Play Plan : Noughts & Crosses

General Information

• Prerequisites: Counting
• Number of players: 2
• Materials: Noughts and Crosses board

Game Overview and Basic Rules for Play

A simple game played by two people. The objective of Noughts and Crosses is to get a winning line of three Noughts or three Crosses in either a horizontal, vertical or diagonal row. The Noughts and Crosses board is a square grid containing nine squares arranged in threes. The game is played by two people who either play as Noughts (Os) or Crosses ( Xs). They can either be drawn or objects resembling these two options can be used. In giant Noughts and crosses for example, the two objects are the Noughts and crosses themselves.

Play Session Plans:

Session 1:

• Introduce the Noughts and Crosses board to the children and let them explore it.
• Once they are familiar with the board and the number of square boxes in it. Explain them the rules or instructions to play the game.
• Ask the children to decide who is going to move Xs and Os with them and let them collect and keep it with them.
• The player with the Xs starts the game by positioning his X in a square. The player with the Os follows and both players take turns to move and occupy the squares of the grid trying to make a row of three and pay attention to the board and if you have two pieces in a line, play the third to complete the row. Block if your opponent has two pieces in a row , play your piece to block them from completing the row.

Session 2:

• Ask the children to play the game. Now, Start with the player having Os then Xs.
• Let them play for 4 times or even number of times and see who won maximum number of times and how.
• Also, ask them to explain strategies they found or observed so far.