ACTIVITY WRITE UP NO. 1

Name of Activity Mancala

Type of modality / Game (also known as a table game)
Type of play / Shared Cooperative
Interaction pattern / Inter-individual
# of participants required / 2
Equipment/supplies / Board with 12 parallel circle holes (pits), 2 bigger oval holes (pits) on the ends and 48 marbles
Facilities required/environment / Can be done on any stable surface; floor, ground, table, bed
Precautions / Small children or animals may try to eat marbles, so try to keep the marbles on the board and out of reach to those who may try and put the marbles in their mouth.

Task Analysis Sequence/Directions (Details of how a to move through the activity from start to finish) (Example used in class, was “brushing my teeth”. Here you would document the step by step directions of the activity that you have chosen

0. Sit across from your opponent with the board between you so that the ovals are to your right and left but not central and you are facing two columns of circles.

1. Place four marbles in each of the circles of the same size. (24 marbles on each side, 48 on the entire board)

2. One person chooses to pick up any pile of marbles on their side. (Their side is the column adjacent to them. The opponent’s is the opposite side adjacent to the opponent. The ovals are perpendicular to the circle columns but parallel to each other.)

3. Put one marble in each circle in order in a counter clockwise direction. In other words, move the marbles to your right when they are on your side and to the left on your opponent’s side. The first big oval you pass is yours. After the last circle in your column you put the marble in your oval and continue to drop marbles on your opponents column but skipping their oval in the same counter clockwise direction.

4. When you drop your last marble in the circle your turn ends if the circle was empty before placing your marble in it. If there were other marbles in it then pick up the pile and continue dropping marbles until you reach an empty circle or the last one lands in your oval.

5. If the last one lands in your oval you may choose any pile of marbles in your column and continue your turn until your last marble lands in an empty circle.

6. When your last marble lands in an empty circle, in either column, yours or your opponents, your turn ends.

7. Now it is your opponent’s turn. They can pick up any marble in their column until they land in an empty circle. If their last marble from the circle they chose lands in the oval they can choose and new pile of marbles from their side and go again until the last marble from that chosen pile lands in an empty circle.

8. When you don’t have any marbles left in your column you may choose a pile of marbles from your opponent’s column.

9. The game ends when all of the marbles are in the ovals.

10. The winner has more marbles in their oval.

11. Count the marbles to see who has more.

Activity Analysis

Category / Skills
Primary body position / Sitting, kneeling
Part of the body required / Arms and hands
Movement / Bending, carrying in the hands, palmar grasp, radial digital grasp, 3-Jaw chuck grasp, pincer grasp, lifting, manipulating, picking up, putting down objects, reaching, releasing, turning or twisting hands or arms
Physical / Balance: dynamic sitting, static sitting; crossing midline, fine muscle coordination, flexibility, gross muscle coordination, motor control, active range of motion: upper extremities; visual motor integration
Cognitive / Arousal/ Alertness, Attention: Alternating attention, sharing attention, sustaining attention, calculation, cognitive flexibility, concept formation, concentration; decision making: simple, initiation, insight, judgment, orientation: person, spatial operations, strategy, recognition of shape and form (oval, round) and sequencing (moving from one pit to the next in order)
Social / Interpersonal interactions, maintaining social space, regulating behavior, self-expression, social conduct, social cues, showing respect & warmth, showing tolerance
Perception / Visual, tactile
Communication/language / Reception of body language, producing body language
Self-care / N/A
Psychological/emotional (possible) / Joy for having a good turn, guilt for feeling bad about your turn, frustration when losing

SIMPLIFYING AND COMPLICATING THIS ACTIVITY: Think of ways you could simplify or make more complex.

Ways to SIMPLIFY demands / Ways to make more COMPLEX
Cognitively / Decrease number of marbles to two or three in each circle. / Add more marbles to each circle, change sides instead of doing left column and right column have sides be the six circles closest to your side (hamburger fold, columns are hotdog fold), or get rid of sides
Physically / Put marbles they pick up into a bowl to make it easier to carry if they can’t fit them all in their hand / Make the board and marbles bigger, every time someone drops a marble on the floor they have to do a burpee
Socially / Don’t allow bystanders to watch / Have players learn five new things about the other player before the game ends to encourage conversation.

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