Monday, March 14, 2011

We do the Monster Mash...


We have loved playing with this great new card game that Nana gave us.  It is a game made by Hallmark, and can be found at Hallmark stores.  I am not sure what the actual directions are, or how you are really supposed to play it, but we have made up our own way of making it into a fun math lesson.
We put one of each number in numerical order, 1-10 in a line to start.  During this process, I help or challenge him by asking questions like, "here's 7 what number comes before it, or what is a number that is greater/bigger than it?"

Once we have the number line in place, we put all remaining cards in a stack.  I flip a card and we both yell the number as fast as we can, then he places it in the right pile.


 When he tires of that, which takes quite a while, we count out items (pennies, beads, sequins, beans...) to give a tangible way to experience the numbers.  Doing this often helps children to "visualize" the numbers better, and attribute worth to each number.  He is able to "see" how many "10" is, and how many "3" is, and then recognizes that 10 is more than 3.



After giving worth to each number in the number line, we clear away all the beads, and I count out a certain amount, then he uses a paint stirrer (stick, or whatever will work) to match the pile of beads to its correct number, as seen in picture below.

Thank you Nana for this fantastic game!!!

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