Simple Math Practice for Kindergarteners

My 4 year old kindergartener loves to work on his pre-math skills. Previously I shared our number matching activity with found objects and continuing in that same frugal vein New Kid and I re-purposed a Double Shutter game to practice counting and lay the foundation for the concept of addition.

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Fun Early Math Skills Practice:

Repurposing games is a favorite past time of ours and Double Shutter, with it's fun, flippable numbers and dice satisfies New Kid's desire to touch and manipulate everything. Double Shutter is a game intended for ages 8 and up (I find it highly addictive), because players need solid addition skills to play strategically.

Instead of playing the game by the original rules,  I explained the basic concept of that  players role the dice and "shut" the numbers according to the combination rolled. We modified the game by removing the strategic component and simplifying the addition.

For example, if he rolled a 5 and a 3, we counted the dots and said "5 plus 3 equals 8". Then he could shut tiles 5 and 3 or tile 8. (If this were the actual game, he could shut any combination of numbers that equaled 8). If he rolled a combination of numbers that were no longer visible on the available tiles, instead of ending the game he simply rolled again until he got numbers that worked.

What this activity practices:

• Number and quantity recognition. He matched quantity on the die face to the numeral on the tile.
• The concept of addition. In no way do I expect that New Kid will remember that 5+3=8. He is only 4 and much different than his brother who has mad math skills! The intention is that he further understand the idea that two quantity put together create a new quantity.
• Fine motor. It's tricky for little fingers to shut the tiles without disturbing the tiles next to or behind them.

New Kid really enjoyed playing and we took plenty of time to count, find the numbers and talk about which tiles to shut. He even wanted to play it twice which is a tiny miracle considering his attention span of late.

I love how Double Shutter has provided so much entertainment since we acquired it! Flipping the tiles was a great toddler distraction and now it is a great way to practice pre-math skills!

More fun DIY math games:

Lu-Lu dice game

Cooperative math dice games

Math Tic Tac Toe

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