Making Games {Part 2}

I started writing about our games unit earlier this week.  This unit was very much student-driven.  One thing they wanted to learn was how to make games. We learned to make video games (post to come soon) and some "non-video games".

One thing we made was "I Spy" bottles.  While a group of kiddos was making video games with an "expert", the rest of the kiddos were working with me.  My kiddos started by measuring out how much rice they needed in their bottle by filling the bottle about 3/4 of the way full with white rice.  They then dumped the rice in a Ziploc bag and dyed it using food coloring and rubbing alcohol (I poured this in).  They "mixed it around" then poured onto a paper towel (wax paper under just in case- see left of picture) to dry.  Once dry (about 25 minutes), they used the funnel to fill the bottle again. Every so often, they put their "skill" items in.  We made letter and number bottles for each of our preschool classrooms.  We also made endangered animal bottles for one of my teammates as that is what her kiddos decided to learn about.

Something the whole class made was an "I Spy" page similar to an I Spy type book.  They choose some symbols they wanted their friends to find and put them in the "key" (the box on the left of the screen in this picture).  They placed these items in the picture then filled in the picture with other stamps, thus "hiding" the pictures.  These I Spy pictures were put out as a game center the next day. They not only loved finding the pictures in their friends' creations, but they were thrilled to watch others try to complete the search they created.

The final post in this unit is about how students learned to make video games when we brought in an "expert".  Be sure to check back for that post!