Executive function
Toddlers practice watching and remembering the location of a moving toy car.
Be Prepared: The car should fit fully inside each box. The cardboard boxes are pretend garages in this activity. If a box has a flap(s) that closes so nothing in the box is visible, put the box on its side during the activity and pretend the flap is a garage door. If a box has no flap, put the box opening on the floor so the car can be fully hidden when put in the box. Put the boxes in a row for the activity.
[Invite several toddlers to join you in a game. Show the toy car and point to each of the three cardboard boxes when you explain they are pretend garages.]
Our game has a toy car and three boxes. We will pretend the boxes are garages for our car. Our toy car likes to drive around and then hide in one of the garages! Let’s play a game of watching the car drive around and remembering where the car hides.
[Place the three garages in a row so the toddlers can see each garage.
Drive the car around on the floor, always in front of the toddlers. Avoid holding the car in your hand where it is not visible. While the toddlers are watching, drive the car in or under the middle garage. Make sure none of the car is visible in the box.]
The car drove into a garage. The car is hiding!
I am trying to remember which garage the car is in. I did not watch carefully to see where the car went!
[Look in/under the right and then the left garages. Have fun pretending you did not pay attention to where the car drove. Show excitement when you find the car in/under the middle garage!]
The car is going to drive around and then hide again. This time I am going to watch closely. I want to remember where the car hides.
[Drive the car on the floor, always in full view of the toddlers. Drive the car in/under the left or right garage.]
The car drove into a garage. The car is hiding from us again! This time I watched where the car went. I remember where the car went.
[Look under the correct garage. Show excitement when you find the car!]
I watched the car drive around and remembered where it was hiding. I found the car because I watched and remembered.
Should the car drive around and hide again?
[Repeat if the toddlers appear interested.]
We played a game with a toy car that likes to hide. We found the car in one of the garages because we watched and remembered where the car went.
Executive function
Two toddlers take turns “driving” and hiding a toy car and remembering its location.
Be Prepared: The car should fit fully inside each box. The cardboard boxes are pretend garages in this activity. If a box has a flap(s) that closes so nothing in the box is visible, put the box on its side during the activity and pretend the flap is a garage door. If a box has no flap, put the box opening on the floor so the car can be fully hidden when put in the box. Put the boxes in a row for the activity.
Invite two toddlers to join you on the floor to play a game. Introduce the car and three boxes that are pretend garages. Explain that the car likes to drive around and then hide in one of the garages. Explain that the two toddlers participating in this game will take turns driving and hiding the car, and then remembering where the car is hiding. Show toddlers how to hold the car so it can always be seen. You might want to show how putting the car in the palm of our hand can make it difficult to see the car.
Invite one of the toddlers to drive the car around the floor and then hide the car in one of the garages. Offer assistance as needed. Urge the other toddler to watch where the car goes, including where it hides. After the car is fully hidden in a garage, pause a few moments and then invite the watcher (second toddler) to say and point to where the car is hiding. Show excitement when the car is shown. Emphasize that watching the car carefully helped the toddler remember where the car was hiding.
Reverse toddlers’ roles, with the toddler who was the car’s driver in the first round serving as the watcher of where the car goes. Again, briefly pause after the car is hidden and then invite the watcher to tell and point to where the car is hiding.
Offer descriptions of actions. Examples: “Our car drove around and around. Now it is hiding from us!” “You watched the car drive around and then hide from us. You remembered where the car was hiding!”
Repeat if toddlers remain interested. Conclude the session by emphasizing how watching and remembering helped us find the car.
Closely observe toddlers’ visual tracking of the car’s whereabouts in both activities. Offer friendly reminders to watch if it seems a toddler is not fully engaged. Also, avoid moving the car in Option 1 when toddlers are not watching.
Option 2 involves a self-control task for the driver of the car when you ask the watcher to identify the hidden car’s location. You can help the driver resist the temptation to tell or show the car’s location by urging the driver to sit still while the watcher tells and points to the car’s location.
Avoid actions that change the activities into guessing games. Random guessing does not promote the idea that watching something helps us remember what happened. Do not suggest a toddler “make another guess” if he/she does not select the correct garage in Option 2. Instead, invite the driver of the car to reveal where the car is hiding. Positively recognize toddlers’ efforts.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: 3–4 toy cars, 3 small cardboard boxes from Options 1 or 2
Invite several toddlers to play in the block area with the cars and pretend garages. Invite toddlers to use blocks to build more pretend garages for the cars to hide in. Toddlers may wish to repeat Option 2 or create a different or related type of play arrangement with cars and pretend garages.
Materials Needed: see activity description
A preschool-age child may enjoy serving as the driver of the car in Option 1 as a toddler watches and remembers the car’s location. Preschool-age children may also like to participate in the suggested Interest Area activity.
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