Saturday 20 November 2010

Gnome Board Game

L loves to read but is not that keen on reading books.  I came up with the idea of making a little playscape for her gnome children but make it in the format of a board game. 
How it works is each player picks a gnome and then takes turns picking a card and reading it.

The cards have directions for the gnomes such as "Take a nap in the cave" or "Get the fishing rod.  Catch a fish".

The winner is the first gnome to collect a fish, stone and flower although winning is not really the point of the game.  The little fish are needle felted with a small piece of paper clip needle felted inside that way the gnomes can  actually catch the fish with the tiny fishing rod which has a magnet glued to the end of the string.
They especially like to catch the fish while standing on the bridge.
All of the flowers except two are glued down along with the bridge and river but the other things are stored in a little draw string bag when not in use.  That way she can change up the board however she likes.
This game has been brilliant and we all love playing it.  At first I'd planned to keep the cards in order as we picked them but now that L knows what they say she just rifles through until she finds the one she wants her gnome to do.
As L's reading vocabulary expands I'll change the cards to keep her challenged.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a lovely idea! You know, Maria Montessori discovered that young children (prior to elementary) did not like reading books because the concept of reading was too abstract. They need to tie reading to action, to concrete objects, so your board game is sooooo perfect!! And it's downright beautiful! :) Thanks for sharing!

XYZZ said...

LOVE IT! What a brilliant idea.

Anonymous said...

I love this, what fun!

Joyful Learner said...

So beautiful!

Elle Belles Bows said...

Wow! You did a fantastic job! It makes me sit down and want to play with it too! Great idea! Kerri

Jess said...

Oh my gawd!! How incredibly beautiful and amazing!! Where do you get the time to make these fabulous creations! Love it. And what a great idea. I might do something similar....but I think our 'board' will be paper cutouts for the moment. Love it love it!

PS Meeting your dad tomorrow I think. He has to ring and confirm, but think it is on. Very excited!

Sylvia said...

Realy fantastic!!

Andrea said...

Great idea! very cute too:)
I noticed you are on the west cost of Canada! I'm on the east cost. I find it hard to find fellow canadaian bloggers with blogs about children's education. so glad I found you
~Jada Roo Can Do

The girl who painted trees said...

Wow that is so beautiful! And it so invites play. How much would you charge to make me one of those beautiful board games? I would love one. Bear is also reticent to read a book, but will read in a lot of other contexts. I think it is just too much text and she just wants to hear the flow of the story and not be impeded by needing to work out some words.

Jacqui said...

What a wonderful fairy world you have created. I had been thinking about making a magnetic fishing game for my son - thank you for the needle felted fish inspiration. x

karen said...

what a great game, beautifully made

momma rae said...

this is incredible! bravo, mama!

Grace said...

How cool. You must have a great imagination - love this.

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