Curious Koala Play Guide

Posted by Frances Ban on

Curious Koala Book

Please note this is a guide only! Our books are designed for open ended play the number of ways to play is only limited by your child's imagination! However, if you're ever looking for some ideas for interactive or structured games to play with your little one, here are some ways in which you could use the Curious Koala book to further your child's learning.

Numbers and Counting

Almost every page of the Curious Koala book is an opportunity to learn numbers and counting. How many pieces/states make up Australia? How many beads on the girl's necklace? How many coloured circles on the rainbow? How many sharks in the Baby Shark family? How many colours are there on the rainbow?

Following Instructions/Focus and Memory

Ask your child to do an activity in a particular order. (eg. On the rainbow bear page, start by asking your child to put the green circle on the rainbow. You can add extra instructions such as "put the green circle on the rainbow then the yellow circle". On the sandwiches threading page you could ask play a game of sandwich shop. Order a sandwich with particular fillings in it. Your child will need to remember what your order was and thread the right fillings on to make your sandwich. Practice using these words in your instructions: before, after, first, then, around, on top, under and next to.

I Spy Games - Colours, Beginning Sounds

The many details on each of the pages can be used in a game of "I Spy". For example, to introduce your child to colours - "I spy something red on this page". For beginning sounds - "I spy something that starts with L"

Imaginative Play and Story Telling

Each themed page of the Curious Koala book presents an opportunity for your child to tell a story. Use the pieces as props and give them names. Speak to them and find new ways of using the pieces in stories on other pages. One of our favourite pages is the Curious Koala Camping page. We like to talk about what our koala needed to pack for the camping trip, and the adventures he had. Sometimes our koala skips off to the next page to buy himself a salad sandwich. The baby shark page is also great for story telling, identifying members of the family, ordering them according to size and of course singing the Baby Shark song!

Naughts and Crosses/Tic-Tac-Toe Page

The Curious Koala features the classic strategic game of naughts and crosses. Children from the age of 3 can begin to learn the basic concepts of this game of taking turns and logical thinking.

Age guide: 3 + due to the presence of small parts.

 

 

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