In the Other Hand
The setup
Start with a bowl of small pieces of food.
How to play
Have your child count out loud a few items from the bowl, say 5, and give them to you. Secretly divide these items between your hands and then hold both hands out with one hand open and the other closed. Your child now counts aloud the items in the open hand and then chooses which hand to “steal” from. Have your child predict how many items will be stolen before you open your hand.
How to win
The stolen items become part of your child’s pile, and you keep the remaining items. Play continues for as many rounds as needed until the bowl is empty. At the end, you both line up your items next to each other to see who has more.
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.