Get Closest
The setup
Write the numbers 5, 10, 25, and 50 vertically on a piece of paper. Put a single blank space on each side of the 5, and two blank spaces on each side of the other numbers. One player fills in the blanks on the left side and the other fills the other side. Each player also has one extra blank to use once with a number to ignore.
How to play
Play with a deck of Number Cards from 0 to 9. Randomly pick a card from the deck, and put it back in after it is used. Both players must use that number somewhere in the spaces that haven’t been filled in yet. Once all the spaces are filled, the player’s values are compared to each of the target numbers. Whichever player gets closest to each target number gets a point, with both players getting a point if they are equally close.
How to win
Whoever has the most points wins.
Variations
Vary this game by having a different set of target numbers. You can also choose to score the game by summing up all the errors for each player. For this, the player with the smaller score 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!