With the 4th of July almost here, I thought I’d give you double the fun this week! With family gathering around, food on the grill, and fireworks in the night sky, you’ll need double the games!
Last week we played Slide-A-Thon to help with the recognition of the multiples. Did you enjoy this game? Do you see the kids increasing in their knowledge and comfort with the multiples? Well, we’re going to build on those skills with our first game.
Double the Product Memory game is from RightStart™ Mathematics Level D Second Edition. Yes, I know. That level isn’t out yet; we’re in the process of proofing it and getting it ready for publication for the upcoming school year. Meanwhile, you can enjoy a new game from RS2 Level D, Lesson 17…..
This game is a traditional memory game where the players have face down cards, try to find two specific cards, then capture the paired cards. The interesting twist is the definition of pairs. The pairs consist of a number and the double of that number. An example of pairs are 4 and 8, 10 and 20, 27 and 54, 24 and 48, and 45 and 90.
If you have the Multiplication Cards, you’re ready to play. If you don’t have this card deck, you can make the cards using index cards. Use two sets of multiples – one set will be a double of the other. Possible sets are 2s and 4s, 3s and 6s, 4s and 8s, and 5s and 10s. Of course, we could use 1s and 2s, but that’s pretty basic. For today’s game, let’s use the 4s and 8s.
Place the 4s multiples face down in random order in two rows of five. Nearby, do the same with the ten 8s multiples.
The first player turns over a 4s card, doubles it, and states the doubled amount. Since our first player turned over the 32-card shown below, she says “32 doubled is 64.” She then picks a card that might be the one she’s searching for, the 64-card.
If she finds that card, she takes both cards and gets another turn. If she doesn’t find the double, she turns over both cards in their original place and the second player takes his turn.
The winner is the player with the most cards after all the pairs are found. We recommend playing this game at least twice per set. This allows the child to formulate their strategies and make the connections between the two sets.
So what is this game really about? Most people know the multiples of 1s, 2s, 3s, 5s, and 10s pretty quickly. But if you know the 2s, you can double and find the 4s. And when you know the 4s, you can double and get the 8s. If you know the 3s, the 6s are right there. The only multiples not being reviewed in this game are the 7s and 9s.
A lot of time, children (and many adults) think of multiplication as just facts that have to be memorized. This game provides another method to figure out a fact that may be just out of reach. It gives a child another method to approach their math facts. Don’t know what 8 × 6 is? You know that 4 × 6 = 24 and 24 × 2 = 48. Now 8 × 6 is known!
The bonus game, Doubles Corners™, is also from RightStart™ Mathematics Second Edition. This one is taken from RS2 Level B, Lesson 118. Doubles Corners™ game is a variation of the always popular Corners™ game found in the Math Card Games book, game A9. This is Dr. Cotter’s new favorite game!
The Corners™ card deck is a set of fifty cards and each card has four colored numbers between 1 and 10 along the sides. There are no two cards alike, so this is nearly impossible to make on your own. So if you don’t have this card deck, you’re going to have to skip this game.
The regular rules of Corners™ apply. The modification is that players can lay down two cards per turn. After a turn, a player takes cards only up to four. If no one can play any cards, everyone takes an extra card. This can happen more than once.
For scoring, a player first adds together the scores from the two cards and then adds that mentally to his previous score.
One final thought: Remember that games don’t need to be played on a table. Kids love to play games on the floor. Or outside on the patio. Or on a blanket on the lawn or beach. Be creative and have fun! Have a safe and fun filled Fourth of July. Keep in touch, leave us a comment below, and let us know how the games go…..
Corners is really a phenomenal game, and it’s easy to come up with variations that exercise additional math facts (e.g., multiples of 3 instead of 5) or fit a particular child’s skill level. My 5-year-old particularly likes playing in parallel; he works on his cards, Daddy works on his own, with no limitation on where you can play. He regularly finds corners, with great glee, and wins pretty frequently. Adding 5, 10, 15, and 20 up into the 300s as we tally up the score is excellent mental math practice.