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Activity and strategy

Jumping Bean Game

This Jumping Bean Game is a fun way to practice braille skills and can be used to fit a range of student needs and skill areas.

I work with a first-grade student who is learning braille.  We use the jumping bean game as a warm up activity or review. I use my assessment data to determine which cards/words need to be reviewed and am intentional in which cards are used each time we play.  I have been using a form of this game over the last 20 years with young children and there are many versions on the internet.  

Materials

  • Cards with letters in large print and/or braille (depending on student need)
  • Cards with jumping bean bold outline or raised outline
  • Container for cards
  • Swing cell

Procedure

  • The student selects a card and reads the letter or word from the card. 
  • The student then makes that braille contraction on the swing cell. 
  • If the student draws a jumping bean card, then the student jumps a specified number of times. 
  • I ask the student to name a number between 1 and 10, and that is the number of jumps to do.  
Three cards: Jumping bean card, and print & braille cards for the letters u and o
Three cards: Jumping bean card, and print & braille cards for the letters u and o

Variations

  • This activity can easily be adjusted to fit student need. 
  • Cards can be made to review numbers, shapes, words, punctuation, etc. 
  • The container used to store the cards can fit a theme or a season.
  • Other ways to change things up are counting backwards or varying the jumps the child does, such as jump on one foot or do jumping jacks. 
  • This activity can easily be done with braille and print readers. 
  • If doing the activity with a group of children, the whole group can jump when a jumping bean is drawn or just the child who draws the card.
Fall theme jumping bean game with pumpkins
Fall theme jumping bean game with pumpkins
Fall theme jumping bean game with pumpkins
Fall theme jumping bean game with pumpkins
Collage of jumping bean game for beginning readers
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