Poor Piggy - Counting Pennies

Poor Piggy plays like Old Maid. 

The Cards:

On white paper I drew out a pattern for the cards. I drew the piggy banks with numbers on 10 cards. The Poor Piggy card has no money slot, so he doesn't match up with any coins. The coin cards were stamped using penny coin stamp I purchased years ago at a teacher's store.

Years ago I did this on white paper as an original so I could xerox it on colored cardstock for myself and to be able to share the game with others. How technology has changed!

I found these card holders in a card game at a garage sale. I was so excited to get four of them for only 50 cents. They are much higher to purchase separately.

To Play:

After the cards are shuffled, they are all dealt out to the players. One player will have more cards than the other, but that is OK.

Players sort their cards making all pairs they can and setting them aside.

 It is often easier for young players to place all their cards face up on the table to help them find their pairs.

 Wesley took a little time making his pairs.

Players can either hold the remaining cards in their hands or use one of the handy card holders.

In turn, players draw one card from the other player and match it to the pair in their hand. They then set this pair aside with their other matches.

 OOOOOOOOOOOPS! Douglas drew Poor Piggy. So he just mixes it with the other cards in his holder and hopes that Wesley will draw it back.

Wesley drew a penny card. After learning how many pennies, he will match it to its piggy bank card and set them aside.

 Douglas drew and made this match.

Oh, no! Wesley, don't draw that card. 

But he did and Douglas made the last match, leaving Wesley with the Poor Piggy. Since we didn't make a big deal of this, Wesley was quite pleased to have the Poor Piggy and Douglas was happy knowing he had won.

Fun game. Easy to make. Good learning. SUCCESS!

Easy as Pie - Fractions

Here is a fun game for introducing fractions or seeing how fractions are equivalent.

To Make:

Cut two large circles and two large squares to be the playing boards. Set these aside. Now cut 3 more of each. All circles should be the same size. It is nice to have these each be a different color. Cut one of these circles into half, one into thirds, and one into sixths. Cut the squares (all the same size) into half, quarters, and eighths. Write the fractions on each piece.

Cut an additional circle to be the spinner. Divide it into eight sections and mark them as shown in the picture. We like to use a clear plastic spinner laid on top and fastened with a brad instead of adding an arrow to the spinner. This plastic spinner works so well. We take it off when the game is over so we can use it on the spinners we have for other games. We got a package of three of these at our local teacher store for about $6. They are well worth the price!!!

To Play:

Each player starts with a blank playing circle and square. The object of the game is to fill each with fractional pieces. 

The fractional pieces have been sorted into piles in the center of play.  In turn, a player spins the spinner and collects the indicated piece. He adds it to his circle or square. If he can't use the piece because he no longer has enough room for it, his turn is over. 

 

If the spinner says he must give back one piece, he selects any piece he wishes and returns it to the center.

Some other possibilities: If a child should spin a fraction and there are no longer any of the indicated pieces in the center, he may collect EQUIVALENT pieces. For example, he spins 1/3 and these pieces are all in use. He may instead collect two 1/6 pieces. We take pieces and lay them on top of each other to help players see that they are equivalent. 

The first player to completely fill both his circle and his square is the winner.

Speed War - Multiplication

This simple game can be played with a standard deck of cards (face cards removed). I have lots of decks of cards that I have made. The deck we are playing with for this game is one I have had around for a long time. I am not sure where I got it. It has the numbers 0 to 10 which is perfect for Speed War.

After the deck is shuffled, the deck is divided into two equal piles. Players place their cards face down on the table. Both players turn over their top card at the same time. Players try to be the first to shout the answer to multiplying the two cards. The first to give the correct answer claims both cards. 

Play continues until all the cards are claimed by one player...or, as we do with this deck as it is larger than most decks, until players have gone through their stacks one time.

Another note from the way we choose to play: If a player shouts out an incorrect product, he can not give another answer. So the second player can take as much time as he needs to think of the correct product.

Hint: I turn my card over first so the child can see it and think about what times table he is in. Then the child can turn his over. If he turns it toward himself which is the most natural way to turn a card, he gets to see it before I do and it gives him a fraction more time.  

If the child I am playing with is slower at multiplication, I hesitate a couple seconds before I give an answer. I like the child to win about half the time. I want him to win enough to keep him encouraged, but not so much that he thinks he has multiplication mastered - I want him to know he has to keep working to get faster. As he gains in his speed, I decrease my hesitation.

Douglas loves this game. He loves time with me playing a game. He also loves the fast action of the game.

Douglas always wants to know for sure who won...so he compares our piles of claimed cards. 

Make 15 - Column Addition

Charles needs drill adding columns of numbers so this is a perfect game for him. Douglas, like most children, can also use practice with addition. This fun game gave us a good time together while they got some math drill.

The deck of card has been around for a long time, so I am not sure where I got it. I did cover it with clear Contact paper on the front and a patterned Contact paper on the back to make the deck pretty. The cards are numbers 0 - 10. For this game we have taken the zeros out. The deck is shuffled and five cards are dealt to each player with the remaining cards becoming the draw pile.  Four cards from the draw pile are used to begin the four playing piles in the center of play.

In turn, a player may play one card to any pile. He adds the number value of the card he is playing to the cards already in the pile. He is attempting to create a pile that equals 15 (or any other previously agreed upon number). If his number makes the pile hit exactly 15, he collects the entire pile and sets it aside as his captured cards. He then takes a card from the draw pile to begin a new playing pile. He also draws another card to add to his hand so he always has five cards. Play then passes to the next player.

A player may not place a card that would make a pile go over the goal number. If all his cards are too high he would do one of the following options. Which one should be an agreed upon rule before play starts.

 1. He may simply lose his turn.

 2. She may place 1 - 5 cards at the bottom of the draw pile and draw new cards. If one of these plays, 

     she may play it like her normal turn. If none of these plays, she loses her turn.

Captured cards may be counted when the draw pile is depleted and all players have played all cards that they are able to play. Player with the most captured cards would be the winner.

The boys simply stacked ours and were able to determine the winner. Grandma collected the most cards. Hurray for Grandma!

Read more Cards for Math 
There are more ideas for using cards to drill math.

Golf Tee Count

Here is a Golf Tee game made for little ones. For this one I have cut the holes using one of my scrapbooking templates. This way the holes are big enough for little fingers, so no need to use golf tees or other pointy objects.

The pictures used to make the cards were cut from preschool workbooks like you can buy at many stores. Some have the numbers printed next to the pictures because the child was to circle the correct number. By making them into a game instead, the child can play and play until she has learned all the numerals.

 The child counts the animals, and finds the correct number.

Then she sticks her finger in the hole next to the number.

Now she can easily turn the card over and check her answer.

The hole with the correct answer has been marked on the back. For some reason Diana called it a "cauliflower." But she got good drill on recognizing her numbers.

Education Cubes - Just for Fun

Aaron is a builder. Whenever we have the cubes out, he HAS to build. Usually it is tall towers, but today he had Diana helping him just line them all up. It is a good thing that I knew we would use these cubes a lot and I bought 5 sets of them!

 Aaron does the building!

 Diana helps.

Both are happy with the results.

Education Cubes - More Math Skills

Some more math skills we covered today with the Education Cubes are reading numbers to 99, comparing which are higher and lower, and reading number words. We also talked about terms like more and less, larger and small, and greater and less.

Reading Number Words  

Jacob and Wesley are new readers. Jacob is working on short vowel words. Wesley has learned long vowels. But number words like one, two, and four must be learned as sight words at this time. So we drill these words with the Education Cubes.

Reading Larger Numbers

The cards have numbers from 1 to 99 on them. I have made lots of cards so we change the numbers in the cubes each time we play. One game we play is simply tossing the cube and reading the number that you threw.

Then we play that they both toss a cube and read their numbers. Then we have to decide which number is larger. Then we switch and play which number is smaller. I make sure that we keep using all the possible terms like: larger, smaller, bigger, littlest, greater, higher, lower, etc.

Sometimes the tossing of the cubes gets a little wild, especially with these two. Another great benefit of these SOFT cubes...no bonked heads...LOL.

We really love using these cubes for math!

Education Cubes - Colors

Charles is helping Diana and Aaron with their colors. He shows a color and states its name. He tells them to find more of this color on another cube. Here he showed them "blue." Diana found hers after flipping her cube around quite a bit. It was hiding on the side and she was only turning the cube one way. Jacob found "blue," but then lost it.

So Big Brother Jacob comes to his rescue and helps. I love how the children love to help the younger ones.

 Now he found it and he is so proud!

I found the cute bear cut outs at Building Blocks, our local teacher store. They made this game so cute and easy to make.

Education Cubes - Time & Dimes

Wesley, who will be 5 in 2 months, and Jacob, who turned 5 in September, love to use the Education Cubes.

They are learning to tell time. Here we are working with time to the hour. We play with the cubes in a couple different ways.

First they took turns shaking one of the cubes and telling the time that landed on the top.

Then, I ask "Who has one o'clock?" They flipped their cube around until one of them shouted,

"I found it!"  

"I have four o'clock."

Dimes and Counting by 10

The cubes spaces are filled with cards stamped with dimes. The boys are learning to count by 10's and to recognize dimes.

Wesley counts 60 cents.

Jacob counts 30 cents.