Today I was playing with one of my favorite 4 year olds, Max. He loves games and usually beats me. As we started, I asked who should go first. Pointing to the directions, he said he always goes first because he is the child. When I said, “Well, what am I?” he said “a human!” I guess humans go second.
We were playing a new game that I had brought for the first time. Max was the third four-year-old boy who refused to play at first, and after a round of Coo Coo The Rocking Clown, was pleading with me to bring it again next time me met. Preschoolers love to play games—and win—but get frustrated with games that are only up to chance. I find that three to six-year-olds like a challenge with a game that requires some strategy and thinking. Check out my “Top Ten Games for 3-6 year-olds”. Children take turns adding wooden balls for Coo Coo to juggle, hoping he won’t roll over and dump the pieces. Kids learn balance and strategy by placing the small, medium and large balls in precarious places to set up the “humans”
they are playing with. What makes Coo Coo fun is that he can roll way over and not topple!
