How Can I Make?
Activity, Stage 3 – Let Me Count the Ways
One person gives the other person a target number and challenges them to come up with different ways of adding and/or subtracting to get that number. If the target is 3, it might start with 1 + 2, but then become 1 + 5 – 3 and so on.
Add restrictions to make it more challenging. For example, you might not allow any numbers less than 4, or you might allow only numbers less than 4.
You can turn this into an investigation by asking questions like: How many ways are there of getting 5 if I can only add 1’s and 2’s.
As your child learns more mathematics, additional skills can be added, such as doubling and halving. For example, 5 is 2 doubled plus 1 or two 10’s minus three 5’s.