Pick up sticks and dominoes

This evening I spent half and hour playing dominoes and pick up sticks with my 5 year old daughter, Bronya. What fun we had! And what a great opportunity for using some of Bronny's mathematical skills and knowledge. Playing dominoes she was able to recognize number patterns, count, compare numbers (using language like same, more, less....and realizing more means I WIN!) and make patterns (its amazing what you can make with dominoes while still sticking to the rules!). The pick up sticks involved making choices, having strategies to solve problems, counting and applying rules related to balance and points of contact (lines, intersections, weight, perspectives). Fascinating watching children apply what they know, listening to their self talk and making assumptions about what we think they are thinking when they are doing rather than saying!

Games offer a wonderful opportunity to teach mathematical skills as these old photos of my children show.

Jo

Past Numeracy and Literacy Newsletters for your reference

Snap!

Bronya, my nearly 5 year old (9 weeks to go!), pulled out her cards today and I was invited to play a game of SNAP!. Such a simple game but loads of fun and laughter always abounds with it I've found. Anyway I got to thinking about the mathematical value in playing this game for young children. I came up with the following list of ways children's mathematical skills are developed and have identified the mathematical ideas that emerge from these:

# distributing cards evenly between players when they deal (sharing evenly is the basis of division)

# turning over one card at a time and turn-taking in a specific order which is repetitive (counting, ordinal numbers (i.e 1st, 2nd, 3rd,...),patterns)

# doing lots of comparing of things and seeing if they match with the next card (same, different, 1 to 1 correspondence/matching). Our cards were picture cards but playing with numbered cards develops number recognition and children can check by counting hearts, clubs and so on.

# counting pairs of cards won at end of game and comparing all players totals to determine winners (order by ranking, counting, cardinal number (how many in set, developing and using comparative language (such as more, less, the same, big, bigger, biggest amount)).

# Of course we can't forget timing! That's a biggy in this game and I'm needing to speed up my reflexes now Bronny has got the hang of the game!


Cards are an excellent way to reinforce numbers and number operations (+, -, multiplication, division)(particularly for your school aged children). I frequently used cards in my junior and senior primary school classes as a fun way to support learning. The children love it and its even more fun when an adult looses to them for some unknown reason?!! Hee! Hee!

Mathematical Learning

Children are constantly learning about mathematical ideas as they handle everyday objects and take part in the daily activities of life.

At kindergarten children meet all sorts of maths as they play with certain equipment and in certain areas.Here are some of the maths ideas they are learning and being exposed to on a daily basis:

Puzzles: Matching, fitting things together, space, shape, size, patterns, parts and whole concept, developing strategies to problem solve

Family Corner: sharing(division and fractions), counting, one to one matching, colours, shape, sizes, fitting into spaces, volume, capacity, guesses (estimating quantities, numbers of things), odds of things happening,classifying, sorting, comparing,weight, height, length, time, money

Family Corner/mat-times/most activities: sharing out evenly amongst a group, counting, numeration, values of numbers, constancy of numbers (conservation), comparing amounts/numbers,one to one matching/correspondence

Outside environment (running, climbing, sliding activities): space, height, time, speed, counting, length

Blocks: measuring, size, shape, balance, spacing, counting, classifying/sorting into like groups

Carpentry: measuring, size, shape, fitting things together, comparison of size, one to one matching

Baking: measuring, temperature, following directions, shape, size, spacing, counting, sharing (division/fractions)