PUMPKIN! PUMPKIN!

Here’s a simple game that you can make with a pumpkin, gift bag, or other seasonal container.  It’s great for practicing skills, listening, and following directions.  Keep it on your desk and you can use it whenever you have a few extra minutes.

Take index cards and write simple one or two step directions on them.  For example:  “Touch the flag and then walk to the trash can.”  “Go under the teacher’s desk and then knock on the door.”  “Balance on one foot and say a nursery rhyme.”  “Go to the front of the room and tell a joke.”  Place the cards in a plastic pumpkin. Let children take turns selecting cards and following the directions.

Hint!  You will have to read the directions to younger students.

*Make directions increasingly complex for older students.  For example: 

            Clap and count by ten’s to 100.

            Touch your nose and spell the word CAT.

            Point to the word ‘the’ in the room and then jump two times.

            Touch something that is a sphere and then touch something that is a circle.

            Turn around and count backwards from 10.