What's in the box?

Download a fully illustrated pdf, or print this webpage.

You will need

• A see through box with a lid.

• 5-10 bricks of different shapes, sizes and colours.

Skills you will be engaging

• Social - talking, listening, taking turns

• Emotional - having fun, excitement, anticipation

• Creative - different ways to describe the bricks

• Cognitive - language to describe colours, size and shape

How to play

1. Put the bricks in the box. Tell your child you're playing "What's in the box?"

2. Explain that first we shake the box, then we take it in turns to choose a brick from the box.

3. Let your child choose a brick first, then you choose one next.

4. Describe your bricks to each other.

5. When you have finished encourage your child to build something with the bricks.

Talk and play

• Notice what your child is doing or saying, e.g. "Wow! I like the brick you have chosen".

• Give compliments and praise, e.g. "That's a great description"

• Ask questions, e.g. "what shape is your brick?", "What colour is it", "Is it big or small?"

Adaptations

Feel free to adapt the activities according to individual needs and preferences.

Make it easier

• Use only 2 or 3 bricks to start with.

• Use bricks your child already knows the language for.

• You go first to demonstrate describing the bricks.

Let's do a challenge

• Turn away from each other so you cannot see each other's bricks and then describe them.

• Think of different ways to describe the bricks. Do they look like something, e.g. "it looks like a slide".

• Add a greater variety of bricks. Include unusually shaped bricks.

• Mystery bricks. Use a box or bag you can't see through so nobody knows which brick they are choosing.

Include friends and siblings

• Start by asking each child to choose an equal number of bricks to go in the box

• Grab a large piece of paper and see if everyone can draw around their brick, or draw a copy of their brick. Why not colour them in too?