Manipulative play panel

Abstract

A game panel allows a child to interact and communicate face to face, rather than through electronic means, with other children to create and play a game. The play maker is a personal engagement recreational tool that provides subtle guidance, assisting the child in discovering a unique opportunity to create, practice, teach and play with peers. The play maker panel provides, for example, seven major components found in every game. For each of these components, the play maker panel can provide, for example, ten sub-components for each of the fields. The play maker panel may include a device for randomly generating a number, for example a number between one and ten. The wheel may be spun one time for each of the components (for example, seven components) to provide a description in each game component for play.

1 . A play panel comprising:
 a front panel;   a random number generator disposed on a first portion front panel adapted to generate a random number; and   a grid disposed on a second portion of the front panel, the grid including a number of rows and columns, the rows corresponding to components of a game and the columns corresponding to numbers which the random number generator is capable of generating, wherein   each element in the grid is selectable between a first position, showing no information, and a second position, showing an identification marking corresponding to the game component of a particular column.   
     
     
         2 . The play panel of  claim 1 , wherein the grid includes a plurality of rotatable tiles. 
     
     
         3 . The play panel of  claim 1 , wherein the grid include seven columns corresponding to seven different game components. 
     
     
         4 . The play panel of  claim 1 , wherein the random number generator is a spin wheel. 
     
     
         5 . The play panel of  claim 4 , further comprising a viewing opening in the front panel to view a spin wheel result, the spin wheel result corresponding to a row number on the grid. 
     
     
         6 . The play panel of  claim 1 , wherein the components of the game include equipment, environment, structure, objective, action, roles and ritual. 
     
     
         7 . The play panel of  claim 1 , further comprising a back panel disposed to form a cavity between the front and back panels. 
     
     
         8 . A method for creating a game for play, the method comprising:
 providing a game panel having a plurality of movable tiles disposed in a grid of a plurality of columns and rows, each tile having an identification marking thereupon, and each tile movable between a first position, where the identification marking is not visible, and a second position where the identification marking is visible;   generating a random number;   revealing the identification marking of a particular tile in a column based on the random number;   repeating the generating and revealing steps for each column of the grid; and   creating a game based on game characteristics revealed in each column.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising spinning a spin wheel to generate the random number. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising rotating the tiles along an axis to reveal the identification marking.