Family Math Night Parent Packet
Playing math games with your child can be as easy as reading a book with them. By choosing simple games that require minimal material, you and your child can approach math in a new, more exciting way. You will be pleasantly surprised how much fun you both can have!
Race To… 10¢, 50¢, $1.00 Materials: A die, coins, paper to keep track of money How to Play:
Grades K-2 Picture Place Value Materials: Paper, pencil, crayons How to play: • Choose two items that are easy to draw like hearts and circles • Decide what value each shape has, for example circle =1 and heart =10 • Write a number and have your child draw the number using the shape values • For more of a challenge, choose a third item that will represent 5 Ex: 12 = 23 = adapted from US Department of Education. Helping your child learn math. 1992
• For younger players use only lower value coins, older children can use all coins
Guess My Number
• Explain that the winner is the one who gets to the amount you agreed on in the beginning of the game.
Materials: Paper and a pencil
• Each player takes a turn rolling the die and taking that amount of money.
How to Play:
• Younger players might choose to take five pennies instead of a nickel, which is fine.
• On the paper make a column for guess and a column for clue.
• Older players can be guided to trade in lower coins for higher ones. Example: two nickels for a dime, etc. adapted from US Department of Education. Helping your child learn math. 1992
• Think of a number between 1 and 100 (50 for younger ones).
• When your child guesses a number write it in the guess column then write whether it is too big or too small. • Continue to do this until your child narrows down choices and gets to the right number. adapted from Downie, D. Math for Girls and other problem solvers. 1981
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Grades 3-8 Function Machines
Rolling Of The Dice
Materials: Paper and pencil In 2 6 9 4
How to Play: • Make two columns on your paper, at the top of one write in and at the top of the other write out. • Fill the in column with some numbers.
Materials: a pair of dice, pencil and paper
Out 5 9 12 ?
How to Play: • Take turns rolling the dice. • Add the numbers on the dice to get a total. • Find as many ways possible to get that total using any combination of operations and numbers
• Think of an operation, (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) that you will do to the in numbers to get to an out number.
• Cross off any possibilities that appear on both sides.
• Have your child look at the set of numbers and try to figure out what is happening to the in numbers, that is causing the resulting out number.
The player with the most possibilities wins.
• EXAMPLE – the rule is add 3.
Example: you roll and get a 6 as a total. 5+1, 4+2, 9-3, 2x3, 6/1, (14-10) + 2, (9x6)/9
Activities in this section are adapted from Downie, D. Math for Girls and other problem solvers. 1981
Multiplication/Division Madness 3 players (you can also do addition/subtraction) Materials: a deck of cards (Jacks, Queens and Kings can be used for older players as 11,12 and 13)
• The caller calls out the product of the two cards without saying what the cards are
How to play:
• By looking at the opposite player’s card which is displayed on their forehead each person needs to try and figure out which card is on her own forehead
• Deal the deck evenly between two players • Two of the players sit facing each other with their stack of cards in front of them face down. • The third person - The Caller - sits to the side of the two players but somewhere that will allow her to see each player’s face. • Each player picks up a card without looking at it and places it on his forehead for the opposite player to see.
• The first player to call out his own card wins both cards. • If a player calls out the wrong number, she must wait for the other player to take a guess before she can get another chance. Example: player one has a 4 on their forehead; player two has a 3 on their forehead. The caller says “12.” By looking at player two’s card, player one needs to think to himself, what number times 3 gives me 12 or 12 divided by 3 gives me what number.
13 Ways To Half Ask for a worksheet to complete this activity. 3
Š2011 Catapult Learning
CL11193-F