Math Games!

Here are some pictures of the first few math games we have learned this year. I have also included directions for each of these games. Most can be easily adapted to play at home to reinforce foundational math skills. 

Monster Squeeze
Sample Directions:

1. The leader chooses a number (5) as a mystery number and says "I am thinking of a number between 0 and 9. What is my number?"
2. Two children are bracket holders (We call the brackets monsters). One child covers the 0, while the other child covers the 9. 
3. The leader calls on someone to make a guess. The child guesses 7. The leader says: No, my number is smaller than (or less than) 7. The right bracket is then moved to cover the 7. 
4. Another child guesses 4. The leader says that the mystery number is greater than 4. The left bracket is then moved to cover the 4. 
5. Children continue to guess. Eventually, the mystery number will be "squeezed" between the two brackets. The child who guesses the mystery number will become the next leader.

*This game could be played with just you and your child, and could be done without the number line if your child is ready. If not, you can play it on a number line using pennies as the "brackets". The leader can move both pennies as needed. 


Penny-Dice

1. Put 20 pennies in a pile.
2. Take turns with your partner rolling a die and picking up as many pennies are indicated by the die. 
3. Continue until all pennies have been picked up.
4. To pick up the last penny, the number on the die must match the number of pennies remaining. 
5. The player with more pennies at the end of the game is the winner.

Bunny-Hop

1. Each player needs a number line and a bunny marker. Players take turns rolling the die and moving the bunny the number of spaces shown on the die.
2. Both players hop to the carrot at the end of the number line--20--by rolling the exact number. Then they hop back to the bunny's hole--0--by rolling the exact number.
3. The first player to get to the carrot and back to the bunny hole wins.

*This game is played on a specific number line with a carrot and bunny hole. You could adapt this with any number line and simply roll a dice to make it to the end and back. Playing to 20 works well. 

Top-It

1. Each player takes a card from the top of the pile, turns it over, and says the number on the card.
2. The player who has the larger number takes both cards.
3. If the two cards show the same number, each player takes another card from the top of the pile. The player with the larger number then takes all of the cards facing up.
4. The game is over when all of the cards have been taken. The player with more cards wins.

*We play this game with a deck of cards 0-20. You could make your own cards to play at home.