Summer Math Fun! Beach Bump (Math Center Game)

(5 Years)

Have you ever played Bump?  I've not only never played it, I have never even heard of Bump before. It's so much fun.  We just played our first game of Bump and they loved it!  You can grab the template for FREE by going to Mary's Guided Math blog, she linked it from Denise at SunnyDays.

The directions are on the templates for you- the object is to be the first player to have ten spaces with your marker/game piece on top.  Your opponent can BUMP you from a space, by placing her game piece on top of yours (there is a maximum of one bump per space).

Our game lasted for about ten minutes - that's ten minutes of math practice with no workbooks, no pencils, no mention of "work".  I brought out the abacus just in case they wanted to use that to calculate the sum.  They chose to rely on the facts that they already memorized, or by counting the dots or by using their fingers.

They picked up on the concept of the game really quickly.  Little Miss always seemed to want to BUMP her brother from a space, rather than taking an open space (my little smarty pants).  Once Wild One caught onto his sister's strategy, he started to do the same thing.  Twins!  Anyway, they really liked the back and forth- who's going to win.  They are very competitive.

Towards the end of the game, when we only had two more spaces to go, Wild One started getting antsy.  He hung in there to finish the game, but I knew we needed to end this soon or else they wouldn't want to play again.  Keep it fun, remember learning through play is the best way (well, for us).

It was a close game 10 points to 8 points.  Their review of the game:
Little Miss - "I really liked the bumping part."
Wild One - "It was amazing that my sister won."

Thank you Denise and Mary for sharing this with us!  We are going to add this to our centers for the summer.  We used your blank template to create a Bump game board using word form for the next time we play.  Thank you again!

Shape Monsters

(4 Years)

I actually did something similar to this with my fifth graders to review plane geometry.  So, when I saw this on the wall of one of the potential pre-k schools for this Fall (it looked just like this post here), I knew we would be creating our own shape monsters.

The set up for this can be as elaborate or simple as you'd like.  We worked on some basic shapes: circles, ovals, squares, rectangles, trapezoids and triangles.  The set-up for this took a little less than five minutes.

Materials needed:
Scissors
Various colors of construction paper- we use the heavier stock, it's easier for them to work with
Glue sticks
Markers
Large pre-cut shapes for your monster's body
Smaller pre-cut shapes for body parts, horns, antennae, arms, legs, facial features...

I invited Little Miss and Wild One over to the kitchen table, "Who wants to build shape monsters with glue sticks?"  That's all it took.  I had two eager monster mechanics ready to design and create their shape monsters.

While they were busy working, Little Miss was having her monster talk to her.  I love their imaginations.  When they were finished with their creatures, I asked what they named it, and to tell me about the monster.  Little Miss created Sailor, because he is in a sail boat.  Wild One created Wolfie, who has very sharp teeth and no arms, but he does have a horn on his head!

Before wrapping this art project up, I asked each of them about the shapes they chose to use for their monster.  I asked for them to point to and count each shape.  I wrote the numbers down for Wild One, but Little Miss wanted to write her own numbers.  We haven't practiced writing numbers yet.  I was curious as to what they would look like.  She asked me to write a number 2 for her, so I did on a scrap piece of paper.  Her's came out pretty darn good!

While Little Miss was writing the number of shapes that she used, Wild One asked if he could make another monster.  I love it when they want to keep working.  His new monster has six arms and three legs, but NO nose!  I love how emphatic he gets when he's excited, it's not just with his voice, he also emphasizes with his gestures.

This art project helps to strengthen their fine motor skills, develop hand-eye coordination, reinforces the names of the shapes, fosters creativity, and prepares them for holding a pencil.  Plus, it's a lot of fun.

This is us, learning through play.  Happy Wednesday!

Let's Learn About the Number Four - Composing

(4 Years)

Little Miss and Wild One love using dot markers.  Therefore, whenever I can tailor an activity to include dot markers I do, because I know I'll definitely get them to want to work on whatever I've planned.  This morning one of our activities, besides Soak the Sight Words (again!), was working on composing the number four out of unifix cubes and then filling our work in using dot markers.  My inspiration for this activity is from Playful Directions, I found her on - well, you know where.

I modeled how to complete this activity with the number three.

We took turns pointing to the top of the page, the tally marks, the number in word form, in number form, and in dots (subitizing).  I modeled the different ways we can make three with two sets of cubes (they chose black and green).  We removed each cube, and used the same color dot marker to make a dot that represents each cube.  That's when Little Miss noticed a pattern.  Next to each row, we wrote the corresponding equation.  Little Miss then took over and began explaining how I should write the remaining equations.  

Before we began working on making the number four, the kids put the cubes back together in columns of ten.  Wild One counted each cube to make sure he had ten linked together.  Little Miss borrowed her brother's set of ten and measured it against her set to determine if she had the correct amount.

Together they discovered that they were missing just one cube.

Did you notice that Little Miss completed the left side of her sheet first?

 Little Miss wasn't done straightening her cubes when I snapped the picture.

She then removed one set of cubes at a time, and added the correct color dot marker to her sheet.

I think next time, we work on composing numbers I'll use two different objects instead of the same object in different colors.  When we discussed that 3 black cubes + 1 red cube = 4 cubes, and 3 red cubes + 1 black cube = 4 cubes, she said, "It's the same 3 + 1 = 4, why did we do it two times?"  If we use bears and cars, I think it may be easier to understand that the colors represent two different groups that we are adding together.  

What a busy morning!  Picnic breakfast, three rounds of Soak the Sight Words, swim lessons, imaginative play in the pool, read several books, worked on composing numbers three and four, and lunch.  Whew I'm wiped out!  Little Miss went straight to sleep during nap time.  Wild One decided he wasn't tired- even though he has dark circles.  He ran to the couch with a Cat in the Hat, Learning Library book and began "reading".  So cute!  

Magic (Sight) Words Race

(4 Years)

I love finding and trying sight word games for my little ones (they are getting so big - sad sigh). We've done quite a few sight word games in the past (type SIGHT into the Search Box on the right and it will bring you to the games that we've posted).  This one is another wonderful Pinterest find - who doesn't love Pinterest.   It's from Pre-KPages.com and it only takes minutes to set up, plus you don't need to buy a thing.

We repurposed one of our giant die, by cutting out circles, writing a sight word onto each circle and then taping them onto the die.  Above is a link to my FREE activity sheet (just click the picture of the bar graph).  Go ahead, grab a giant die or one of your wooden cubes, trace, cut, write, tape, print, play!

The kids really liked playing this.  In fact, we only stopped because it was nap time.  Yes nap time, they are FINALLY napping.  It only took four years!  I had to promise that I wouldn't put anything away and that they could play (don't you love it?  "Play") with it again when they woke up from their naps.

Since we have more than one preschooler playing the game, we played like this:
I modeled how to play- roll the dice, read the word, stamp the correct location on the bar graph (yadda yadda).
I pointed to one of the words on the bottom of the sheet and asked the kids, "how to you pronounce this word?"  Wild One said the word first, so he got to roll first.
When the die lands, I would point to that word and ask how to pronounce it, the one who answers correctly first gets to roll the die next (after they make a dot on their sheet).

While we were "playing", we practiced some introductory math vocabulary.  I asked which column had the most dots, the least dots, the same number of dots, which two columns when added together equal the number eight...

I asked what they liked about the game- Little Miss said the Dot Markers, being first (to get the correct answer) and rolling the BIG die.  Wild One said playing games.  I just love that we have another game that they want to play in our rotation.

The Dot Lot - Math Fun

(4 Years)

I found this fun math activity on Pinterest, it's from ABC and 123.  During nap time, I quickly drew out two boards.  When Wild One woke up, he saw me at the kitchen table taking a picture of the board.  He asked, "What's that?  Can I play?"

We put the dominoes face down and took turns choosing a tile, counting the dots on each side of the line and adding them together.  He was instantly hooked!  It took a little less than ten minutes to play the game.  I love that we are practicing subitizing, adding and recognizing that there are several ways to construct a number (five = 0 + 5, 1 + 4, 2 + 3, 3 + 2, 4 + 1, 5 + 0) while playing.

Hee hee, sneaky math fun.  I love it!