Tag Archives: numbers

Fun with math

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Math game for beginners

Everyone knows that learning is easier when you can make it a game. This is a fun and easy game to practice addition, subtraction and later multiplication and division. All you need are a few basic supplies and a child who needs a little math practice.

My Kindergartner quickly picked up addition once he understood numbers. It has been fun to watch and I am always trying new ways to challenge him. So, as soon as I saw that he was learning subtraction we pulled out some dice to have a math practice session for his homework. Seeing the dice immediately made it more fun for him and the great thing about using the dice is that the dots are visually there for him to add together or subtract from.

What You Need:

  • pencil
  • sheet of paper
  • 1 – 2 dice

Directions:

Step 1: On a piece of paper draw a few rows of this:
Math equations with blanks
Depending on the child, some may get overwhelmed with too many rows to do at a time. I started with four and then would add more on alternating addition and subtraction as needed.

Step 2: Have your child roll one die and write that number in the first spot. Then have them roll the second die (or the first one again if using one die) and write that number in the second blank on the line. If the row they are working on is subtraction and your child does not understand negative numbers, yet, make sure they put the larger number in the first spot. It is just easier that way. =-)

Step 3: Let your child solve the equation. I know it is hard as a parent to not jump in, but let them figure it out. Remind them that they can use the dots on the dice to help them.

I’ll admit that my son was a bit frustrated with the game the first 4 or 5 rows, but once he got the hang of it he was asking for a “few more lines” and was eagerly trying to teach his 4 year old sister how to play. I also learned that when it came to subtraction, it helped if I said “take away” in stead of “minus” or “subtraction”. (i.e. “What is 4 take away 2?”) We will work our way up to understanding those other terms.

Alternative: Once your child understands the game have them teach you. We have had some fun with him telling me what I should do and helping me figure out each equation.

Question: What is your favorite way to practice math?

Numbers, counting, and place value with Cheerios

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cupful

Sure. Kids can count. If they’ve memorized really well and “get” the pattern, they can count to a hundred! But do they know what all those numbers mean? When I realized that my son was easily reciting his numbers without the knowledge of place value (tens, hundreds, thousands) I pulled out the Cheerios (our favorite counting food) and several plastic cups.

Counting by tens

We placed a handful of Cheerios into the first cup and estimated the number of cereal pieces.

To find out how many Cheerios were in the cup, rather than straight counting, I challenged the boys. “Each cup can only hold 10 Cheerios. Let’s start by filling the first cup with 10.”

After we added 10 Cheerios to the first cup I explained that it was time to move on to cup two. We counted out another 10 and found there were 6 left over. Then we counted by tens: 10… 20… plus 6 is 26 Cheerios!

What is 100?

Of course, the boys wanted to get to 100, so we continued to add Cheerios to each cup in groups of 10. They realized as they counted by tens that we’d need 10 cups to have 100 Cheerios. Quickly they could envision “how much is 100.” They also quickly mastered counting to 100 by tens.

Moving on to bigger numbers

counting bigger numbers

Of course, they weren’t finished yet, as they next wanted to envision one thousand. Rather than putting out 100 tens cups, we counted by hundreds to 1000. Realizing that we’d need 10 more groups of 10 cups, we opted to pour all 100 Cheerios into one larger cup (in our case, a pitcher) and called that our hundreds cup. We traced the hundreds cup onto paper 10 times to show 1000 Cheerios.

Next, we added a few more Cheerios into the hundreds cup without counting! (oops!) We estimated our Cheerios again and divided them into tens cups. Because we had a few more cheerios this time, we knew we’d need more cups and added them until we found we had 142 Cheerios, needing 14 cups with 2 left over Cheerios.

There are endless ways to learn math through cereal pieces (and other small foods.) What are some ways you use food to teach and learn?

Garbage: The Counting Game

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Fun Number Game

Garbage is a fun game my five-year-old son learned at school and helped teach his sister. It is a fun way to reinforce the numbers 1 through 10 and help practice number recognition. I have also created a short video below to help demonstrate it.

What You Need:

  • 1 pack of playing cards
  • 1 eager player

Guidelines:

Ace = 1
2-10 = the number on the card
Jack/Queen/King/Joker = Garbage
10 cards will always be in front of the player
You will need 1 draw pile and 1 discard “Garbage” pile

Directions:

Set up 10 cards face down in front of the player. All extra cards become the draw pile.

Draw one card from the Draw Pile. If the card is 1 through 10, place the card in it’s specific number spot and then pick up that card and place it in it’s number spot until a card is needed to go to the Garbage; then a new card is drawn. If at any time a Jack, Queen, King, or Joker is drawn, or any other number that has already been placed, it goes into the Garbage pile.

For example, if a 2 is drawn, pick up the second card of the 10 cards face down. The 2 card takes its place face up. Then the card in the 2s spot is picked up and becomes the next card to be placed in its specific place. If the card is a number that already has a card face up in its appropriate number spot, it will go to the discard pile and a new card is drawn from the draw pile. Continue on until all 10 cards have been turned.

Once all 10 cards are turned, the game is won!

Here is our short demonstration video. It should give you a good start.

Beans and Straws Make Counting Fun

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Game for the whole family

We have a favorite family game that we have played for a few years with M&Ms and shake straws. The only problem with this game is that younger children do not have the lung strength to play. It was not until I visited my son’s kindergarten class that I learned an alternative. His teacher taught me a similar game that we could play at home that used beans and regular straws, which is easier for the younger children to use. Genius! We have been having a lot of fun with it over the past couple of weeks.

Supplies Needed

  • Dried beans
  • A cup for every person playing, or one for each team
  • 1 straw for each player (regular sized straws)
  • 1 die/dice (optional)
  • 1 pie tin for the die to roll in (not pictured, but highly recommended to keep the die contained)
  • 1 large bowl for the beans (especially helpful when playing with a large group, but not necessary for smaller groups)

Object

Using the straw, suck as many beans from the pile as possible before another player rolls a 3. Once all the beans are gone from the pile, the player with the most beans wins.

Rules

  1. No touching anything other than the straw and your cup when sucking the beans up (i.e. do not have one hand holding the beans in place while trying to suck up the beans).
  2. You must roll a 3 (or other chosen number) in order for your turn to start sucking up the beans with the straw.
  3. The only way to transfer the beans from the bowl to your cup is by sucking with the straw. (NO HANDS!)

Directions

First, let the younger children playing get a chance to practice before the game begins.

Once you are ready to begin, pass around the pie tin with the die to the left. Each player rolls. The first player to get a 3 can start sucking beans with their straw.

The person to the left of the “Bean Sucker” then gets the die. Each player keeps passing the die along to the left until another player rolls a 3, and then it is that player’s turn and the current “Bean Sucker” stops sucking. The “Bean Sucker” does not roll the die while it is their turn to be snagging beans.

Keep repeating until all the beans are gone!

Once the game is over, it is fun to let everyone count their beans. A little practice never hurt anyone, right?

One of my favorite things about this game is the faces…

Love it!

This is not a fancy video, but if you are a visual person, this will help!