Hold It, Quoll!
Stopping yourself: tap the quolls that are awake, and let the sleepy ones sleep
How it plays
Spotted quolls pop out of burrows one at a time. An awake quoll bounces with a big "!", and your child taps it. A sleepy quoll lies down under a moon with "z z z" and a soft snore, and the job is to hold still and let it sleep. That pause is the skill: stopping yourself when your hands want to go. Later levels add more sleepy quolls, a quoll that peeks out before it decides (wait and see!), and a little less time. Nothing is ever lost: tapping a sleepy quoll just makes it yawn, and a quoll that gets away comes back later. Each sleepy quoll left to sleep puts a star in the sky. With a keyboard, Space taps.
What it's for
Stopping yourself: tap the quolls that are awake, and let the sleepy ones sleep. It adapts as your child plays: after a few rounds that go well it steps up a little, and after a couple of hard ones it quietly steps back. The level number only ever goes up.
There is no score to lose and no way to fail. Tapping a sleepy quoll just makes it yawn, and a quoll that gets away comes back later.
Away from the screen: Statues
About two minutes, with things most homes have.
- Put music on and dance.
- When the music stops, freeze like a sleeping quoll.
- Take turns being the one who stops the music.
Three questions to ask while they play
- How do you know this quoll is asleep?
- What helps you wait?
- How did it feel to hold still?
Play together
Things to say or ask
- Wait for it… is this one awake?
- Your hand wanted to tap, and you stopped it!
- Let the sleepy ones sleep.
Taking turns on one device: Take turns: one round each. The waiting player whispers 'awake' or 'asleep' to help.
Talk-about cards: a question a day for a week, for the car or the dinner table. Print them, or read them from your phone.
If they find it hard
Play it together at first: say "awake!" or "shh!" out loud as each quoll pops up.
A sheet to print
Print the Hold It, Quoll! sheet
One A4 page, in black and white or colour.
What it practises
- Stopping yourself. Waiting, and holding back when your hands want to go.
PSC Self-management (General capabilities, Personal and Social Capability); EYLF 1 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0) - Paying attention. Keeping focus when the easy answer is the wrong one.
PSC Self-management (General capabilities, Personal and Social Capability); EYLF 1 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0)
The codes are from the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (for children from birth to five) and the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 2). Each links to the official wording. Every skill, and the games for it.
What it costs, and what we collect
Nothing, and nothing. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking of any kind. Which games have been played is remembered on your own device and is never sent anywhere. The full version is here, and it's short.
Where it lives
Hold It, Quoll! lives in The Dusty Red — attention and impulse control. It works on a phone, a tablet or a classroom screen, and once it's been opened it keeps working with no signal at all.
Updated