Math Games

Today I got some of the floral arrangement glass beads to use as counters. The kids always want to play with them; and I, frankly, like playing with them, too. They make cool sounds and they feel cool. And they're pretty. I came up with a few games to practice math skills, and they were a hit!

First game: one of us would get a handful of the counters and put them in a small container (we used the lid to the container we keep the marble-things in). Then everyone grabs a handful and puts them in front of themselves.







You keep adding more or taking some away until you think you have the same amount. Then you count the middle, control pile. Then each person proceeds to count their own pile and see if they had more, less, or the same amount



 





This teaches a few different concepts, and probably some that I don't even realize. One is estimating (or at least one type of estimating). Two is greater than/less than. Three is taking turns. Four is even addition and subtraction (without numbers, and without calling it that) because we took the extra away if we had too many or added the amount we needed if we didn't have enough.

 

Game two (david made this one up): We put a bunch of counters in the middle then everyone grabbed as many as they could until they were gone. Then we counted them. It's good for practicing counting, which happens to be one of David's favorite things at the moment. He counted to 34 today. It was his first time past the twenties.

Game three: make the shape, or add or take away counters until we have the same amount as the control. I started out with seven counters in the shape of a flower. The kids got a handful of counters then made the shape. They then saw if they had too many or not enough. They would then put some back or get more until they could make the shape. This game taught them a lot of the same things as the first game, but it also taught them to see something then imitate it. Lily made one shape that was quite complex, so I helped David make it. But I showed him how we could count how many there were in a line to make sure we made it exactly the same.

I think we spent about 30 minutes playing these games, but the kids would have kept going for a while longer. Definitely time well spent.