5 PLAY IDEAS WITH THE GRAPAT INSECTS

Grapat means a “handful” in Catalan – and these insects are a handful of cuteness, indeed! Just like any other Grapat toy, they come without instructions on how to play. It is up to the child’s imagination: just like with stones, sticks or pinecones, she will find hundreds of ways incorporating them into her magical world of play!

And while this set is a beautiful open-ended material, we still decided to collect a couple of simple play ideas for you! No, not as a manual, but rather to give you a glimpse how versatile these toys can be – even beyond imaginative play. And who knows, maybe to inspire you to come up with your own ideas? These simple play prompts can come handy if the toys have been sitting lonely for some time on the shelf, too. With a new idea a toy can sometimes gain its old shine back and become interesting again. These little invitations to play can also be just quick games up in your sleeve when you want to stop for five minutes to play and reconnect with your child.

1. BUGGY TIC-TAC-TOE

Tic-tac-toe is a classic for centuries for a reason! And while it might be a silly little game for adults that always end in a tie, this 5-minute game provides a real intellectual challenge to kids. It teaches them a lot: from the basics of turn-taking, to pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, and strategizing. Children from around 3-4 years old can already start to grasp the basic of the game – even if they might not understand the competitive nature of it and follow precisely the rules yet. But even when they have fully understood the game, it is still a real challenge first to track all eight potential rows, block your moves and in the same time keep aiming for their own win. Using the Grapat bugs is a very hands on way for them to become masters of the game!

Extra idea: Once the classic tic-tac-toe turns to be a child game and you want a little more challenge, why not to try the ancient form, “Terni Lapilli”?

2. FIND BUG PAIRS: TACTILE GAMES

With younger children put two of each shape of bugs into a bag and invite them to find the pairs without looking. If they are a bit older and ready for more tactile challenges, you can use the whole set and try to find pairs as fast as you can. Or you can mix the insects with other small wooden objects (like wooden buttons or mandala pieces) and encourage them to find the bug pairs (and the bug ones only!).

3. BUG ON THE SPOON

Do you know the spoon ball game? Well, why don’t we make up a bug version of it! Place a bug on a child spoon (or teaspoon), hold it in your hand (or if you are a pro, even between your lips) and try to cross the room without dropping your little friend! You can make the game more exciting by building some easy obstacles even!

4. GUESS THE BUG!

Line up a few Grapat mini beasts of different shapes and colours. Give your child a little time to observe them closely, and then ask him to turn away! Cover with a cup, then invite him to remember which one has crawled into your trap! You can start with three pieces, and make it more challenging adding more and more buggies to the line.

5. CUPS AND BUGS

If you want to quickly whip up a little more challenging observation game, you can also play hiding a bug under one of three cups, and give them a good shuffle. Will your child be able to follow your hands and guess where the insect is hiding?

Will you try any of these ideas? Or did you come up with a game of your own? Share it with us – we would be happy to learn about it!   

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