Rosslyn Gingrich, 10, started out looking for a solution to a basic problem: How to explain the coronavirus to her 4-year-old sister, Evelyn, in terms she would understand.

What she found was a two-month creative journey to teach the basics of the virus while also taking aim at the human behaviors that came with it.

A fifth-grader in the Mechanicsburg Area School District, Gingrich combined what she learned from her nurse practitioner grandmother, Marge, with everything she saw in the news and her own acts of service to develop a COVID-19 board game.

My mom and I were on a walk and my sister kept asking why her school was closed, Rosslyn said. We wanted to make a fun and easy way to explain the coronavirus, so we just made a game of it.

The game features two paths with their own pitfalls and positive outcomes. It comes with cards that can send players forward or backward or make them lose their turns. There are also spaces where players contract the coronavirus and lose a turn while they are in quarantine.

Didnt practice social distancing? Go back two spaces. Lent a roll of toilet paper to a neighbor in need? Advance one space. Wash your hands for only 10 seconds instead of 20? Go back a space. Sanitize your countertops after putting all your groceries away? Move ahead two spaces.

The game has 20 total cards, all of which highlight good, bad, greedy or selfless behavior. The end goal is to reach the finish line and find a cure first.

When we started making the game, thats when it was crazy with toilet paper, Rosslyns mother, Jaclyn, said. Shes gotten a lot of ideas from the news about how greedy and selfish people are, but then shes also seen the good people are doing.

The game sets out to explain a virus, but also cuts into deeper themes such as the panic and fear that can drive me-first behavior. It underscores the idea that little eyes are watching all of these adult stress responses. Theyre taking mental notes when they see someone clean out a shelf of toilet paper or ignore social distancing.

At the very beginning of putting this game together, I was just really impressed, Marge Gingrich said. Shes a very creative kid.

In Rosslyns case, she managed to find an outlet during a time when kids are missing their friends or feeling lonely or struggling to process it all. She said she felt some of that, too, but she turned her focus to a project that she could share with her mother, grandmother and sister.

Its very difficult because I just want to see my friends and have a sleepover and hug them and I cant, Rosslyn said.

The hope with the board game was to answer questions in a fun way while encouraging a focus on the greater good. Thats a valuable lesson to people of all ages.

To her, its like, OK, theres this virus but its not really going to do much to me, but it could hurt my grandparents, Jaclyn Gingrich said. So, she understands the idea of keeping her distance from older people and the more high-risk people. She has a pretty good concept of it for a 10-year-old.

Go here to read the rest:
Mechanicsburg girl, 10, develops a board game to help her little sister understand the coronavirus - PennLive