Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you are all well-rested and ready to get back to work. We all like to start the year with some fun activities like math art, games, and puzzles.
In today’s post, we are introducing a New Year countdown game that will be fun to play on the first days of school after the holidays to practice math facts. The game comes in three levels and it helps practice addition facts, multiplication facts, and division facts.
The idea is that the players move around a table/game board rolling dice and they need to land on numbers that help them cross their numbers on the countdown chart. (everyone gets their own chart) The first player to cross all the numbers and finish the countdown is the winner. The rules are a bit different for each level. The games are available on google slides for virtual teaching as well.
Count down to the new year -Level 1-Addition Subtraction (grades 1, 2)
(Version 1) In this game, the players take turns rolling two 10-face dice and add or subtract the numbers. (The addition table helps with addition but I prefer to have the students use the first horizontal or vertical line for adding and subtracting.) They need to cross the numbers on the countdown chart in order. They need to get 10 to mark 10, then 9, and so on, 12 is the last number. This is good for fact practice, however, it’s all luck.
(Version 2) To add some strategy you can decide that instead of just rolling the dice and adding or subtracting the numbers the players will roll the dice, add or subtract their numbers and move their marker that many steps. They can move in all directions if possible. (enough tiles) Start from zero. This way they can decide whether to add or subtract and which direction to go based on the next number they need to cross. More thinking and more strategy.
Count down to New Year Level 2 Addition to 100
For this game, the rules are the same as version 2 above, except that the board is the 1-100 table and the players need to land on the number they need to cross or a number that includes (in its digits) the number they need to cross. For example, if they need to cross 10 they need to land on 10 or 100. If they need to cross 9 they need to land on 9 or 19, 29, 39,…90, and so on. They can use two dice and add or subtract or just use one dice and just move their marker in any direction. This is a good game for getting familiar with the 1-100 chart, discussing place value, and more.
Countdown to New Year Level 2/3 Multiplication/Division
For this game, the players start from 1 and move around the multiplication table rolling a dice and trying to land on a multiple of the number they need to cross. For example, in the beginning, the players need to land on a multiple of 10. They roll the dice and move in any direction. This game offers good practice for multiples and factors and my students love it because is fast and very competitive. For a more challenging game, you can use the 1-100 table. The table doesn’t help with the multiples as much as the multiplication table and that gives a challenge.
