My little guy LOVES the GPS and has begun asking me what direction we are going while driving in the car. He does pretty well with right and left and wants so badly to understand North, South, East and West. Since he has also shown a big interest in maps lately, I made this little squirrel game to help with directions. I chose woodland animals because fall is coming up and that should fit into our fall activities!
The game is simple, there are little printable animals, some obstacles, some treats and a playing grid. I made two compass roses, one with Right, Left, Forward, Backward and one with North, South, East and West, so we could work on either set of skills. I also made some little arrow cards, to do it without the words.
I place the squirrel somewhere on the outside of the grid and place an animal friend for him to go visit somewhere else. Then he has to give me directions to get the squirrel to his friend (or I could give him directions). The stump or pile of leaves can block the path and the pumpkin or apple can be treats to collect along the way.
To turn it into coding practice (probably when he gets a little older), I would have him use the arrows to put together all the directions and then we would follow them all out. You could have older kids write down all the directions (either with arrows or words) and then follow them to see if it works.
To make it more fun, and because I had them, I added our little squirrel and bear figurines as well as some acrylic leaves, apple and pumpkin (vase scatter).
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