Hazel's Helpers

Explore

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
Players will examine and think about how logs can go together to create a lodge. They also look closely at other players' boards to decide where to roll the rock.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
Children likely do not need parental support to play Hazel's Helpers. If you notice a child's attention wandering away from the game, gently encourage them to pay attention to the roll of the die because at any moment the duck or the beaver can come up and everyone gets to participate!

Learning Implications and Educator Support
Hazel's Helpers is a good game for sensory motor exploration and development along with spatial reasoning. Building the lodge requires fine motor dexterity as children examine their lodges in order to decide where to connect more logs.

Rolling the rock allows for children to learn about directionality, applying force, the effects of different levels of force, and the different physical motions that can be used to successfully hit another player's lodge with the rock.

Determine

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
Players make many decisions during the game such as how to lock logs together, whether to build their lodge more vertical or horizontal, which cattail to remove or replace, and how and where to roll the rock.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
Children likely do not need parental support to play Hazel's Helpers. If you notice a child is having difficulty making a decision, encourage them to go ahead and try an option they are considering. Then, see what happens. This will allow them to learn what works well and what may not work as well.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
Hazel's Helpers is a good game for sensory motor exploration and development along with spatial reasoning. Building the lodge requires fine motor dexterity as children examine their lodges in order to decide where to connect more logs.

Making decisions on how to roll the rock allows for children to learn about directionality, applying force, the effects of different levels of force, and the different physical motions that can be used to successfully hit another player's lodge with the rock.

Compare

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
Players will look at and compare the lodges and cattails on the boards of other players in order to determine toward which to roll the rock.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
If a child is having a hard time deciding where to roll their rock, try asking questions like, "Who has build the biggest lodge?" or "Which lodge does not have a cattail in front of it?" You can also encourage the child to stand up and walk around to get a different visual perspective of the other players' board, which could help make it clearer which lodge would be easiest to hit with the rock.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
Hazel's Helpers helps children develop analytical and reasoning skills as they examine and compare the boards of other players in order to decide where to roll the rock.

If a child is having a hard time deciding where to roll their rock, try asking questions like, "Who has build the biggest lodge?" or "Which lodge does not have a cattail in front of it?" You can also encourage the child to stand up and walk around to get a different visual perspective of the other players' board, which could help make it clearer which lodge would be easiest to hit with the rock.

Plan

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
While there is not much planning in Hazel's Helpers, players do need quickly assess where and how to roll the rock. They also think about and connect logs together to build their lodge horizontally or vertically.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
Parent can enhance the planning aspects of the game by asking children to declare where they want the rock to hit and describe how their "rolling" technique will help them be successful. Similarly, they can encourage children to build more horizontally during one game, and then vertically another time.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
Hazel's Helpers is good for developing motor planning. Educators can enhance the planning aspects of the game by asking children to declare where they want the rock to hit and describe how their "rolling" technique will help them be successful.

Experiment

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
Player may experiment with building their lodge more horizontally or vertically. They may also try different ways to roll the rock to see what is most accurate.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
Parents may want to encourage children to try different ways to build their lodges. Sometimes build more vertically and other times more horizontally. Also, encourage children to build them on different areas of their board.

If you notice a child is having difficulty "rolling" the rock successfully, show them one or two other ways they may try to roll the rock.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
Hazel's Helpers allows children to try different ways to build a lodge or roll their rock, which in turn is a good way to learn about the cause and effect of decisions.

Educators may want to encourage children to try different ways to build their lodges. Sometimes build more vertically and other times more horizontally. Also, encourage children to build them on different areas of their board.

If you notice a child is having difficulty "rolling" the rock successfully, show them one or two other ways they may try to roll the rock.

Practice

What Does Child Do To Use Skill In The Game?
The more players roll the rock, the more proficient they will become in later turns or game play.

How Parents Can Assist Learning
If you notice a child is having difficulty "rolling" the rock successfully, show them one or two other ways they may try to roll the rock.

Learning Implications and Educator Support
This is a good game for developing hand-eye coordination. If you notice a child is having difficulty "rolling" the rock successfully, show them one or two other ways they may try to roll the rock.

Cognitive

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
Hazel's Helpers is very concrete and visual with many manipulatives, so it will be motivating to children who may have cognitive challenges. Children may need to be reminded of what action each side of the die represents. If a prompt is needed, other players can tell the child what to do or model the actions needed. The numbers 1 and 2 are the only written numbers in the game. If the child doesn't recognize the numbers, another player can hold up one or two fingers to show the child how many logs they can take.

Use fewer logs for each player in the game if the child has difficulty counting to 10. Many children may be able to count to 5, so using 5 logs may enable the child to count them and will also reduce the time of play for each round.

Communication

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
Minimal language is required in Hazel's Helpers. Players need to quack or slap hands and indicate how many logs they can take, although this could be done with fingers or by just showing the die or duck.

To encourage conversation, have a discussion prior to the game about the functions of the cattails and how they can protect the dam. Players can also talk about whether the cattails protected their dam when another player rolled the rock toward their dam. This may lead to a discussion about where to build the dam or in what direction to build it, i.e. vertical or horizontal.

To encourage communication, ask each player to name what is on the die when they roll it. Also encourage conversation by asking open-ended questions like "What do you think will happen when you roll the rock?" or "How did you feel when you knocked down his dam?"

Sensorimotor

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
Hazel's Helpers requires fine motor skills to put together the logs. Eye-hand coordination is also needed for rolling the rock toward a dam. If children have problems with fine motor or visual motor control, Hazels Helper's may be too challenging.

If their fine motor problems are mild, Hazel's Helpers may be good practice for developing more refined skills. Putting together logs and aiming the rock requires focused attention on fine motor skills.

If the child has difficulty with eye hand coordination, allow them to remove the ducks from the center board and use the placement hole for the rock as a "launch pad" for pushing the rock toward the targeted dam. This will help them aim from a shorter distance and have more control over their aim.

To give the child some parameters for pushing the rock, place a string between the rock and the dam as a guide to help the child's aim.

Social Emotional/Behavioral

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
Children may get frustrated if they only get "1's" when rolling the die or picking a ducks. Watching others win may be frustrating. Allow them to keep their protective cattails, which my help them keep their dam intact. Point out when other get 1's as well and say something like "Everyone has bad luck sometimes."

Encourage positive comments when others make a good play or add to their dam. Refer to the story of how Hazel is helped by her brothers and sisters as a model for play. Discuss how cheering for others makes everyone feel good about themselves.

Use exaggerated noises (quacking and clapping) to keep energy high. Being silly can help children have more fun in the game.

Vision

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
Players need to be able to see the dice to know what to do and other players boards when they need to roll the rock toward the other player's dam. Also, the slots on the logs may be difficult for some children to see. Although some children may be able to use touch to find the slots and put them together, the other visual requirements of the game may make Hazel's Helpers too challenging for players with low vision or blindness.

Hearing

Suggestions for How to Modify Play Experience
The player who is deaf or hard of hearing can show other players the die face that rolls up, so other players see what the player needs to do. Communication is not needed to play, but having players sign or gesture will add fun to the game.

*Data compiled from CCSSI ELA Standards, WA Science Standards, and Washington Social Studies Standards

Extra Ways to Play the Game
When logs are rolled on the die the player has the option of adding to his own dam or taking from another player.

Materials Needed
No additional materials are needed.

Developmental Benefits
Giving players the option for taking logs from another player or adding to his own dam introduce the idea of strategy to the young child. This also encourages the child to look at whose dam has the most logs and compare amounts.

Extra Ways to Play the Game
When the duck is rolled on the die, the player rolling the die gets to pick a duck for each player.

Materials Needed
No additional materials are needed.

Developmental Benefits
Handing out the ducks allows the player who rolled the die face with a duck to make strategic decisions about who gets a one or a two. This encourages players to keep track of the amount of logs on each player's dam.

Extra Ways to Play the Game
Play so all players need to build vertically.

Materials Needed
No additional materials are needed.

Developmental Benefits
Building vertically will help players learn about balance and symmetry. A vertical dam will also make the dam harder to hit with the rock.

Extra Ways to Play the Game
Play with partners with one board for the pair and 15 logs.

Materials Needed
No additional materials are needed.

Developmental Benefits
Playing with a partner requires discussion of where to place the logs in the dam structure so that it is harder to hit or sturdier.

Extra Ways to Play the Game
In this variation, each player needs to make 2 lodges with 5 logs each. Additionally, the cattails are treated slightly differently. When the game starts, a player has 2 cattails on their board. If the roll a cattail, they remove one. When the roll cattail again, they remove the other. The third and forth times, they add a cattail so that they end up with 2 cattails on their board again. Then, the process starts over. Thus, if they roll a cattail for the fifth time, one cattail is removed and so on.

Materials Needed
No additional materials are needed.

Developmental Benefits
Building 2 lodges adds variety, and therefore, increases the strategic thinking of the game.