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.

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.

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.

Spiders for Math

I went to Dollar Store. We don't celebrate halloween, however...I found some neat little things we could use. The orange tray is an silicone ice cube tray that will make little pumpkin shapes. The spiders came in a package of 50. Put these together, add dice, and you have a great math manipulative. 

Addition
Charles is working on adding columns of numbers and writing number sentences. So we made it a little game. Each of us has a tray. We each take a turn by shaking the die and adding that number of orange spiders to our tray. On our second turn, we collect black spiders. We are trying to get exactly 10 spiders in our tray. So if the number we shake is too high and we don't have enough room for that many spiders, we simply lose our turn. After our tray is full, we have to write our number sentences. By alternating between orange and black spiders, it is easy to see the numbers we have added. (Above Charles has 5 + 1 + 4 = 10.)

Our number sentences could be as simple as 6 + 4 = 10 if we have had some lucky shakes. Or it could take a number of turns and be 3 + 2 + 1 + 4 = 10. 

This game was actually much too easy for Charles, but he enjoyed the attention of being the first one to use the new spiders.

I will have to play this game with Jacob and Wesley this week for their math time. They need practice writing their numbers so it will work well for practicing that.

It will also work well for showing the boys the combinations possible for making ten.

Counting

I will also use it with the little ones for counting. Diana and Aaron will enjoy shaking the die and adding spiders to the tray and counting their collection.

All in all, this was a good buy...a fun math manipulative for $3 (two trays and a bag of spiders). Thank you, Dollar Store!