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David's bag of stones
Smooth floor
Depending on your stones, it might scratch the floor
You can cover the stones with a coat of spray on varnish to prevent scratching
I suggest you glue a piece of felt to the bottom of each of your stones to prevent scratching (don't forget Goliath)
5 fairly flat rocks (the kind you'd use to skip rocks on the water)
(you can purchase small bags of smooth river rocks at garden stores, Ikea, Walmart, etc.)
1 more flat rock for Goliath
Paints in various colors (this is a good project for using up left over bits of paint)
Paintbrushes
Water and paper towel for washing out brushes before switching colors
Permanent black marker (if you don't have one, you can use paint)
Have the children paint the 5 rocks however they like.
Acrylic paint takes under an hour to dry (usually 15 min if you don't glob it on)
So you can do a basecoat and then come back with different colors to decorate
Let dry
Glue a small piece of felt to the bottom of the rock
With the permanent marker, print one of the letters of David's name on each rock
(use one capital D and one small d) -- D a v i d
Put a G (for Goliath) on the largest rock.
You can decorate further with glitter glue, sequins or crystals
Use tape to mask off a large square on the floor with a small X in the center
Place the Goliath stone on the X in the center of the square
Have the children sit at the edge of the square and TAKE TURNS SLIDING their David rocks to knock Goliath out of the square.
Don't let everyone slide their rocks at one time or someone will end up getting hurt.
make sure you show the children how to slide their rocks (not throw them) before you get started. Test the surface of the floor yourself to see how difficult it is to slide the rocks (some surfaces are easier than others)
and adjust the size of the square accordingly (smaller squares for harder to slide surfaces)
An adult with some coordination should be able to knock Goliath out with 5 stones.
Alternately, let one child try to knock Goliath out and count how many tries it takes him/her
Before letting the next child have a turn.
I find older children prefer this version especially if you get them all counting together.
But preschoolers get too impatient waiting for their turn
And "feel bad" (frustrated) if they aren't knocking Goliath out as quickly as their peers.
Don't forget to take your tape off the floor at the end of the game
If you leave it on too long (days), it becomes difficult to remove.