Battleships

Missed! Missed! Sunk!…
Who’s going to sink all the ships and win the battle?

Braille Activity

Fine motor skills
Numeracy
Strategy

Level: 3

Number of players: 2

Duration: 20 min

Skills:

Recognise and use geometry concepts
Make hypotheses
Locate objects
Control emotional engagement

Eight ships are fighting in the ocean. To win the battle, you need memory, strategy and a little bit of luck.

Goals

To familiarise the children with using a double entry table, making hypotheses, planning strategies.

The adult prepares

For the battlefields: 2 baseplates divided into 25 squares to create a grid of 5×5 squares.
Place numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 – with a number sign brick in front of each number – at the top of each column (starting with column 2).
Place letters A, B, C, D at the beginning of each row.
For the ships: 8 equal sign “=” bricks
Give each child a battlefield and 4 ships.
To help them remember: little balls of playdough

The children play

Both children place ships in separate vacant squares. Do not let them use the top left corner.

Player 1 calls out a letter and a number identifying a row and column on player 2’s ocean grid.
Player 2 checks the corresponding square on their grid. No ship in the square? “Missed!”
Player 1 puts a playdough ball on that square to remind themselves not to ‘attack’ the same position again, later in the game.

Player 2 takes their turn. If they identify one square with a ship on it, player 1 says
“Sunk…” and removes the ship.
The players take turns until one of them has no ships left.

So, we are going to play battleship.
I’m going to give you four boats each.
So they are boats.
And you are going to hide them
anywhere on the grid.
So who wants to start?
Sure, I’ll start.
Okay.
Mariah, do you have A-1?
No.
D-4.
Yes.
So, you will remove the boat.
It’s a little stuck.
That’s fine.
C-4.
No. B-3?
Yes.
Do you have…
C-3?
-Yes.
C-3.
Oh, yeah.
I won!
Great.

Facilitation tips

Grids can be made using flat or thin LEGO bricks, sausages of playdough, Wikki sticks or rubber bands.
Before play, check the players’ familiarity with the concept of the double entry table.
Change the size and number of squares of the baseplate, change the number of ships.