Addition & Subtraction Games

Dec. 3-9, 2013

Just  few things we did to practice adding and subtracting (small numbers: 1-6). First was a simple dice game. I grabbed two standard dice (well, we used one Seth made himself--the yellow one pictured--but it was still a standard die) and made a third that had three addition signs and three subtraction signs on it.

Seth would roll all three dice and then figure out the answer. Simple and more fun than a worksheet!

(Only tricky part is subtraction--make sure you always subtract the smaller number from the bigger unless you feel like trying to explain negative numbers to your kindergartner). 

I also made sure he had some manipulatives to help when he got stuck on a problem:

Another fun game: Roll A Snowman!

I came up with a list of 11 attributes that could be drawn on a snowman (one for each the numbers that could be rolled with two dice: 2-12):

Seth would roll two dice, then add the numbers together. Whatever he rolled, he got to draw. Once he had rolled that number, I would erase it so we didn't end up with a three-headed snowman. He loved this game, although I did let him quit once we got down to one or two numbers left that didn't get rolled after several attempts. 

The final product: