Pancake Pile-Up!

Pancake Pile-Up - Use a spatula to sequence fruity pancakes.

Pancakes are not just for breakfast any more. Using a spatula, stack a pile of pancakes that are decorated with a variety of toppings in sequence to match a pattern card. Simple, straightforward and fun.

Pancake Pile-Up includes five different pancakes - plain and four each with a single topping of strawberries, blueberries, bananas and chocolate chips. The pancakes are flat and rubbery so that they can stack easily without slipping off. There are two of each pancake type and two spatulas so two people (or teams) can race using the same pattern card or one person can model as both stack.

There are 10 pattern cards and each pattern card has five different layers, one of each pancake type, so they do not increase in difficulty. There are also two pats of butter, one pat to top each stack. You can pretend you are taking orders at a restaurant and use the pattern cards as your order tickets.

The bottom of the box (inside) is decorated like a grill for making pancakes. You can place the pancake flat in the box bottom but only eight of them will fit in the box side-by-side. Keeping the pancakes in the box will help players pick them up with the spatula, as the pancakes can be pushed up against the side walls of the box to steady them. Putting the pancakes on the table top and picking them up from there will make a slightly more difficult game as you will have to be able to use your spatula with a quick push to get it under the pancake.

The instructions suggest making the game into a relay race with team members running to the box and stacking one pancake and then running back to another team member to pass off the spatula for their turn. First player or team to finish the stack and place a pat of butter on the top wins. 

This could be a good precursor activity if you are going to be working with craft kits where you will have to start building and stacking pieces from the bottom up and won't be able to see entire pieces. Often kids will want to proceed from the top down. If they have trouble with this concept I will use the word "stack" and often that works to give the idea of putting something on top of something else.

  

I play Pancake Pileup! with one person and we both build a stack from one card. Or each of use takes a different card and we see who can build theirs first. Of course it is rarely really a race with me as I adjust my speed depending on the goal I am working on with the person. 

Try this:

• Cover everything above the top pancake you will be adding if players want to keep building from the top down.
• Choose two pattern cards and see if the player can stack all ten in one stack. Tipsy, but doable if you are real careful.
• Model how to tilt the spatula so the pancakes will slide off easier, the same technique you use when taking cookies off a cookie sheet.
• Follow this game with baking cookies or making pancakes for real. Or use before you actually go to the stove to cook as an exercise to practice using a spatula and flipping. Buy a box of frozen pancakes from the dollar store, put them on a cookie sheet at the table and practice flipping and taking them off and stacking them on a cooling rack or stacking them vertically on a plate.
• Use as a precursor to trying different foods. Talk about the different fruits and try a bite of the real thing, deciding which you think would taste best on real pancakes.
• Ask a player to race against himself to see how many stacks he can make from pattern cards in one minute. Then go again and try to beat that score.
• Look at a pattern card and memorize the sequence. Rehearse it several times verbally to help you remember. Turn the card over and stack the pancakes. Check the card to see if you are correct.
• Start by covering all the pancakes but the bottom one if the player does not know how to start or proceed. After each layer is added, pull the card up so that the next pancake shows.
• Stack the pancakes to match a pattern card. Place that card plus two or more additional cards in front of the player. Ask him to find the card that matches the pancake stack.
• Skip the spatula if the player cannot use it. Just stack the pancakes by hand to work on sequencing and matching the pattern cards.
• Work on manual dexterity, tool use, timed motor response, sequencing, visual discrimination, visual memory, visual closure, building a 3D model from a 2D model, spatial relations, proximal stability, balance, eye-hand coordination, social participation and interaction, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation
  
  In the box: 10 plastic pancakes, 2 cardboard plates, 2 plastic spatulas, 10 order (pattern) cards, 2 small pats of butter

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.