Left / Center / Right Game
Episode # 102. Pearly Shells
In a long square-shaped box, the children give the Storypeople three shells. One has a pearl in it. Can Brother and Sister find the shell with the pearl in it? Is it on the left, right, or in the middle? How many shells do the children add? How many shells are there at the end?

Directions
In the program, pearls are hidden inside shells and the Storypeople guess where they are. You can use cups instead of shells. Turn at least three cups upside down and put them in a row in front of your child. Hide the ball under one of the cups. Move the cups around and ask her to guess which cup the ball is under.

To help your child learn left from right, guesses cannot be made by simply pointing. They must be made by saying "The ball is under the cup on the right" or "The ball is under the cup on the left" or "The ball is under the cup in the center." If you and your child are sitting facing each other, be sure the directions given are from his perspective, i.e., his left and right.

Then let your child control the action by hiding the ball and inviting you to guess.

To make the game more complex, add more cups, count out together how many cups you started with and how many you have added, and help your child learn the language of placement and sequencing by naming where the ball is, e.g., "The ball is in the third cup from the left end."

Talk About It
While viewing the Pearly Shells episode, you might start a conversation by asking your child: How do you think the pearl gets inside the shell? Shall we find out? Where could we learn about which kinds of creatures make pearls and where they live? Have you ever seen a pearl? What does it look like?

As you talk about the things on screen, you can help expand your child's vocabulary by alternating the words you use with their synonyms. In the Pearly Shells episode, when you help your child describe which shell the pearl is in, you might say "the shell in the middle" or "the shell in the center."