Mystery Key

Description:

In this Remarkable Idea, switch tops are used as a hiding place. It's a game for at least three players. The game can be adapted to support a wide range of curriculum goals from object permanence to social skills.

This activity addresses:

  • Social skills
  • Visual follows
  • Cause and effect
  • Anticipation
  • Group working
  • Alternative methods of access

What you need:

Preparation:

  1. Record the messages on the SuperTalker FT to correspond to this Mystery Key SuperTalker Overlay".
    • Location 1: “I’ve lost my key.”
    • Location 2: “Look under the big red one!”
    • Location 3: “What about the small green one?”
    • Location 4: “Check the big yellow one!”
    • Location 5: “Where can it be?”
    • Location 6: “Is it under the tiny yellow one?”
    • Location 7: “Maybe the big blue one?”
    • Location 8: “Take a peek under the small red one!
  2. Attach student/player pictures to the All-Turn-It Spinner using Velcro dots.

What to do:

  1. In this game, the players work together to find a missing key which has been hidden under one of the switch tops.
  2. Use the All-Turn-It Spinner and the Jelly Bean switch to decide who hides the key first. While all the others look away this person hides the key under one of the switch tops. Then he calls to the other players: “I’ve lost my key. Where can it be?”
  3. Use the All-Turn-It Spinner and the Jelly Bean switch once more to decide who may guess first. The SuperTalker FT might be used by just one or all the players to do the guessing (e.g. “Look under the big yellow one!”). Each player has just one guess. And the player who finds the key is the next key hider.
  4. Variation to simplify the game: The guessed switch tops can either remain in the game or are taken off the table.
  5. Variation to support more complex goals: A different letter might be hidden under each switch top. So in the course of the game letters for a particular word must be collected in the correct order.

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