Hunting Bear - Liquid Measurements Game

 

Sometimes the biggest secret in making a successful educational game is the THEME. This game sounds like it is about hunting bears. Charles LOVES hunting and dreams of hunting big game. So designing this game around a picture of a bear, tracking, and naming it "Hunting Bear" -- I had him "trapped." He was so excited to play. Of course it helped that I had the board out yesterday, but had not found the cards....so the excitement built for him. He could hardly wait to finish his math lessons so we could play the game.

The board was so simple to make. I used a brown file folder. I had some animal tracks stamps and used the one for a bear since I also had the cute notepad of bear papers.

I simply stamped a path of the bear tracks. Notice I added a little green to some and red to others. When a player lands on one of these spaces they either lose a turn (red) or get an extra turn (green). When fun spaces like this are added to a game, the play becomes more fun. It also levels the play. Luck becomes a big part in determining the winner - not just skill level. 

 

 There are two decks of cards for this game. One simply has "cups," "gallons," "quarts," "ounces," or "pints" on the cards. I added to bear track stamp just to keep to the theme.

I cover cards with clear Contact paper. I often cover the backsides of the cards with decorative Contact paper just to make them prettier.

The second deck has these types of amounts on them. 

Notice that I used different colored paper and different decorative Contact paper to make the decks easier to sort.

To play, a player would draw one card from each deck. Then he would change the measurement on the yellow cards into the unit on the brown card he drew.

For example, if the yellow card is "1 gallon" and the brown card is "pints," the answer would be "8 pints."

Then the player would spin a spinner, or toss a die to determine how far he gets to move.

 We use the same answer key and the "Gallon Ruler" manipulative that we used with "Home is a Lily Pad."

Home is a Lily Pad - Liquid Measure Equivalents

 

Charles, 6, is learning liquid measures, their abbreviations, and equivalents. Here is a game I made several years ago when teaching this concept in the classroom.

 Using games provides a great time for Douglas, 8, to review this information. 

The board was made from a blue filefolder. I happened to have this pad of cute frog papers handy so it became the theme of the game. I cut a lily pad shape from green paper to be the finish space. The spaces along the path are 3/4" green stickers. 

 

On each space is written: gal., qt., pt., c., or oz. There are also about 4 spaces where I punched the sticker with a flower punch I had (having scrapbooking materials around is a great asset to gamemaking). I used the punched-out pieces as further decorations along the path.

 


Two spinners were made. One with the numbers 1-3 and the other with gal., qt., pt., and c. I love using these clear plastic spinners. I simple lay them on top of whatever I have drawn. Place a paper fastener to hold them in place and presto! a spinner that works well every time. When we are finished playing the plastic spinners are removed and stored with our game pieces to be used with other games. 

The Gallon Ruler is a great visual for the children while they play this game.  I think the picture shows how I made it. The divisions, fractions, calculations all help the children find the equivalents whether comparing smaller to larger or larger to smaller.

To play the game, the player spins both spinners. Then he asks himself a question based on the spins and the space his game piece is currently sitting on. For example: he spins "3" and "gal." and his piece is on "pt." The question he would ask is "How many pints are in three gallons?" If he gives the correct answer, he moves his game piece 3 spaces (the number spun).

Even though I made the "Gallon Ruler" to help the children figure things out, I do encourage them to use their math skills. Charles is learning multiplication, so I let him have paper to multiply when it will obtain the answer for him. As we talk through the problems, I think it gives the children a good understanding of the story problems, equivalents, and situations they will have come up in their math and in life.

Notice how excited Charles is. I wish I could say he was always this enthusiastic about his math. He just landed on one of the tulip spaces. It was the second time he did this game. Our rule is that anyone who lands on that space gets a special spin. On his next turn, he only has to spin the number spinner. He does not have to actually "do any math."  But it is fun things like this that make a game more exciting to the children and get them wanting to play again and again.

 I have made an answer key which makes it possible for the boys to play the game without me there to make sure that answers are correct. They each check the sheet when the other gives a response.

Division Cube Bingo

Charles is learning his 3 multiplication and division tables. Here is a fun game that helps him drill the division by 3 facts.

Douglas (8) plays with Charles (6).

Each player is given a set of cards with the numbers 1 - 12 on them. They are placed face-up in front of the player. 

 

Two education cubes are filled with cards. These cards are the multiples of three.

 In turn, a player chooses one of the cubes and tosses it. He then identifies the quotient if that number is divided by three.

 

 He turns over this number in his row of cards.

 The first player to successfully turn over all the cards in his row is the winner. Douglas knows his division tables well, so no answer key was needed.

Charles kept one of the THREE SPEED! cards handy to help him figure out answers when he was unsure. Soon he will not need this help but it builds his confidence for now.