Group Learning Experience Planning Sheet:

Student Name: Jessica Edwards Course Code: ECS4070

Age Group: 4 to 5 years. Date: October 27th, 2017

Learning Experience: Cognition and Art Activity- Creating Memory Games
Programming Purpose:

On a previous day at my placement I brought in pokemon cards and the children created
their own matching game. Since then, the children have shown an interest in other memory
games available in the classroom such as letter memory games, and basic memory games
themed after their favourite cartoon characters. The activity has sparked the interest of children
who are interested in art, and those who tend to play more with building toys.
I wanted to include as many children as possible in this activity so I chose to bring
special gel pens for the children interested in art to create their own memory game, stickers for
children who love creating but perhaps not drawing, and a memory game from home for the
children who were not interested in making their own.
Objective:
The children will:
1) Engage in social behaviours when taking turns, discussing the rules of the game and
encouraging and assisting others.
2) Practice fine motor skills when using scissors, gel pens, pencils, and glue stickers
when creating their own original matching games.
3) Discuss visual differences when comparing colours and pictures on matching game
cards. Many of the cards had similar artwork and children had to look into smaller
details such as size, colour and shape in order to make sure their matches were correct.
Materials Used:

Paper
Scissors
Gels Pens
Ruler
Stickers
Memory Game
Set Up:

Memory Game Box

Stickers

Gel Pens

Scissors

Paper

Chairs

Carpet
Memory Game Cards

Implemented Activity

1. I invited some students to join me on the carpet to play a game of My Little Pony
memory.
2. The children and myself took turns turning over two cards at a time in order to search
for two cards with matching images.
3. When a child found a match they took both cards from the carpet and placed them
beside them.
4. The children practiced memorizing the positions of cards they had previously turned
over.
5. The children continued to take find and collect matches until the game came to a close.
6. After the children had finished the game, those who were interested in playing another
round were able to do so independently on the carpet. I invited the other children to
create their own memory games using stickers, gel pans and paper divided into square
shapes.
7. The children drew their own designs, or used stickers to create sets of cards with
matching artwork that they could use to create their own memory games. This
included:
a. Folding paper into equal pieces.
b. Drawing matching artwork, or using multiples of the same stickers to create
 couples of cards.
c. They were able to use pencil crayons, crayons, gel pens and other writing and
drawing utensils to add to their artwork.
d. After the artwork was complete the children had the option to glue newspaper
or scrapbook paper to create a design for the back of their matching game
pieces.
e. The children cut out their matching game pieces.
f. The children placed their pieces in a safe place, or began to play with their own
matching games on the carpet.
8. After the children finished playing their games were put away, items used to create the
games were placed back on the art shelf, and the table used was cleaned using cleaning
spray and paper towel.
Additional Emergent Use of Materials:

Some students created symmetrical drawings with the materials available.

Some students used the stickers and gel pens to create collages of characters they
recognized.

Learning Strategy #1
Behaviour Modelling

While playing the memory game I used adult modelling to assist the children in understanding
the rules of the game. For example, some children would accidentally move pieces or flip over
more pieces than they were supposed to. When this happened we gently reminded them of
their errors. When it was my turn I used physical modelling as well as verbal reminders to help
make the rules of each persons turn easier to remember. We flipped over only two cards, we
didnt speak when another person was flipping their cards, and we tried not to move them to a
different spot if they did not match.
Learning Strategy #2
Behaviour Reflections

As the children played the game I used behaviour reflections to help the children remember
the rules of the game. While they created their own games I reflected on their behaviours to
encourage positive steps in the creation of their game creation. Examples of behaviour
reflections for both parts of the activity include:

_____ you flipped over one card, you can still flip over one more to see if you have a
match,
____ I see youre using two cat stickers to make two of your cards.
I see your drawing two of the same character. Who are you going to draw next?

Overall Evaluation
What worked during this experience? Why?
 The children were generally able to follow the rules of the bingo game, wait patiently
during others turns, and remind each other about the rules of the game in a positive
manner.
The children were able to explore the use of gel pens as a material and were able to
share the pens effectively despite their only being twelve pens among 23 children.
The children created their own unique art and games based on the original game we
played together.
What did not work during this experience? Why?

The limited amount of stickers made it difficult for some children to create matching
cards. Other ties children created cards that did not match which caused some
confusion when playing with other children.
When I left the group playing on the carpet, they sometimes lost sight of the rules of
the game, or would stretch the rules in their own favour while enforcing the original
rules on other students. Which led to some conflicts that needed to be resolved.

What might you have done differently?

Make the rules of the memory game clear in the beginning of the game instead of
jumping right into it.
Bring in more of the same material to avoid conflict over materials.
Discuss the traits of a memory game with the children who created their own memory
games before they began to avoid some confusion about matching cards and other parts
of the game.