Number Games (3-6)

Double Double Cross

Concepts covered: Place Value

Equipment: Dice (6 sided), paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “What are you hoping to roll?”; “Why did you cross this 5 out instead of that 5?”; “What would you do differently next time you play this game?”

Thanks to Paul Swan for creating this game.

Greater Than

Concepts covered: Place value, comparing/ordering numbers

Equipment: 0-9 dice (3 dice for 3 digit numbers, 4 dice for 4 digit numbers etc.), paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “What numbers can you make?”;  “Why did you choose to make ___?”;  “Why did you choose to place __ in that particular row?”;  “What are you hoping to roll?  Why?”;  “What would you do differently next time you play?”

Shout-out to Paul Swan for teaching me this game. 

Half, More or Less

Concepts covered: Fractions

Equipment: deck of cards, paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “What fractions can you make?”;  “Why did you choose to make ___?”;  “Can you prove that ___ is larger/smaller than a half?”; “What would you do differently next time you play?”

Shout-out to James Russo for creating this game. 

Just Gridding

Concepts covered: Place Value and addition

Equipment: Dice (10 sided), paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “What are you hoping to roll?”; “How did you work that out?”; “What would you do differently the next time you played?”

Thanks to Rob Vingerhoets for teaching me to play this game.

Make Me Whole

Concepts covered: Fractions, addition

Equipment: deck of cards, paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “What fractions can you make?”;  “Why did you choose to make ___?”;  “What card/s are you hoping to get?  Why?”;  “Can you prove to me that this makes a whole?”; “What would you do differently next time you play?”

Mastermind

Concepts covered: Place value

Equipment: Paper and pens…that’s it!

Good questions to ask while playing:  “Can you read that number?”; “How much is the 8 worth now?”; “Which is the largest/smallest number on our board?  How do you know?”; “How did you know the 7 went in the tens?”; “What would you do differently next time you play?”

Shout-out to Rob Vingerhoets for teaching me this game. 

Mathematical Unicorns

Concepts covered: Variety of concepts (e.g. even/odd, square numbers, prime numbers, greater than/less than etc.)

Equipment: Paper and pens, deck of cards

Good questions to ask while playing:  “Why did you choose to play that card?”;  “Is there another reason for the card you just played?”; “What would you do differently the next time that you played?”

Shout-out to Jen Bowden for providing the idea that helped us to create this game.

Nearest to One

Concepts covered: Fractions, addition

Equipment: deck of cards, paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “What fractions can you make?”;  “Why did you choose to make ___?”;  “What card/s are you hoping to get?  Why?”;  “What would you do differently next time you play?”

Shout-out to James Russo for creating this game. 

Place Value Knockout 2.0

Concepts covered: Place value, ordering numbers, chance/probability

Equipment: six-sided dice (3 dice for 3 digit numbers, 4 dice for 4 digit numbers etc.), counters/tokens, paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “What numbers can you make?”; “Why did you choose to make ___?”; “What are you hoping to roll?  Why?” (This is especially good to use if you get students to roll the dice one at a time); “What would you do differently next time you play?”

Shout-out to Paul Swan for teaching me this game.

Place Value Pebbles

Concepts covered: Place value, ordering numbers, chance/probability

Equipment: 2 x 0-9 dice (or deck of playing cards), paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “What numbers can you make?”; “How do you know that goes there?”; “What numbers might go between these  two pebbles?”; “What are you hoping to roll?  Why?” (This is especially good to use if you get students to roll the dice one at a time); “What would you do differently next time you play?”

Skip Counting Something

Concepts covered: Skip counting, patterns/algebra

Equipment: Deck of cards

Good questions to ask while playing:  “Why did you choose to make your middle number ___?”;  “What are you trying to skip-count by?”; “What card/s are you hoping to pick-up?”; “What would you do differently next time you play?”

Squeeze

Concepts covered: Place value, ordering numbers and probability

Equipment: six-sided dice (3 dice for 3 digit numbers, 4 dice for 4 digit numbers etc.), paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “What numbers can you make?”;  “Why did you choose to make ___?”;  “What are you hoping to roll?  Why?” (This is especially good to use if you get students to roll the dice one at a time);  “What would you do differently next time you play?”

Shout-out to Paul Swan for teaching me this game. 

Tumbling Towers

Concepts covered: Place value

Equipment: 0-9 dice (or deck of playing cards), paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “What numbers can you make?”; “Why did you decide to make __ instead of ?”; “Why did you decide to place __ there?”; “What card are you hoping to turn over?  Why?” (This is especially good to use if you get students to turn over one card at a time when they have one remaining spot on their tower)

Shout-out to Andrew Lorimer-Derham (Thinksquare) for creating this game.

Which One Doesn’t Belong

Concepts covered: Variety of concepts (e.g. even/odd, square numbers, prime numbers, greater than/less than etc.)

Equipment: Paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “Why did you choose ___?”;  “Is there another reason why ___ might not belong?”

Which One Doesn’t Belong 2.0

Concepts covered: Variety of concepts (e.g. even/odd, square numbers, prime numbers, greater than/less than etc.)

Equipment: Paper and pens, deck of cards, six-sided dice

Good questions to ask while playing:  “Is there another reason why ___ might not belong?”

Shout-out to Tricia Minter for helping us to create this game.