Manipulative skills and games performed by children ranging from 4 to 6 years of age while exploring sensorial cubes

ABSTRACT

Abstract Aim: To identify and describe the manipulative actions of typical children ages between 4 and 6 years, and the games performed while exploring cubes with different sensorial stimuli. Methods: Cross-sectional, descriptive, and exploratory study. Sixteen typical children aged 4 to 6 years (mean age 5.78 ± 1.04 years) were filmed, from different angles, during the exploration of six cubes with different sensorial stimuli (transparent, black, tactile, auditory, luminous, and high-contrast). The cubes were delivered in random order and the children explored the cubes for 40 s each. At the end of the explorations, they were asked about what kind of game they could play with that object. The images were observed by the BS Player Profile. Results: Seventeen different types of interactions with the cubes were registered, such as pushing, shaking, reaching for (bimanual and unimanual), bringing closer to the eyes, knocking, touching with the fingers/hand, throwing upwards, and others. The tactile cube was the favorite among the children (9 children), followed by the luminous cube (6 children). They proposed games with all of the cubes, standing out playing dice (all cubes), building towers, and castles. Conclusion: In the observed group of children, 17 manipulative skills were identified. The games performed during the exploration of the cubes were based on association with other similar objects previously known, related to the visual stimuli provided by the cubes, verbal description of actions that could be performed with that cube, imagination related games using figurative images, and sports-related activities/games.