Hi! It’s Casey stopping by from Kidspired Creations once again!
Here is the third of my TOP 5 (scratch that) 6! games for Pre-Schoolers:
#3 Dominoes!
Ages 2+ (according to the box, 8+, but we can adapt)
My husband is not only great at all things math-related, but can easily calculate numbers in his head. He doesn’t credit good study skills or a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering for his number genius, he credits the many hours he spent playing Dominoes with his grandfather. I, on the other hand, played with my dominoes by stacking and building houses and though I use a calculator for even simple math, my creative side dominates. It’s no surprise then that Dominoes is one of my favorite games for helping to develop BOTH sides of the brain.
Ages 2+: Let your child have fun stacking and knocking the dominoes down. There are endless ways to build them (vertical, horizontal, or both). If you get creative enough, you can use play dough balls and create your own 3D Angry Birds game!
Pre-School Learning Skills
- Fine motor skill development (turning dominoes around in one hand, stacking and balancing)
- Hand-Eye coordination
- Imaginary Play
- Spacial Awareness
- Creative design
- Sharing
Ages 3+: Use picture Dominoes to develop matching skills. Disney makes some fun Princess, Handy Manny, Cars (and more) Domino sets where you match characters together, instead of matching dots.
Even at this “big kid” age, keep building! No need to always follow the rules to the game. Let your child’s imagination run wild as he/she builds houses, mazes, bridges and more! Another idea is to line dominoes up to make different patterns (horizontal, vertical, horizontal, vertical…).
Pre-School Learning Skills
- Pre-Math Skills (matching and patterns)
- Hand-Eye coordination (balancing)
- Fine Motor Skills (stacking and building)
- Imaginary Play
- Spacial Awareness
- Creative design
- Sharing
Ages 4+: Introduce Double 6 Dominoes and begin teaching the rules to simple Domino games. Continue to do the same activities as before because, well, it’s still fun!
Pre-School Learning Skills
- Counting
- Addition and subtraction (depending on the game)
- Matching
- Number awareness (understanding the relationship between numbers and amount of dots)
- Problem Solving
- Strategy
- Taking turns
- (All the other skills mentioned above)
