THINGS TO DO Read, read, and read some more Doodle: create a mark with pencils, crayons, or markers. Pass it on to another to continue the drawing. Creative marks can spark ideas for writing. What does it look like? What does it do? Is it something alive? Where does it live? Let your ideas flow!
Go Fish (standard) and Go Fish for 10: Standard Go Fish is a great game for practice in identifying numbers to 10. Go Fish for 10 is a modification that helps students practice the pairs of numbers that add to 10. To play, remove 10’s and face cards. Shuffle the remaining cards and deal 5 cards to each player. On their turn, a player names a card that they have and asks another player for a card that will make 10. For example, a player may say, “I have a 6. Do you have a 4?”
Cross Out: Each player will write the numbers 2-12 on a piece of paper. On a turn, a player rolls 2 dice, adds numbers and crosses out the sum. The first person to cross out all sums wins. You can extend this game to allow multiple ways to “cross out” a number. If a student rolls a sum of 10, they could cross out 10, or 4 and 6, or 7 and 3, etc. The game could also include 3 dice and students can use a combination of addition and subtraction to arrive at numbers.
War or Top it: This traditional game is great for reinforcing quantity discrimination and can be played at many different levels. Remove the face cards from a regular deck of cards. Shuffle the remaining cards and deal equal piles to each player. Players each turn over a card. The higher card wins and takes both cards. Continue playing until one player has all of the cards.
Variations: *Each player turns over 2 cards. Add to find the sum. Largest sum takes all the cards. Older children can select three or four cards and can also use two or three cards and multiply them to find the product. *Each player turns over 2 cards. Subtract! Smallest difference takes all of the cards. *Your child can make 2 sets of number cards from 0-20 (use index cards) * Use dice instead of cards. Players roll 2 or 3 dice. Add together and compare sums. The largest sum receives one point. Play to 10. *Reinforce place value by rolling 2 dice and making the largest number possible. For example, if a 2 and 3 are rolled, students can either make 23 or 32. Largest number receives one point. Play to 10.
Board Games: Playing path games, such as Candy Land or Sorry, helps students with 1:1 correspondence and quantity. Moving on the game board mimics hopping or sliding on a number line, and is a great skill to reinforce. Many count 1 for the space they are on. Remind your child that the first hop or slide is counted as 1.
Tic Tac Toe exercises strategy! Play 20 Questions, it’s great for language and problem-solving. Be creative. From baking to building there’s so much conversation and learning to be had.
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