Focus on the Fish: Count and Stop

About the Focus Game “Focus on the Fish: Count and Stop”

“Focus on the Fish: Count and Stop” is an educational number-based online game inspired by the cormorant story from “The Book About Birds, Part 1”. In the book, the Little Book Bird and the Wise Owl meet cormorants – attentive and restrained hunters that do not act in haste and stop at exactly the right moment. This idea of stopping with precision became the basis for the third game in the cormorant series. Here, the challenge is not only to count correctly, but also to end the action at exactly the moment the condition has been met – without racing against the clock or dealing with timer pressure.

How the Game Works

A task appears on the playing field: “catch” a specified number of fish showing the target number, then press the “Done” button once the condition has been met. Fish with numbers then appear on the screen. The player needs to select only those that match the task, keep count, and stop when exactly the required number has been collected. Success depends not only on counting correctly, but also on avoiding an extra selection after the target has already been reached.

What Does the Game Develop?

Attention & Concentration

Memory

Observation & Visual Discrimination

Self-Regulation & Impulse Control

During each task, the child has to keep two pieces of information in mind at the same time: which number to look for and how many matching fish need to be collected. Among the fish on the screen, they must notice only those that meet the condition, ignore other numbers, and update the count after every selection. The most important moment comes when the required number has already been reached: the familiar “see it – tap it” response is no longer appropriate, and the child has to deliberately stop and press “Done”. This is why the game combines accurate counting with holding a rule in mind, selective attention, and the need to inhibit an automatic response at exactly the right moment.

Game Details

• Game type: focus game.
• Access: this game is free to play and does not require an account or email activation.
• Works on: this game works in modern browsers on phones and tablets. No installation is required.
• Book connection: “The Book About Birds, Part 1”

“Focus on the Fish: Count and Stop” is the third game in the cormorant series. The first game, “Focus on the Fish: Find the Right Number”, is built around finding a target number; the second, “Focus on the Fish: Greater or Less”, is built around comparing numbers; and the third adds another condition: the player must not only find and count, but also stop at the right moment. In this way, one cormorant story continues through several different ways of interacting with numbers.

From story to action. From action to play. From play to new adventures.