This game may remind you of a carnival game except you don't have to pay an overpriced fee to play, and participants get to practice addition.

#1 Marble Contest

Skill Practiced – Addition

Materials needed – scissors, marbles, box with lid; optional – markers, glue stick, stickers to decorate box

Marbles can be purchased from any discount store.

Preparation: Cut five holes of different sizes in the lid of a pasteboard box. Number the largest hole 5; the next largest 10; the next, 20; the next, 50; and the smallest 100.

How to Play: Place the box on the floor and give each child an equal number of marbles. The object of the game is to see which child can count the most by dropping the marble into the box through the holes. Each player in turn stands over the box, holds his arm out straight, even with the shoulder, and drops the marbles one by one into box. If ones goes through the largest hole it counts 5, if through the smallest, 100, and so on, count being kept for each player. The one scoring the greatest number of points is the winner.

One way to keep count is to form groups of two to four students. Then, they can keep score for each other using a sheet of notebook paper and pencil. Students would enjoy using dry erase boards to keep score too.





#2 Passing By

Materials needed – pencil and paper

Skills Practiced – addition; identifying objects

An amusement for children on a train, bus, car, or at home when it is raining, is the following, and will help to pass away the time.

If there are several children, choose sides, and appoint one to keep the count for his side. Each side sits by a different window and watches the passers-by. Every man counts 1; every woman 2; baby 3; animal 5; white horse 10; deer 50. As a child sees someone passing, he calls out the number for his side; if a woman, he says 2; if a man and woman together, it will be 3, and so on. Feel free to change the animals and points associated with them.

If the children are looking upon the same street, the side that calls its number out first adds it its score. It is more exciting if the different sides have different streets to look out on.

If in a vehicle, one sits on the right and the other on the left, and when an object is seen, they call out right, 5, or left, as the case may be, for the mother, or older person to put down on the score card. (If the children are of age, allow them to compute their own score.)

The side which succeeds in reaching 100 first is the winning side. If the trip is long, 500 can be the limit.