Number Gobbler
The setup
Make a 21-piece triangle with some food item. Put 1 piece in the top row, 2 pieces in the next row, and 6 pieces in the last.
How to play
Take turns rolling a die. Each time the count of a roll matches a row that is still in the triangle, the player gets to remove that row and either eat it (yum) or put it in their personal pile.
How to win
Beginning players can do a 1-to-1 match of the dots on the die with the food pieces in a row. The player with the bigger pile of food wins! To determine the winner, do a 1-to-1 match of the two piles to see whose pile is larger.
Variation
Vary the size of the pile to correspond with the range of numbers your child is comfortable with.
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.