Index

Introduction: Why 6 Bricks?

2

Perceptual Skills Development

3 - 40 Activities

Literacy Skills Development

41 - 66 Activities

Numeracy Skills Development

67 - 100 Activities

Physical Skills Development

101 - 114 Activities

Social-Emotional Skills
115 - 126 Development Activities

Groups and Games Activities

127 - 144

"If you never did you should.

These things are fun and fun is good.

It is fun to have fun

But you have to know how."

From Dr Seuss - "The Cat in the Hat"

To download templates or support material and for more information and support documents
on each of the developmental skills above, go to our link:

www.handsontech.co.za/6 Bricks.html
 Why 6 BRICKS ?

Back to Basics with 6 Bricks is a concept designed to excite and motivate young
children in the classroom to attain the skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary for
success in later life. To help the formation of a young learner’s brain, developmentally
appropriate early experiences and relationships are vital. In order to grasp concepts,
children must be given time to manipulate concrete tools. They need opportunities
to use their whole body to explore and aid their development of ideas, curiosity and
imagination.

The 6 Bricks activities are short, simple exercises or games designed to wake up the
brain and get the child moving, thinking and remembering. They are not intended to
be a curriculum, but they do support all areas of development in the curriculum.

Every child has a set of six 2x4 stud bricks, one of each colour, on his / her desk or
readily available throughout each school day. The teacher can then easily facilitate
any activity at any time. Repetition brings about better organization of the brain and
the secret of the success of these activities lies in their regular repetition which will
enable children to consolidate new knowledge.

In play, children develop their most important basic brain function - the ability to
control their own behaviour in order to reach a goal. The 6 Bricks activities in this
book give plenty of opportunity for the child to practise and improve self-control,
which is fundamental to all other learning in life. In this book, you will find 6 Bricks
activities to develop sensory, speech & language, cognitive, motor, social and
emotional skills in the young child.

In Back to Basics with 6 Bricks, an attempt has been made to include activities which:

• are open-ended
• will allow the child to create
• will provide an opportunity for the child to co-operate with others, whilst keeping a
sense of self
• the teacher can scale up or down, according to the level of the child
• will be fun and inspire laughter and a love of learning

stud

2x4 or 8 stud brick

“Children want the same things we want:

To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained and delighted.”
Dr Seuss

2
 Perceptual Skills Development

Perception develops through information which is gathered from the senses,

allowing children to understand the environment.

The 6 Bricks activities in this section can be practised to develop these sensory
and perceptual skills in children:

• visual-spatial perception: visual memory & discrimination; figure-ground

perception; visual form constancy; visual closure; proprioception; spatial
orientation & relationships
• auditory discrimination & memory; tactile discrimination & memory
• gross & fine motor skills: eye-hand co-ordination; body image; bilateral
integration; crossing the midline; differentiation; laterality; dominance

Visual, auditory & tactile discrimination and memory skills are a vital necessity
in the readiness to formal reading, mathematics and writing instruction.
Children need to confirm their discoveries repeatedly before moving on to the
next challenge, so have some daily DUPLO 6 Bricks fun whilst mastering these
skills and laying the foundation for cognitive development and intellect!

“Think left and think right

and think low and think high.
Oh, the thinks you can think up
if only you try.”

From Dr Seuss -
“Oh, The Thinks you can Think”
 Literacy Skills Development

Children’s readiness for graphic language must be nurtured - it does not just
happen. Their language ability will determine readiness for reading - What I can
say, I can write, what I can write, I can read.

The 6 Bricks activities in this section are designed to:

• enrich the pre-reading programme by encouraging the development of vital

reading readiness skills, e.g. visual & auditory discrimination and memory;
working memory; visual, auditory & kinesthetic sequential memory;
visual-spatial perception; patterning
• consolidate and reinforce necessary skills for successful, fluent reading and
comprehension in primary school children
• build effective habits of word attack and word perception abilities
• develop speech, language and vocabulary skills in order to enhance
children’s understanding of concepts and their ability to confidently express
themselves orally and in writing
• prepare the eyes for the skills needed for the task of reading e.g. near / far
focusing; fluent eye movements; perceptual efficiency - the ability to move
the eyes from left to right and to reverse sweep back to the left
• develop the gross and fine motor skills needed for handwriting
• provide fresh and different materials and ideas for a remedial programme

Children who are deficient in these important skills of reading will be seriously
handicapped in the most fundamental tool for effective work …
so get cracking with those 6 Bricks!

“The more that you read,

the more things you will know.
The more you learn,
the more places you’ll go.”

From Dr Seuss -
“I Can Read with my Eyes Shut”
 Numeracy Skills Development

The process of development in children involves a need to classify what is going

on around them and to identify patterns in what they experience. Children learn
to fit things together and take them apart, as their spatial skills develop; they
re-arrange and shape objects; they observe and describe things from different
spatial views - this is something that can only be learned through experience.

The manipulation of the concrete 6 Bricks in this section aims to exercise and
consolidate:

• space, spatial relationships, shape, colour, classification

• the awareness & concept of numbers, symbols, operations and relationships
• one-to-one correspondence, seriation, estimation, counting, comparisons
• patterns, functions & algebra
• directions
• measurement
• data handling
• problem solving

Patterning, sequencing and sorting help children to develop a sense of continuity

in their world. Daily mathematics activities with 6 Bricks will help
children to acquire higher order thinking skills and develop
numeracy skills.

“Say! Look at his fingers!

One, two, three …
How many fingers do I see?
One, two, three, four,
Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
He has eleven!
Eleven! This is something new.
I wish I had eleven too!”

From Dr Seuss -
“One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”

67
 Physical Skills Development

Chemicals that cause the brain neurons to develop and make connections are
produced by the movements of the muscles; so movement is the key to creating
those neural networks in the brain that will allow children to function optimally.
Early movement experiences are vital to laying the foundation of brain circuits
dedicated to motor control and should be continued to develop a positive attitude
about habitual physical activity which sets the foundation for a healthy lifestyle.
Children have a natural urge to be physically active and learn through physical
experiences and this urge involves a constant challenge to their motor
skills - stacking and building with DUPLO will improve these skills.

The 6 Bricks activities that follow will help to:

• provide children with many sensory-motor experiences and fine and gross
motor experiences
• increase the blood flow which feeds the brain to enhance neural activity
• improve muscle tone, balance, proprioception, kinesthetic memory, hand-eye
co-ordination
• develop skills of differentiation, lateralization, crossing
mid-line, lateral dominance

Let’s use those 6 Bricks to develop the whole child -

the thinking, feeling, moving child!

“You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.

You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you
go. So be sure when you step. Step with great care
and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great
Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous
and deft. And never mix up your right foot
with your left.”

From Dr Seuss -
“Oh, The Places You’ll Go!”

101
 Social-Emotional Skills Development

Early social and emotional competence predicts school readiness and later
success - good early environments help to build this competence. Cognitive,
motor and language development will all be greatly affected by how a child
feels about him / herself, and by how he / she can express emotions.

The 6 Bricks activities in this section aim to contribute to the child’s:

• self-confidence; self-esteem; empathy; respect

• ability to develop meaningful and lasting friendships and relationships
• ability to experience, manage and express emotions
• ability to make choices; solve problems; develop plans
• development of social values - caring; honesty; responsibility; flexibility

The quality of the relationship that the teacher has with the children in his /
her care has a great influence on the child’s social-emotional development.
Positive and nurturing early experiences will have a huge impact on the child
going forward - engaged learners are curious and effective, focus attention,
remember earlier experiences, gather information, solve problems and persist
even when they are frustrated by a difficult task. So, make use of these
DUPLO 6 Bricks activities to help you develop a healthy
social-emotional outlook in your learners.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,

Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

From Dr Seuss - “The Lorax”

115
 Groups and Games

Belonging to a group is important to young children. When they enter group

settings, they are exposed to behaviour, social rules and attitudes that improve
social development - all of this is best learned through playing with other children.

The 6 Bricks activities in this section are ideal ways for children to practise
important social skills, such as:

• learning ways to co-operate; disagree; share; communicate; assert themselves

effectively; accept others’ ideas
• learning to respect the rights and feelings of others; to display empathy towards
others; to express and manage their own feelings in appropriate ways
• to explore and engage with the environment
• to develop self-confidence; to make and develop friendships; “read” social
situations
• the development of self-regulation - the ability to reflect on feelings; control
impulses; delay gratification; resist temptation
• the ability to resolve conflicts; to give and receive emotional support; to
compromise

Take a break from the routine of the day, go outside and play
some of these 6 Bricks games!

“I’m afraid that sometimes

you’ll play lonely games too.
Games you can’t
win ‘cause you’ll play
against you.”

From Dr Seuss -
“Oh, The Places You’ll Go!”

127
"Today was good. Today was fun.
Tomorrow is another one."

From Dr Seuss- "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish"

145