I learned about grid games in the book More Than Counting by Sally Moomaw and Brenda Hieronymus. The authors write that grid games are an important part of preschool and kindergarten math because they "provide opportunities for children to create mathematical relationships by using interesting manipulative counters to create, compare, and quantify sets."Children are highly motivated to play grid games with fun counters. As soon as four year old Julia saw this rabbit grid game she was excited to feed the rabbits!
To make this game I used:
- two grids of 15 rabbits (created with clip art and printed on card stock)
- 30 carrot erasers
- die
Each player rolls the die and places the corresponding number of carrots on the rabbits. Play continues until a player covers all her rabbits. Julia had lots of practice counting and comparing as she decided "How many more carrots do I need to cover each rabbit? Who has more- mommy or I?"
Can you guess who won?
I created an easier grid game to play with my two year old. In this game we use a grid of 10 heads of lettuce, a die with 1-3 dots on each side, and rabbit erasers. These games are great to play after reading Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit or Muncha, Muncha, Muncha by Candace Flemming.
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What great games! Please continue more of your activites with your sweeties.
ReplyDeleteLove this idea, Denise! I hope it's okay, but I'd like to mention you on my own blog and this great activity. I couldn't find your email, so please let me know if you object to my doing it--I was going to post on my site today or tomorrow. Thanks and happy learning (and teaching!)!
ReplyDeleteWhere do you get your counter?
ReplyDelete