Chopsticks Hand Game
The setup
All players start with one finger raised on each hand.
How to play
During a turn, a player has the choice of either “attacking” or “splitting.”
Attacking
To attack, a player takes a live hand and attacks a live hand of an opponent. The result is that the opponent’s hand has the sum of the two hands and the attacking player’s hand is unchanged. If a hand ends up with exactly five fingers, it is dead. If the hand has over five fingers, its count is either reduced by five (in one set of rules) or is dead (an alternate set of rules).
Splitting
To split, a player bangs their hands together and redistributes the fingers between the two hands. A split may not reverse the two finger counts.
How to win
A player wins when both hands of everyone else are dead. In one variation, the first player to have two dead hands wins.
Helping your child
First and foremost, playing math games should be fun, like any other game your family plays together!
Please let your child make poor plays (mistakes) without correction, and resist the urge to tell them the best ways to play. Bit by bit, your child will get better at the game, and they will learn so much more if you let them figure things out. There is no hurry.
If you see your child make a mistake, ask them to describe why they decided to do what they did. If your child is stuck and doesn’t know which play to make, ask them to describe the pros and cons of their choices, or ask them about how they solved a similar situation in the past. If your child doesn’t remember how to do a calculation, discuss with them the methods they know for figuring it out. These conversations are important for helping your child to develop mathematically.
Through math game play and math conversations, you are helping your child learn to enjoy math and develop important problem solving skills!