…and a Bonus Tip (at the end)

I have fond memories of playing this game with my Opa when I was very young.  So, naturally I bought it for my children.

Little did I know what a huge Math resource this game (and others) could be.

I love playing games with my children instead of doing school as a more effective way of teaching certain concepts.  If there’s a way of learning something through play, I’m all for it!

Here’s what The Princess and I did this morning.

First, we played the game.  I didn’t “throw” the game, she needs to learn how I do it.

Then after we played we had all kinds of learning opportunities before us.

We started with some sorting skills.  I asked her to sort her pieces by color and pointed out that, in this game, when you sort by color you are also sorting them by size.

Instead of racking up points by the scoring system suggested on the box, we just counted by color.  Example:  She has 10 blue.  I have 8 blue.  She wins blue!

But, before she counted them I asked her to estimate.  Whose blue bunch is biggest?

There is so much counting when you do this.  She has to count each color.  She can count mine.  I can help her to count them all together.

By the time she got to counting these blues (after our third game)  she was tired of counting all of them (you might say she had the counting blues, lol), but not too tired to know that her 5+5 was more than my 4+4.

Only when she is ready to learn it, will we begin to keep score using skip counting.  By twos for the green, by fives for the blues and by tens for the reds.

We had lots of fun and she had lots of counting, sorting and estimating practice. Much more than you would find in a typical Kindergarten Math lesson for one day.

Are you ready for my bonus tip that is gonna rock your world?  Here ya go.

Ziplock freezer bags for storing game parts & puzzle pieces.

Store all of your game parts and puzzle parts in ziplock bags.  I buy the gallon size and the quart size.  Instead of trusting the game/puzzle box to contain all of it’s intended parts, I trust the Ziplock baggie.  Even if (when) the game boxes all get knocked onto the floor of the closet, there is not a mess that a 3 year old can’t clean up.  It’s just the box, the game board, and the Ziplock bag containing the pieces and the instructions.

You’re welcome.

And before we get to the Mister Linky part for today I want to tell you…

My new BIG IDEA!

Heads up for this Thursday.  I’m starting a new Mister Linky on Thursdays called Mother Hen’s Homemade Thursday.  A wonderful place to link your “do it yourself” posts or any brag posts on your craft projects, or just your favorite new lunch casserole created out of desperation.

Anyway, if you have a post about something you made yourself, please come back next Thursday and link up.

Try to include photos and instructions or links that take us to the instructions, so we can try it too!

I hope you’ll join in!

Now it’s your turn.  Share your helpful hints and practical tips for raising a large family.  Write your Help for Growing Families post and link here with my Mister Linky.  For more details click here.

Feel free to link more than one post if you have plenty of relevant posts.

And don’t forget to leave a comment!

Related posts:

1. Simple Math Game
2. Math & My Secret Weapon
3. Math! Something Worked!
4. Coming Attractions!
5. Rainy Day Fun and I Need Your Advice