*SECTION* — MATERIALS

— INTRODUCTION —

You only need a few materials for these Early Family Math activities, and they are all very inexpensive and easy to get. Here's a short list:

• Five dice
• A deck of playing cards
• String
• Sidewalk chalk
• Some stiff paper in various colors

If you do not have access to dice, you can always use a stack of Number Cards or Playing Cards — shuffle them and randomly select one of them.

ACTIVITY — MAKE NUMBER CARDS

Many of our activities can be played using decks of playing cards. However, using a Number Card deck will help your child practice ideas that will not be emphasized with regular playing cards.

Make your own using card stock or any thick paper.

ACTIVITY — MAKE A SHAPE DECK

There are a few games and puzzles that involve a Shape Deck of 27 cards in the Shape Deck Games page. If you happen to have a set of 81 cards from the game of SET, you can use 27 of those cards that have solid colors as a Shape Deck.

Start with some stiff paper such as card stock if you can. Regular paper will work, it's just not as easy to handle or as durable.

Each of the 27 cards of the Shape Deck has three properties: a shape (circle, triangle, or square), a count (one, two, or three) and a color (red, blue, or black).

ACTIVITY — NUMBER LINE ON THE WALL

Place a number line on a wall to let your child see the numbers and how they grow. The number line should start at 0 and go to at least 20, with the numbers increasing as they go to the right. Make it from regular paper and use tick marks and large numbers.

*SECTION* — NUMBERS UP TO 5

Prerequisite: Can count from up to 5; Number Cards; Sidewalk chalk

ACTIVITY — YOUR OWN STORE

Kids love to play store! Create tags with silly prices that are small numbers. Put these price tags on things in your home (toys, food, books, etc.) Give your child pretend money to spend on things in the store. After each "purchase," have your child calculate how much money is left.

GAME — HOPSCOTCH

1. Draw a diagram similar to this. Use chalk if outside, or masking or painter's tape inside.

2. Throw a marker into the first square. If it lands on a line, or outside the square, you lose your turn and you pass the marker to the next player.

3. Hop on one foot into the first empty square, and then every subsequent empty square. Skip the one your marker is on.

4. At the pairs (4-5 and 7-8), jump with both feet.

5. At 10, hop with both feet, turn around, and head back toward the start.

6. When you reach the marked square again, pick up the marker—on one foot!—and keep going.

7. If you finished without any mistakes, pass the marker to the next player. On your next turn, throw the marker to the next number.

8. If you fall, jump outside the lines, or miss a square or the marker, you lose your turn and must repeat the same number on your next turn.

Reach 10 first to win!

For younger children, relax many of the rules and replace hopping with stepping.

GAME — MEMORY CHALLENGE

Select two or four sets of the Number Cards and remove numbers above your child's comfort level. Place the cards face down in a 3 by 3 grid, with the remaining cards put in a draw pile. Take turns flipping two cards face-up. If the cards match, the player gets to keep the cards, replaces the two cards from the draw pile, and continues their turn. If the cards don't match, the player flips the cards back over and ends their turn. The game ends when the last pair of cards is taken. The player with the most cards wins.

One variation allows at most one match per turn. Another option is to have a target sum, larger than the largest card used, and then two cards match when their sum is the target.

GAME — GO FISH

Remove cards above the highest number your child is comfortable with. If there are more than two players and you have restricted the numbers significantly, you may need to use several decks.

Start by dealing 5 cards to each player and put the remaining cards in a common draw pile. During a turn, a player "fishes" by asking any player if they have a card matching one of their cards — if they do, they hand over the card, and if they don't, they say "Go FIsh!" and the player must pick a card from the draw pile. When a player has a pair of matching cards, those cards are placed in a "book" in front of them. The game is over after all the cards have been put into books. The player with the most books wins.

*SECTION* — OBJECT PROPERTIES

Prerequisite: Comfort with basic properties of objects

ACTIVITY — ONE OF THESE IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS

Use a set of four items or drawings where one of the four is the odd one out. Challenge your child to identify the one that is not like the others and to explain why — accept any reason that makes sense; your child may have an unusual reason.

Suppose the four items are a red triangle, a red square with a hole, a green square, and solid red square. Your child may choose the green square because it's the only one that is not red. Or, your child may choose the red square with a hole because it's the only one with a hole. Or, the red triangle might be chosen because it's the only shape that isn't a square. There isn't always more than one good answer, but you should always be open to surprising ideas.

ACTIVITY — GOING IN CIRCLES

Create large circles on the ground using Hula Hoops, string, or draw them with sidewalk chalk. Use a collection of objects and have each circle represent a property of some of the objects. Possible properties are: has four legs, is bigger than a doll, has some red coloring. The challenge for your child is to put everything that has the property in the circle and everything without the property outside the circle.

Start by using one circle to get your child used to the idea. When you change to two circles, make them partially overlap, and choose the properties so that some objects have both properties. For example, if you have a box of blocks, the two properties might be having a round shape and being wooden. Your child should tell you how they are deciding to place each object.

Reverse this activity by placing objects in the circles and challenging your child to identify what property goes with each circle.

Another option is to have your child instruct you to put things in the circles. Make a mistake now and then so your child can point it out to you.

PUZZLE — SHAPE SUDOKU

Use four tokens each of four different types. For example, use different colored gummy bears. We have used orange triangles, blue squares, red circles, and purple diamonds. To create one of these puzzles, start with the answer — this will be a pattern of tokens with one of each kind in each row and column, and one of each kind in each 2 by 2 corner box of the grid.

Once you have the "answer," pull off some of the tokens and place them in a pile to the side. Finally, give the puzzle to your child to figure out how to put back the tokens that were pulled off.

Here are some simple strategies for creating puzzles: remove one token from each row; remove all of one kind of token and one each of the other tokens; or remove one entire row and column.

*SECTION* — SHAPE CARDS GAMES

Prerequisite: Comfort with basic properties of objects; Shape Cards

PUZZLE — FEATURE MATCHING PUZZLE

Choose one of the Shape Cards — this is your starting card. Create a sequence of 4 to 8 cards that can legally be played in sequence on that starting card – each card must have two properties in common with the previous card.

When you're done, separate the starting card and shuffle the other cards. The challenge is to place these cards in a series of legal moves on the starting card.

GAME — FEATURE MATCHING GAME

Each Shape Card has three properties:
• shape (circle, triangle, or square)
• count (one, two, or three)
• color (red, blue, or black)

Deal five cards to each player, with the remaining cards face-down in a draw pile. Turn the draw pile's top card face-up to begin a new stack. Take turns placing a card on the stack — the new card must match two features of the top card. 

If you cannot play a card on your turn, draw a card from the draw pile and end your turn.

The first person to run out of cards is the winner. If the draw pile runs out, the player with the fewest cards in their hand wins. 

Simplify the game by only requiring a match of one property with the top card. Another variation is to allow a player to place more than one card on a turn as long as each card is a legal play on top of the previous card.

GAME — TRIPLET

Draw a tic-tac-toe grid big enough to hold a Shape Card in each square. Choose 8 of the Shape Cards that have two of each property. For example, pick the 8 cards that are either a triangle or square, have one or two figures, and are either red or blue. Place these 8 cards around the outside of the board.

Players take turns picking an unused card for their opponent to place on the board. The first player to place a card that completes 3 cards in a row which have at least one property in common wins!  If all the cards are played without a winner, it's a tie game. The diagram shows some examples of ways to win.

Simplify the game and add an element of luck by placing the cards face down and having each player play the top card.