123's
Gracie & Friends
Early Math
General Overview: Gracie & Friends, developed by First 8 Studios at WGBH, a public television station out of Boston, is a suite of early math games designed to be fun, engaging, and leverage the mobile capacity of the world we now live in. All of the games are research based and funded through the National Science Foundation. Educators, children, and their families have provided a wealth of information to develop and improve these games, that were all designed for use by preschool students, their families, and their teachers. There are 8 learning based apps, non-digital activities, and a teachers guide—all FREE.
Authentic Learning Experience: Young children learn by doing. With the Gracie & Friends game Lemonade Stand, kids get to practice equipartitioning in a conceptually based format by making sure there are equal amounts of ice cubes in each glass. This game provides training for the player to learn how to move the ice cubes around the playing space and training is needed because this is more than sliding a digital image across a screen with your finger. The player has to pick up their device and tip it to move the ice cubes, which then slide across the playing space into the glass. Players are challenged at each level to slide more ice cubes into more glasses back and forth across the screen. Children and adults will find this a fun and engaging activity. Adults will get caught up in mastering the technique and kids will be challenged by figuring out the perfect amount of ice for each glass. All of the games in the Gracie & Friends suite have similar attributes.
Developmentally Appropriate Practices (child development, interest based, culturally appropriate):
Gracie and her friends, the characters in this suite of games are a diverse cast of characters with different genders, races, ethnicities, and abilities represented. Children will easily find they feel represented here. These games, and their related content for families and educators, are accessible on mobile devices at no cost. While the language used is English it is very minimal and the games can be equally enjoyed with the sound turned off, which makes it accessible to learners of all languages. Many of the games in the suite are made to play with a partner which allows young children to practice sharing and turn taking as well as learning the concepts of equipartitioning and subitizing.
Washington Early Learning Guidelines: Gracie & Friends is appropriate for preschool children as they are learning to subitize, count, and sort objects. These developmental guidelines are:
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Count to 20 and beyond. Count 10 or more objects accurately.
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Give the next number in the sequence 1 through 10.
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Count out 10 items.
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Match and sort simple shapes (circles, squares, triangles).