Sitting Tic-Tac-Toe
The children are the game pieces: wearing pinnies in two colors, they run in one at a time and sit down in the hoops of a giant tic-tac-toe board. The shared challenge is that, in each game, both colors get their line.
How to play
- Set out nine hoops in a grid and hand out pinnies in two colors. Each team lines up on one side of the board (2 min).
- The teacher explains three in a row using three children on the board: across, down or diagonal (2 min).
- Taking turns, one child from each color picks an empty hoop, runs to it and sits down; their team can help by pointing (3 min).
- The challenge: before the board fills up, red gets a line and blue gets a line. If we do it, everyone on the board stands up and jumps together (3 min).
- Play again with a new starting order and finish with everyone holding hands around the board (2 min).
Rules
- Only one child per hoop.
- Run to the hoop and sit down carefully.
- Don't block the other team's line: we want both teams to make it.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, just three hoops in a row, and the challenge is filling them with one color.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, the full board, with the teacher helping spot where a line needs one more piece.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, each child picks their hoop without help and must get there moving the way the teacher says (jumping, on all fours).
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: place their hoop on an accessible edge and the child rolls in; teammates help decide.
- Visual impairment: a buddy of the same color goes along and describes the board.
- Autism: the child can always sit in the same corner hoop and help by giving the starting signal.
Learning goals
- Decide where to place yourself in a space.
- Move and sit with control in a chosen spot.
- Discover that a game can turn out well for everyone.
Equipment for a class of 25
- aros: 9
- petos de dos colores: 24
Teacher tip
Give pinnies only to the nine children playing that round and have the rest help from the side; rotate quickly so everyone gets a turn on the board. If a team accidentally blocks the other's line, look together for another possible line.
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