Counting & Number Bonds: Math Games for Early Learners, Preschool to Second Grade

by Denise Gaskins

Math Your Kids WANT To Do

Are you tired of the daily homework drama? Do your children sigh, fidget, whine, stare out the window—anything except work on their math?

With the Math You Can Play series, your kids can practice their math skills by playing games with basic items you already have around the house, such as playing cards and dice.

Math games pump up mental muscle, reduce the fear of failure, and generate a positive attitude toward mathematics. Through playful interaction, games strengthen a child’s intuitive understanding of numbers and build problem-solving strategies. Mastering a math game can be hard work, but kids do it willingly because it is fun.

Counting & Number Bonds features 21 kid-tested games, offering a variety of challenges for preschool and early-elementary learners. Young children can play with counting and number recognition, while older students explore place value, build number sense, and begin learning the basics of addition.

Chapters include:

Early Counting: Practice subitizing—recognizing small numbers of items at a glance—and learn the number symbols. Childhood Classics: Traditional folk games invite the whole family to enjoy playing with math. Number Bonds: Build a mental picture of the relationships between numbers as you begin to explore addition. Bigger Numbers: Develop familiarity with two-digit numbers and promote strategic thinking skills.

If you are a parent, these games provide opportunities to enjoy quality time with your children. If you are a classroom teacher, use the games as warm-ups and learning center activities or for a relaxing review day at the end of a term. If you are a tutor or homeschooler, make games a regular feature in your lesson plans to build your students’ mental math skills.

So what are you waiting for? Clear off a table, grab a deck of cards, and let's play some math!

140 pages, Paperback

First published April 20, 2015

Reviews

[Lilith Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to math, I agree with Gaskins that so many kids are not a lover of the subject. I myself found it difficult and so I have been on a missing to make it fun again. This book is just what I needed to bring back the math fun.

I love how each game is set up. The game starts off with a set of skills learned as well as what is needed to play. We had most of the tools like dice, cards, and dominoes. Some games needed a printables, but they were easy to print. Not all games used a template so not worries if you cannot print.

What I loved about this book, is the selection of games. They were all very easy to play. They are not time-consuming. Best part, you can customize it for your child. These games are great to have both in a classroom and home setting. It is never to late to make math fun again.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All reviews are mine and were in no way influenced by outside sources. I am a professional blogger at Little Lady Plays

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son loves these games; a great way to introduce Math concepts in a simple fun way.

[Wayne Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest, math was never my favorite subject in school. However, I was fairly good at it through grade four. Then in grade five, we got hit with the “new math.” The poor teachers, who were used to instructing the old way, seemed at a loss, and I was fairly stumped until seventh grade when we had a math teacher who really knew his stuff. As a result, though I still did not care for math that much, I was able to negotiate it through high school and college. Because learning math is so important, homeschooling parents are always looking for the “right” curriculum—Saxon Math, Singapore Math, Math-U-See, etc. Maybe the curriculum would not matter so much if the students could just see that math can be fun.

In this Volume 1 of her “Math You Can Play” series, author Denise Gaskins, a veteran homeschooling mother of five who has taught or tutored mathematics at every level from preschool to undergraduate physics, provides kid-tested games which offer a variety of challenges for preschool and early-elementary learners. Young children can play with counting and number recognition, while older students explore place value, build number sense, and begin learning the basics of addition, using common, everyday objects such as playing cards, dominoes, and dice. Denise says, “I encourage parents to look beyond the textbook–a useful tool, but such a limited one. We want to explore the adventure of learning real mathematics, math as mental play, the essence of creative problem solving. This is what we need to teach our children: Mathematics is not just rules and rote memory. Math is a game, playing with ideas.”

There are four main sections in the book. “A Strategy for Learning” contains introductory material. “Counting and Number Bond Games” has four chapters: “Early Counting: Practice;” “Childhood Classics;” “Number Bonds;” and “Bigger Numbers,” with a total of 21 math games which will help students to develop familiarity with numbers and promote strategic thinking skills. Classroom teachers can use them as warm-ups or for review day at the end of a term. Homeschoolers can make games a regular part of their lesson plans to build the students’ mental math skills. “Playing to Learn Math” offers some teaching philosophy. The final section contains “Resources and References.” And there is an index. Parents whose young ones are struggling with math should find this book useful. The next book in the series is Addition and Subtraction: Math Games for Elementary Students, Grades K-4.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this as a reference for fun games to play with the kids. It uses simple manipulative - primarily cards, dice, and dominoes or things you can print out.