Junk Mail to Gameboard

Place Value - Disney

Ones - Tens - Hundreds Places

Sorry that this is blurry. I didn't realize it until I uploaded it and, of course, it was now too late since it had all been torn apart.

Here is the junk mail we received to join a Disney video club. We get packets like this regularly. So I decided it was time to actually use this for more than letting the three year old have fun with the stickers.

Using a couple punches I have, I got these pictures off the informational pages. I will use them to be the theme of the game.

Sorry this is also a little blurry. I will have to be more careful.

There was a page of stickers. These were the movies that could be chosen. I will use them for the spaces along the path. At first, I thought I would cut off the numbers, but changed my mind. We will use the numbers for another type of game. (see below.)

Here are the stickers and the punched pictures forming the path. 

Thinking that the gameboard path looked a little difficult to follow, I added some simple lines to make the path clearer to follow.

GENERIC GAMEBOARD - Using this as a generic gameboard was my first intention and it will work well for almost any skill. I think younger children will enjoy seeing some of their favorite Disney characters and movies along the path.

PLACE VALUE DISNEY - Following the format of Duck Pond we will drill the ones, tens, and hundreds places using the numbers on the movie stickers. All I needed to add were a number to the START space (I chose the 3-digit number 123) and a spinner. The spinner will have just 3 spaces on it instead of four like shown on the Duck Pond game.

This means we all have to look at "junk mail" a little differently from now on. There are game possibilities everywhere we look. 

The Alligator Game - Greater or Less Than

To compare decimals, fractions & percent

However...it would be great for any skill that requires comparing of numbers...

I used a blue file folder, added a picture of an alligator, and white circle stickers as a path. On the path spaces I wrote the signs for greater than, less than, and equals.

WHY AN ALLIGATOR? Our math book should a cute little bird with its open mouth. The greater than or less than sign was the birds mouth.

The open end of the greater than or less than sign is always towards the larger number. However, the year I made this I had a large percent of boys in my class and when I mentioned an alligator's open mouth, I got their attention...LOL...so the alligator on our gameboard!

To play, a player will draw a card, decide the relationship of the first number to the second and move to the next space with the appropriate symbol.

The cards have things like: .4 ___ .04, .71 _____.8, etc...for
decimal practice.

Another set of cards I made had: 3/4 ____ 3/12, 4/6
___2/3, etc. for fractions.

This board could be used for so many other math skills as well. For example:

1 week ______ 8 days

17 ounces _____ 1 pound

3.75 ____ 3 3/4

1.5 ____ 150%

IV ______ X

5 + 4 ______ 3 + 6

59 - 17 _____ 47 - 5

Or even for other classes:

Population of Texas _____Population of Wisconsin

Length of robin ______ length of gold finch

Revolutionary War ______ Civil War (The children had the open end to the later date.) This is a great way to help them get events in order without having to necessarily remember exact dates. So they would read their card as "Revolutionary War was earlier or before (rather than later than or after) the Civil War.


ANSWER KEY: To make it so children could play without a parent/teacher, provide an answer key. However, I preferred to just write the correct answer on the reverse of the question card. The question cards were in the pile, face up. After a child gave the response, the card could be turned over to verify the answer. This saves from lost answer keys, and is a much easier way of checking. 

There is a cute little song on YouTube that can be used when introducing Greater Than/Less Than. Check out the Number Eating Alligator Song.

Duck Pond - A Place Value Game

Recognizing the value of digits by their place can be so much fun with a game. Here is an easy-to-make game that the boys enjoyed playing.

  The darling ducks and pond were cut from a child's workbook...the type you can buy at many stores. Yes, I do buy books to cut. I find that many are better cut up and made into games that the children will play over and over. Some times the children will do the pages and then I cut them up. I also get some great deals on books for my cutting box at garage sales...even in FREE boxes. Workbooks that are used often still have a few great pictures to use.

 The spaces are 3/4" stickers that can be purchased at most office stores or in office supply departments at stores like WalMart. A friend of mine and I were doing some scrapbooking and she showed me some new punches she had got a great package deal on at a garage sale. I went nuts when I saw one that was a 3/4" circle punch. Eileen was so generous, she gave me the punch. Now I can make perfect sized circles from any of my colored scrap paper. Now I have seen these punches at many crafting stores and I would certainly recommend getting one. You would save the price quickly by not having to purchase these circle stickers anymore...and have the great versatility being able to use all your colored paper scraps. 

 The spaces are labelled with a variety of numbers from one-digit numbers to four-digit numbers. (You could add more digit numbers to the circles for more advanced play. You would also add greater values to the spinner if you did this.)

The game needs a simple spinner. Here I made a square one, then divided it into 4 segments. Label the segments with the appropriate place values being drilled. Now that I have the wonderful clear plastic spinners, I no longer have to attach an arrow to each spinner I make. This spinner was made before I found these great plastic spinners, so I simply removed the arrow I had attached. (These arrows often get bent and often do not spin well.) I now can use the clear plastic one, simply attaching it with a paper fastener before we start the game. (Now we have perfect working spinners every time.)

 Now to play:

Players place their selected game piece on the first numbered space. Then they spin the spinner and find out what place value they are to identify. 

Notice that 602 is the number on our first space. SO...if the player spins "hundreds," he would state that the "6" is in the hundreds place and he would get to move his game piece six spaces. If he were to spin "tens," he would not get to move as there is a zero in the tens place. He also would not get to move this turn if he were to spin "thousands" as there is no digit in the thousands place. 

NOTE: When you are writing the numbers on the spaces, be sure to use a variety of numbers. Including several zeros also adds to the fun of the play. I didn't use too many larger digits (using mostly 1, 2, and 3) so to keep the number of spaces a player moves to a minimum. But putting a few larger digits in adds to the excitement. One of the children's favorite spaces is the "900" one. It is hard to get off this space as you have to spin "hundreds." But, when you finally do, you get to move NINE spaces.

 While Douglas, 8, does not need the drill of this game, he still loves to play it with Charles because knowledge and skill have nothing to do with winning the game. It is all a matter of the "luck of the spin." The fun spaces with zeros, missing digits, and the few higher digits make the game fun to play.

I love games that the boys can enjoy playing together and does not need my input. Since Douglas knows place values well, no answer key is needed. But Charles likes playing with Douglas because he still has an equal chance of winning the game.