Educational Focus
In this game, children enhance their spatial skills as they decide how to fit different log shapes to complete lines while avoiding leaving spaces. As these logs move downstream from the top of the screen to the bottom, children must quickly determine how to rotate and position them so that they create straight-lined bridges.

Skills: Enhance spatial skills, practice puzzle solving, apply planning and strategy skills and enhance coordination and motor skills.

Level 1: Slow Speed
Level 2: Moderate Speed
Level 3: High Speed
Level 4: Challenging Speed
Level 5: Hurricane Speed

Together Time Tips
Spatial puzzles are fun to solve and to make. Describing figures and visualizing what they look like when they are rotated or flipped are important aspects of geometry in the lower grades. Here are some spatial activities to share during your “together time”. Enjoy!

ALUMINUM BRIDGES
Here’s what you will need:

• Aluminum foil
• Imagination
• Blue construction paper

Begin by helping your child imagine that the blue piece of paper is a river. To cross over, you need to build a bridge out of pieces of aluminum foil. Cut out pieces of foil and “scrunch” them up in a variety of shapes. Now, place the shapes in such a way that they form a complete straight line. Adjust and model the shapes as you build your bridge. Discuss which shapes when put together create a straight line. Have fun!

PASTA SCULPTURES
Here’s what you will need:

• A variety of different pasta noodles
• Glue

You and your youngster can have fun creating your very own pasta sculpture. Try to glue pieces that “fit” together so that there are no holes between them. Discuss the way that different pieces compliment and “complete” each other and enjoy your creative muse.

SPATIAL COLLAGE
Here’s what you will need:

• Old magazines
• Glue
• Scissors
• Construction paper

Have your child cut out pictures of animals, trees or buildings from an old magazine. Then place your cut outs on the construction paper. Try placing the different images, “in front of” each other, “beside” or “behind” each other to explore different relationships. Discover a variety of possible formations. Then, glue down the pieces in various positions to create your own Spatial Collage. Have fun!

Score
Each time your child completes a level, they receive bonus points. As they advance to higher levels, the bonus points increase. Also, each bridge your child builds wins them points and the more bridges, the higher the score!

Help
Point out to your child the various shapes of the logs. Find ways to make them form a straight line. Explain to your child how to use the SELECT key to flip the logs. The rest of the ARROW keys will move the logs around (to the right and left bank and downstream). Pressing the UP key will pause the game. As you place each log, the next one can already be seen approaching. This is helpful when planning your next move. Also, notice that for each row that is incomplete, a beaver appears on the left side of the screen. This will indicate to your child the number of rows that need to be completed. Finally, point out to your child that at each level, the logs arrive at a faster speed.