Twisty Roads

TEACHING
MATH GAME
TO STUDENTS
AT ST. HILARY
SCHOOL IN
TIBURON

Jamie and Kaitlin were the first two eager students to jump in and
play. Kaitlin was already interested in playing the game before I
explained the instructions. Jamie, on the other hand, watched as we
set up the game and immediately jumped in when we mentioned
dinosaur stamps.

My reflection from the experience:

For this assignment, I taught a handful of Pre-k & Kindergarteners in groups of 2-4 the Twisty Roads game.
In the group in which I provided photos of the game board, we started with a simple path. We didnt have
colored tiles or many of the needed materials so we used our resources
and created our own version of the game. We used flower pedals
from a building game in place of the tiles. We used my phone dice
Materials
app instead of actual dice,
Flower Petals for Tiles
w h i c h t h e g a m e p l a ye r s
Dinosaur stamps for Counters
LOVED. For counters, we used
Math Goals &
iPhone Dice App
a variety of dinosaur stamps.
Eager Students to Participate!

other goals achieved

For the first two rounds we

Counting Skills
played with a simple path and
Adding (The dice value together)
rolled one dice each time. For
the next round, we added
Motor Skills
more flowers to the path and used two dice. The following few
Color recognition
rounds we incorporated a shortcut (if you landed on the entrance
of the shortcut). As the game players became familiar with each
new level of the game, we added value to each of the colored
flower. For example, if you landed on blue, the game player would automatically advance to the next blue,
however, if you landed on orange the game player had to move back three spaces. When it came to the
finish line, the game player had to get the even amount of spaces and if they were over they moved
backwards for the remainder of the value represented on the dice.

Structure of Twisty Roads

Players work together
to build a pathway of
tiles for the game
board.

Kaitlin quickly moving

to the front.

In turn, each player

tosses the die and
moves that many spaces
along the twisty road
until one player reaches
the end.
Players may change the
design of play again.
Variation: Use 2 dice
and/or invent rules for
specific spaces on the
path.
The game initially took about 5 minutes to explain in full. At first I got the attention of just a few members
to play the game but quickly as I explained the game while showcasing the materials on a path, the
students quickly became engulfed with the idea of the game and many more students wanted to participate
in the game. Overall, after instruction, students played the game for
about 30 minutes. I was stunned to see them so interested in the
game but I was excited that they wanted to continue to participate.
The context in which I taught the game was during my time at
extended care at St. Hilary. I mentioned to students if they were
interested in playing a new game that they should come join me as I
explained twisty roads. After I explained the game, I only was asked
one question. The question had to do with who gets to go first?.
During my explanation of the game, students sat together wide eyed
as I placed the flower petals on the board. They were eager to get
started and had a hard time sitting still.
Looking back on this experience, I think the students learned more
about sharing and taking turns. I think they also gained more
experience with counting and number recognition portrayed on the
dice. Two improvements that I would make to the instruction of the
game would be (1) I should have had the students explain to me the steps of the game. This would help let
me know that they fully understood the game because no one asked clarifying questions. (2) I could have
probably explained the game one more time so that they could process the game more or I might even
consider playing a brief game with a fellow teacher so that the students could witness the game first. I
originally considered writing easy steps on the game-board, however, I soon realized that the targeted
age group cant read.