Chase the Cheese Movement Concept Game

Your student or child will roll a die and move Moby the Mouse to get to the cheese. You, the teacher or parent, will move the cat KitKat to capture Moby before he reaches the cheese. This fun one-on-one game will build real movement concepts and skills over time.  Note that the student will sit to your left and you will both face the board from the same side. Place Moby in the circle at the bottom left side of the board. Kitkat is placed in the circle at the bottom right. The cheese will be placed in the center square for the beginner level of the game.

Beginner Level Concepts/Skills: listening, turn taking, tactual exploration and counting. At this level its all about simple movement. Coach the student to move the correct number of spaces to reach the cheese which is placed in the center of the board. Guide the student’s fingers to explore the number of spaces and count with him or her. No diagonal moves are allowed at this level of the game. It may take several rolls to directly land on the cheese. The reward is simply eating the cheese. 😊

Novice Level Concepts/Skills: spatial language like up, down, forward, top, bottom, middle, left and right. At this level introduce the words associated with movement as the Moby moves to the cheese. You are the opponent (Kitkat)and will attempt to catch the mouse with a direct roll of the die. Model your movements by verbalizing your moves as you make them. Help the student verbalize moves as he/she moves Moby toward the cheese. There is no penalty for making a mistake. Just gently coach and correct any mistakes. If Moby reaches the cheese before Kitkat catches Moby, the student will get a “cheesy chip.” If you catch Moby, you will get a cheesy chip. The player with the most cheesy chips wins the game. Play as many times as you want. Time is your only limit.

Learner Level Concept/Skills: All previous concepts apply as well as north, south, east and west. Student and teacher are both expected to verbalize every move and change of direction. Coach and assist as needed but prompt the student to correctly verbalize the moves. Each player may choose to move the cheese from the center square instead of moving his/her playing piece on a turn. As skills advance, variations in the game are encouraged. Your creativity is the only limitation. Add diagonal moves if desired. Each time the student or you win a round, a cheesy chip is earned. Play until a specific number of chips are earned.

Cheesy Challenges: These little challenges occur between rounds of playing Chase the Cheese and can be used to earn additional chips. The teacher or parent verbally directs the student to do a task that involves moving Moby the Mouse and the other game pieces. If the student correctly carries out the task, he or she earns a chip. These challenges are inspired by the tasks on the Hill Performance Test of Selected Positional Concepts.

Cheesy Challenges

Teacher/Parent Note: Feel free to change the wording and add additional challenges. The examples below are intended to be increasingly challenging—start easy. Have fun and be silly.