Tell Me What You See Game from Early Years Resources

With so much technology around us daily and with our children having so much contact with it, I am keen to revert back to the days where we would all sit around and chat after school instead of putting on their favourite TV show.

We have this year made a really good effort to play games and have more family time with no distractions from TVs, phones or tablets.

After school we have been playing traditional board games however with our fall back of Monopoly always taking far too long at that time of day we’ve found a few new favourites…well they will be favourites when Emmy learns the rules properly

One game of Battleships took around 2 hours with no winner as we had to start over again, and when you think I really should have learnt my lesson this week I decided it would be a great idea to crack out the game Cluedo. Bad move!

One game they have both been playing recently with no arguments or rule disputes is a game from Early Years Resources called Tell me what you see?

This is a basic game which requires no batteries, dice or complicated rules, focusing instead on children’s speaking and listening skills.  It helps enhance key communication skills and positional language between the player and varies in difficulty depending on the age of those playing.

Included within this set are:

• 25 objects – wooden furniture, people and pets
• 30 scene cards
• A barrier

How you play is for each player to sit on opposite sides of the barrier, one person has the scene cards and has to describe the scene on their card, starting by telling the other player the items they need to recreate the scene and then using positional directions describe the scene in-front of them.

The other player then has to closely follow their partners instructions to recreate the scene using just their what they hear – there is no cheating allowed.

It’s all about using the correct language to describe what is in front of you – for example:

“There is a green rug in the middle of the room with a coffee table on top of it in the middle. Behind the rug is a sofa with 2 yellow cushions on it. To the left of the rug is a TV stand with a TV on top facing towards the rug. Opposite the TV, to the right of the rug is an arm chair with a yellow cushion on it facing towards the TV. Between the TV and the sofa is a pot plant and between the sofa and the chair is a lamp.”

You have to use as much detail as you can to describe what is shown on your scene card. Once the items have been placed you then lift the barrier to see if the scene have been correctly recreated.

The scene cards start with just a few items on them then get harder once you have mastered the game.

This helps to encourage children to slow down, think about what they need to describe and to use appropriate language. It also helps to encourage them to listen carefully and to think about the instructions they are hearing.

We’ve played this a few times now with children ranging from 5 up to 10 years old and it has been greatly enjoyed by all. This game is available from Early Years Resources for a RRP £54.95

I have now donated this to the children’s school for others to enjoy in the Infants during their literacy classes.

Disclaimer: We received the Tell me what you see game in exchange for this post, all thoughts and opinions are our own

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