Continuing to share how we play with number sticks. I try not to get too "teacher-y" with them since she already has Montessori beads at school and I haven't had success trying to be a serious teacher at home! This one is perfect for after-work brain-tired play time. It's so easy it's almost lazy.
The secret is to get someone else who doesn't know number sticks. In our case, it's our Daddy.
Ladybug loves beating her daddy and he loves heckling along.
We dumped all our number sticks in a bin and got ready to play.
I yell out an "equation" and whoever grabs the right answer stick wins the point.
"What is black plus gray!"
That's number stick language for "7+3". And whoever grabs a 10 (orange) first wins.
"What color is red plus green?"
"If orange gives away a red what will it become?"
"What is two times of a yellow?"
"Show me a twenty-five!"
You get the idea. Since number sticks work with pretty much any level of math, from building basic number sense of how many things are to basic equations to fractions and so on, you can yell out questions that match your child's math level. If you have two children of different levels you can yell out different equations for each to answer separately.
After every question is yelled, chaos ensues.
And cheating and heckling, of course, whenever Daddy is her playmate:
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| The playing field is even because Daddy doesn't know his stick colors! |
Sometimes we switch referee duties, and Ladybug Girl gets to make up her own equations.
Fine family fun on a weeknight.
Who would've thought math would be so useful?! Ha ha
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