLAY (another functional area!) as a tool to develop and target the area of math so the individual can function. So when math impacts function and safety, occupational therapists might come up with adaptations and modifications for the functional task. And guess what, each of these areas require a knowledge and use of math! WHy Math Toys? In OT sessions, we might not teach math, specifically, but we do support individuals in IADLs such as cooking, balancing a budget, shopping, and safety (among every other area of living!). Today we have a list of math toys that are some fun occupational therapy toys that build math skills. ![]()
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