Number Board Games in EY2:
We have been experimenting with board games in EY2 as a way of including number more intentionally through the children's play.

The Space 10 game initially only interested one student, however, many more are now joining in.  Number cards from 0 to 10 are shuffled and students take turns to choose a number card.  Whatever card is selected the student has to choose its complement within 10.  So, if their first card chosen was a 1, they would move their counter to number 9 on the rocket's journey.  Whilst some students had knowledge of addition complements within 10 (bonds), others needed scaffolding (using a visual 20 frame):

Another game, Stars, requires children to choose a number card (1 - 6) and identify a square containing the same number of stars.  The winner of the game is the player who has three of their counters in a line.  

This game helps develop:

• subitizing (knowing a quantity without counting)
• matching numerals to quantities
• Cardinal number principle (last number counted is the quantity).

Maths games are great for practising number skills because of the child's motivation to play the game. In addition, players need to be strategic in order to win the game.  If there is no strategy involved then, technically, it's not a game.  The Stars game was the stimulus for the next 3-in-a-row game:

Here, two 1-6 dice are thrown and their numbers summed.  Players need to score three in a row, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.  With this game interpreting the dice requires subitizing and dice totals will either be known facts or mental addition.  This is a good vehicle for teaching counting-on as an addition strategy (counting on from one of the known dice numbers).  Again, as with the star game, children are learning to match appropriate numerals to the dice sums.  In reality, children will use a range of strategies including counting one-to-one, for some totals.  

With home-made games such as this, it is important to consider the theoretical probabilities of the various dice throws.  A simple sample set will reveal these probabilities:

The game board above was made with reference to these theoretical probabilities.

Outdoor Learning with KG.  Introduced a skittle bowling game with 12 skittles distributed into 3 hoops (4 in each).  The skittles the furthest away (blue) score the highest (5).  All other skittles score 1.  Children take turns to bowl and scores are recorded using tally marks on a chalkboard.

It was a great opportunity to assess the children's counting skills and known addition facts.  How could the scoring be changed to develop their counting skills further?  Skittles could be worth 2, 3 and 5 to create a wider variety of scoring options.

One player, was able to remember his previous score and mentally add the new score to it, whilst others needed to count from the beginning each time.  The game provided motivation to engage with the numbers of the scoring system.  Once familiar with the game, including taking turns recording the scores and totaling them, children could be engaged with problems in the classroom that relate to the real game outdoors: (from NNS Mathematical Challenges booklet. Crown Copyright 2000)