This is a great toy for teaching young children their colors. It’s cheap, easy to make and highly versatile.
You will need:
- Two milk cartons that are the same size – I usually use 1/2 gallon size
- Construction Paper
- Glue or Tape
- Clear Contact Paper (optional)
Rinse out the milk cartons with soap and hot water. A little hot water will not damage the carton, just don’t let them soak.
You will need to cut the bottom 1/3 or so off of the milk containers, then fit them together to make a cube. You should measure the bottom of the container to make sure you’re cutting the walls at the correct height. If you don’t cut them evenly, you might end up with a rectangle instead of a cube.
Cut construction paper in different colors and glue them to the six sides of your cube. You can cover the cube in clear contact paper for added durability.
Games:
- Have players roll the dice and then find that color in the room.
- With a large crowd, you could have all the players wearing the rolled color perform some sort of action like jumping like a frog, clapping their hands or doing jumping jacks.
- Make a floor mat or wall hangings with pictures (or words for older children) and then the players can jump on or run to the correct picture or number.
The number dice have puffy stickers on them as a tactile guide for learning number concepts. They all have the same ocean creature theme and there are color-coded laminated cards to match each of them. Working with a partner one or two teams the players take turns rolling the colored dice and fishing the corresponding number from a “pond.” Once all of the fish are gone, the teams add up what they caught.
I developed this game to use in a preschool enrichment class that I was teaching. Most of my students were not yet in regular preschool and for some of them it was their first introduction to a classroom. I found it was very effective in groups because everyone has a role to play. One person rolls one colored cube while the other person fishes. By matching the color of the cube to the laminated fish cards, players can understand easily which cards are theirs and which ones belong to the other team.
