We put a little spin into our Earth Day planning with this around the world marble game.
I had a set of clear plates left over from a recent family gathering and thought they would be great for the light table. All I needed to do was to figure out what we could do with them. So I sat and stared at them for a little bit and then went to work making my marble game.
I used permanent markers to color the center of each plate so it looked like the earth. Then added numbers around the edges of the plates to give the children a way to keep score or to compare numbers as they played the game.
To play the game, the children put the marble on the plate and gave the marble a little push to get it spinning around the edge. There are several ways the children could try to make the marble spin. They could tilt the plate or push the marble. Both ways were challenging and required the children to focus on balance, fine motor, and speed of the marble.
I set the game out on the light table but it really could have been set out anywhere in the classroom so don’t get too stuck on the idea that it needs to be a light table activity! Oh, and for those of you who might be wondering – the clear plates came from the Dollar Tree.
Below is a quick video to show you what the marble game looked like in action.