Moving with bricks

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"He came up with a lot of creative moves and played for a long period"

Skills you will be engaging

• Physical - moving your body

• Social - copying, lauging together, talking, listening

• Creative - making up actions

• Cognitive - watching, remembering and copying actions

• Emotional - having fun

You will need

• 4 bricks (DUPLO bricks are best as they are bigger)

• Both players need two bricks, any colour is fine, but make sure you and your child have matching colours

How to play

1. Get a matching pair of bricks each. Explain that you will be copying each other, "See if you can do what I do!".

2. Tap the bricks above your head so that they make clicking sounds. Ask your child to copy by saying, "Now you do it".

3. Tap the bricks in front of your chest. Say to your child, "Now you do it".

4. Keep going, trying different movements, e.g. behind your back, behind your knees, down low, up high. You might even come up with a dance! Why not try tapping them on different surfaces around the house?

Talk while you play

Take a few moments to watch what your child is doing. Notice and comment on what is happening, e.g. "I can hear your bricks when you tap them together".

You might like to ask your child some questions, e.g. "Shall we make a quiet tap or a loud tap?" or "How many actions can we put together in a row?"

Adapt the activity

Feel free to adapt the activity to meet your child's individual needs. The important thing is that everyone is relaxed and having fun, don't worry if you don't follow the instructions perfectly.

Make it easier

• Say the action as you do it. For example, "above your head", "behind your back".

• Practice the same action a few times.

• Guide your child through the action by gently holding their hands and moving them to tap the bricks.

• Join in. If your child creates an action, copy them and see what happens.

Let's do a challenge

• Swap! Let your child create the actions and show you waht to do.

• How many different actions can your remember and copy in one go?

• Add some music to your actions and move the bricks in time to the music.

• Swap bricks. Make different movements with different coloured bricks.

• Ask someone else to join in.

Include friends and siblings

• Let one child create an action for the other child to copy.

• Encourage the children to take turns copying each other.

• Let the children make up a set of actions for you to copy.

"She was very engaged and loved to make sound patterns with the bricks."