About a year or so ago, I spoke at a conference and a teacher told me about this lock and key game. I couldn’t wait to get back and put into action in my classroom…
It took me a little time to gather up enough locks and keys but I found some at the dollar store and Walmart, some were donated to me, and my husband had a few left over from work. Â After I collected as many as I wanted, I brought them to school for our big lock and key day…
Before the children arrived at school, Mrs. Courtney and I strategically placed locks all around the classroom. We had small locks on clipboards, large locks on baskets, and middle sized blocks on chairs and so on…
We introduced the game to the children and set out all the keys that went to the locks on a table. The children each selected a key then were off to find which lock their key would unlock…
The children deduced that the smallest keys would most likely fit into the smallest locks and the larger keys in the larger locks. Â This conclusion didn’t always hold true but it was accurate most of the time…
The children tried their keys in each lock around the classroom until they found a match and the lock popped open…
Once all the keys were matched to all the locks, the children were welcomed to continue playing the game by putting the locks back on objects around the classroom as they wished. Â All morning long, the children used their fine motor skills to twist and turn keys while they unlocked and locked up things all around the classroom…
I had forgotten about this terrific idea until I happened upon this amazing –>Â Letter and Sounds Lock and Key Game shared by Ali over at No Time for Flashcards! If you haven’t seen it yet, it is totally worth a peek and its another wonderful idea I can borrow for our classroom too!
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