When we began playing checkers with the boys they were only really interested when they got to yell, “King Me!” Otherwise, they never got too excited about Checkers, Chinese Checkers, or Chess. I don’t know if this was because Checkers and Chess are played with only 2 players (and I would sometimes suggest that they […]
Mathwire.com has a whole page dedicated to Dominoes. If your kids like playing with them, you should check it out here. Scroll down the home page and you will find domino templates, additional domino games (Have you ever played Mexican Train?), literature connections, and online domino games. We’d love to hear what you think of […]
Today we are going “old school” to talk about dominoes. Dominoes have been around for centuries and have been used for all sorts of gaming in countries around the world. Traditional dominoes were made of ivory with black dots, called “pips”. A traditional complete set of dominoes has one unique piece for each possible combination […]
I have been relentlessly hounding my friend Alison for her responses to the Early Math Counts Parent Questionnaire only to find out that she sent me her answers ages ago! My bad…. Alison and I go way back. In the late 1990’s, we were both directors of small preschools in Chicago. We met by chance […]
Did you know the game commonly known as Chutes and Ladders is derived from an ancient Indian board game that taught life’s lessons by depicting one’s progression through life as virtuous and forward-moving/climbing via ladders, or sinful and backward-moving/falling via snakes?The version that most of us play also has a numbered 10 X 10 grid […]
One of the Early Math Counts readers mentioned that she plays a computer version of Candyland with her kids and they love it. I did a little digging and found this Hasbro website that has all sorts of games that use the images from Candyland. Most of the games are pretty basic, focusing on moving the […]
Encourage children to quantify objects logically and to compare sets (rather than encouraging him to count). When encouraging children to quantify rather than count, Kamii describes a typical interaction that takes place every day in every child care center around the country. The teacher asks a child to place cups on the table for snack […]
4 more weeks of exploring board games seems like a good idea right about now, especially since playing board games is one of the ways parents engage in overt math experiences with their children (according to my very-far-from-scientific study). Candyland is one of our all-time family favorites. Did you know that it was designed by […]
This newsletter appeared in my mailbox yesterday and I was thrilled to see that it was focused entirely on Math and Physical Fitness. The Illinois Early Learning Project produces these FAQs periodically and this one is called … How Can Active Games Help Children Meet Math Benchmarks? There are all sorts of ideas for games […]
There are three specific principles associated with teaching the “Quantification of Objects” so I think writing about them on 3 separate Tuesdays will allow you to think about these in isolation before considering them as whole. The first principle is as straightforward as can be and I, for one, believe that it should be a […]