Bug Splat Race Clothespin Games

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I was searching for small rolling toys to use in a game and I came across these Cars Micro Drifters. They didn’t work for the game I was looking to use them for, but they were the perfect size and have a roller ball under them, so they move exactly the way I wanted them to, and I had to get them and then work out how I was going to use them.

They were so perfect for my therapy that I created some new games to use them with. You can play the games without the little Cars Micro Drifters, but the little cars make it more fun. Another fun part of the games are the bug splats. When you drive fast, bugs are going to splat on your windshield.

I made several games, and they all use different ways to play with clothespins.

The first game is very similar to the Ocean Animal Clothespin Game, but instead of clipping on animal legs, you are clipping splatted bugs onto the windshield of the car.

You send your Micro Drifter car down the road, and it lands in a square on the grid. There are 3 different grids, one blank, one with letters, and one with words. They all have a number on them as well. The number you land on is how many bugs you get to add to the windshield of your car. The blank grid is included in case you want to do your own thing, and don’t want letters in the way. With the letters, I have kids either write the letter, or write a word that starts with that letter. With the words, I have the kids write a sentence using the word.

Then I made a completely different game. I made an oval race track that is the game board, and kids move their clothespin around the outside of the race track. You could have each student have their own race track to move around, or they can all use the same one. If you want to just move pieces around, you can do that too.

With the race track, There is a number grid to send the cars down instead of using dice. You race your car down the road and the number it lands on is the number of spaces that your clothespin car moves around the track.

The main race track is blank, and has cards that you draw to tell you what happens. When you get a bug splat, you draw the splat using dry erase crayon onto the black and white car windshield. There are outlines of bugs on the windshields, and the kids need to color them. When you lose a bug (to the car wash or the rain), they have to practice erasing the bug splat. Cotton swabs (q-tips) work great to practice the erasing

This is my favorite part of the game because a lot of kids have trouble getting these things erased well. Some of the cards require the kids to answer questions, which can include writing.

I also made a simple letter matching race track with lower case letters on the track, and some small letter squares to match. There is a parking strip too for the letter clothespins to park in. This may make it easier to find the right letter clothespin when needed.

Materials:

• Bug splat race games at Therapy Fun Store
• Cars Micro Drifters
• Laminator

Skills:

• Fine motor
• finger strength
• visual perception
• handwriting
• motor planning

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