Skip Counting Game

 DD is just now learning to skip count by 3s.  I made a unicorn and dragon themed game to help her practice. The game is pretty straight forward. Each player takes a turn drawing cards from the file until they get a dragon (STOP!) card.  The player then sorts her cards and places them in skip counting order while the other player is drawing cards. The object is to be the first player to get all the cards needed and placed in the proper order -- 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27

I made skip counting cards for 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s and 10s.You can find the Unicorn Race Skip Counting Game here. As always, it's free to download. :-)

Hope someone finds it fun!

If your child is a good skip counter already, be sure to check out the wonderful game, Speed! that was made by a fellow homeschooler, Julie.  You can read about that game in this post.

Meanwhile LD and I played "Catch the Mouse" for math (for multiplying by 6s). We have a die with the numbers 4 through 9. LD rolled the die (5) and  multiplied that number by 6. Then he placed a marker on the mouse with the answer (30). The object is to try to capture the most mice by placing two markers on each mouse. If the other player has just one marker on the mouse, the player can bump him off the mouse, but once a player has two markers on a mouse, the mouse is his.  You can download my Catch the Mouse game here (there's a board for 6s and another for 7s).

Math Skip Counting Game: Speed!

We had the privilege of reviewing a math card game called Speed!  Oh boy is it fantastic! I would have to give it 5 stars for sure.

I always try to include as many hands-on activities as possible in our homeschooling.  DD still has a lot of math games, but I've been less creative with LD lately as he is working hard on reinforcing his basic multiplication and division skills. Since the first day this game arrived, we've been playing 3-5 rounds of the game each day. It's a great way to learn your multiplication tables and to reinforce skip counting patterns. I highly recommend it!! 

Let me describe it for you. You choose a deck to play.  LD and I chose 6-speed for this round.  First you divide the deck evenly among the players. Then you lay four cards out in front of you.  When everyone is ready, you turn one card over in the middle to play from.

Since we were playing 6 speed the cards were all multiples of 6... 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60.

Let's say there is a 18 in the middle.  Players can place a 12 or a 24 on top of the 18 card.

When you have a 6 you can place either a 60 (to work backwards) or a 12.  And on a similar vein if there is a 60 in the middle you can place a 6 or a 54 on top.

Each time you use one of your four face-up cards, you can replace it with a card from the stack of cards in your hand. The object is to be the first person to lay down all your cards.

In the picture to the left you can see LD is placing a card in the middle. He'll need to quickly place 2 more cards face up (for a total of 4) to play from in front of him.  I also have just 2 cards down in the picture and need to place two more face up since there are always supposed to be four in front of you (until your hand is empty).


If at any time the two cards in the middle are the same, you try to be the first to holler out "Speed!" and the other player has to pick up all the cards, shuffle them and place them back in his/her hand.

This is an exciting, quick game.  LD loves it.  I mean truly LOVES it! He is competitive, but to be honest I don't give him an inch... I love it too!  And the reinforcement he has gotten on the skip-counting patterns is wonderful.  I can see improvement on the speed with which he does his multiplication work.

I really like that each deck is its own color.  It ensures that clean up is easy if a card is misplaced.

Since DD also wants to be a part of the action we have played a three person version of 2 speed. That worked well too, though the game went on longer since we all kept getting caught by the Speed! trap.  We made a rule that you could choose who had to take all the cards if you were the one who hollered out "Speed!" first.

Now if you've gotten to the end of this post--thanks for reading.  I think so highly of this game that I'd like to send one person their own set... just me passing on the kindness that Julie (the creator/homeschooling Mom) did for me. Just leave me a comment below (no later than midnight, Nov. 30th eastern standard time, USA) and the age of the kid/s who you'll be playing with.   I'll do a drawing (probably out of hat or something, nothing fancy here) on December 1st and will let you know who the lucky winner is (be sure to check back then, you'll have 3 days to be in touch). Oh and if you live overseas, I'll even let you "enter" -- but I will probably need to have it shipped to me and then will send on, so it would take quite some time to arrive. So there's nothing fancy about this giveaway, I just want to be nice and pass along a fantastic game! And if you like the game when it arrives and if you have a blog, it'd be great if you could give it a shout out too. It is absolutely wonderful to make math so fun and to have the kids begging for more.

Disclaimer: I was sent this product to review, but all the opinions expressed here are my own. And no one asked me to give away a set, I just think it's a terrific game.

You might be interested in these related posts:

 We have a bunch different free skip counting pages over at our new location (homeschoolden.com)

•  Free Fall Skip Counting Mazes

• Free Thanksgiving Skip Counting Mazes

•  Free Holiday Skip Counting Mazes, 2s thru 7s

• Free Winter Skip Counting Mazes 2s thru 6s

• Free Valentine's Day Skip Counting Mazes

• Free Easter Skip Counting Pages

Learning the Multiplication Facts:  As my daughter moved into learning her multiplication facts I looked around for the kind of multiplication practice that would help her. The math book she was using went through the math facts a bit too quickly for her.  She needed quite a bit of repetition and wanted bright, colorful worksheets. I wound up making my own sets of practice pages and games. She loved that! Be sure to check out our Multiplication Bundle here: Learning the Multiplication Tables 2s thru 9s.

Each of the Multiplication Math Packets I made for ED had a different theme. And as you will see, the packets progressed from fairly easy, straight-forward pages in the first packet to mixed multiplication and division problems by the time she was working on her 8s.

What order did she learn her math facts?  2s, 5s, 10s, 3s, 6s and 7s (because those skip counting songs were easy for her!), 4s, 9s, 8s.

Many of these are  all on sale individually or you can buy the bundle of all these materials. ~Liesl

Math: Multiplication Word Problems

I mentioned this before, but these multiplication word problems are worth another mention. We've been doing three each day at the beginning of math time for LD (age 8). 

1. If 1 dress can be made from 6 yards of calico, how many yards will it take to make 2 dresses?

        Solution. — For 2 dresses it will take 2 times 6 yards, which are 12yards.

2. Mary has 3 hens, and each hen has 6 chickens: how many chickens are there in all ?

3. If there are 6 panes of glass in one window, how many panes are there in 4 windows?

4. If 1 orange is worth 5 peaches, how many peaches are 6 oranges worth?

5. John bought 6 quarts of plums, at 6 cents a quart: how much did they cost?

6. If 1 quart of strawberries cost 7 cents, how much will 6 quarts cost?

7. If a man eat 6 ounces of bread in 1 day, how many ounces will he eat in 8 days?

8. What will bo the cost of 6 lead-pencils, at 9 cents each?

9. I bought 6 dozen eggs, at 10 cents a dozen: how much did they cost?

From Ray's New Primary Arithmetic for Young Learners copyright expired, 1877 

He also practices adding and subtracting in the thousands with regrouping with these Montessori math sheets a couple times a week (there are sheets adding/subtracting ones/ones, tens/tens, hundreds/hundreds as well) :
Montessori Addition Worksheets Link
Montessori Subtraction Worksheets Link

The picture left shows one of the sheets. It's been useful because the numbers are so large and are in columns. You can click on the picture to see it closer up.

Bump: The Math Game of Doubles (and 8s Multiplication Game)

I made this simple math game for DD. This goes along with some of the math skills she's learning with her new math curriculum.  It's a game of practicing doubling the numbers 4 through 9 (4+4, 5+5, etc.).

Each player takes a turn rolling the die. He/She doubles the number on the die and then places a token or marker on that number on the gameboard.  If another player has a token on the board you can BUMP him/her off. But if a player has two tokens on a number, then he has won that number. The game ends when the entire board is full. The winner is the player that has won the most numbers.

You can download the fall-themed gameboard here. (4+4, 5+5, etc.)

Now knowing that LD would want to play as well I made him his own gameboard.  This version uses the same die (with the numbers 4 through 9), but instead he multiplies by 8. (4x8, 5x8, 6x8, 7x8, 8x8, 9x8)

So if he rolls a 5 he multiplies that by 8 and has to cover the number 40 on his gameboard. The same rules apply -- you can bump a player off if they have one token covering the number, but once a player has two tokens on a number he has claimed/won that number and cannot be bumped off.

You can download the Bump 8s Multiplication Gameboard here.

Skip Counting Songs for learning the 6s, 7s and 8s

Late at night my brain often whirls with ideas.  Last spring I put the skip counting patterns to familiar tunes since LD is working on his basic multiplication facts.  For example, I put the 7s to the tune of 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat.'  LD learned that so well I went back and created another tune for the 6s and the 8s which he'll be working on again this fall.

Click here to see the skip counting songs and to print them out.

Timez Attack -- Multiplication Video Game

If your child is learning his or her times tables, there's a wonderful video game you can download for them to practice. The graphics are great.

Timez Attack -- There's a free version or you can purchase a version that has more levels. You should check it out if you haven't already!

Domino Math -- PK, K and 2nd Grades

DD took a domino and created an addition problem writing it on her recording sheet.

We used the domino recording sheet from Mathwire. You can find more domino math ideas on the investigating dominoes page and on  this Mathwire page.There's a cute activity also for addition called the domino parking lot with use with regular sized dominoes.

ED simply counted the dots and put her wooden numbers on top of each side of the domino.

I changed the addition sign to multiplication for LD.

You can extend these activities by printing out the double-nine domino set from Mathwire.

Catch the Mouse Game -- Practicing the Six and Seven Times Tables

Goodness, we have been so busy here there's hardly been any time to write.  It's the end of the semester and many of the kids' (and my) activities are coming to a close. There have been extra practices and parties and we're still doing our slow but steady homeschool stuff. Lots of books and lots of games this time of year! Plus we're finishing up some old (unfinished) lapbook projects and starting on new ones.

LD is just starting out with his 7 times tables.  We've been singing many rounds of our 7s skip counting song:

Row, Row, Row Your Boat...
7, 14, 21
Gently down the stream...
28, 35
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...
42, 49, 56, 63
Life is but a dream...
70, we've arrived.

And here's a game I made to play with LD this next week for practicing 7x4 through 7x9.  Here is the link to the game board I made if anyone's interested. [LD liked this so much that I made another board to review his six times tables 6x4 through 6x9--at that same link.]

Here's how to play the "Catch the Mouse" game:

**Use a wooden cube and write the numerals 4 through 9 on each side. Each player takes a turn rolling the die and multiplying by 7.

 **The object is to try to catch the most mice by placing two of your own markers on a mouse to capture it.

 **Let's say you roll a 4.  Multiply that by 7 and place a marker on the 28 mouse.  The next player rolls.  If there is just one marker on the mouse they can bump the other player's marker off the mouse. If their own marker is on that mouse and they place a second marker, then that mouse has been captured.  

 **The game ends when all mice are caught. The winner is the player who has caught the most mice.

Catch the Mouse Game Boards

On another note, I am planning to start back up with our study of German... probably in the fall or perhaps slowly this summer.  I have a couple of number and color sorting cards I made. They're in the Free Downloads area--scroll way down to the very, very end in the blue section.  

Is anyone else teaching their kids German?? I have a few sources that I really like and will share them at some point. 

We're learning German because that's the language I studied in school. I spent a semester studying in Heidelberg.  I taught a beginner's German class years ago to high school students.  And I watched lots of German TV when I was in the Peace Corps and taught in Hungary. I'm no pro, but can teach the kids the basics! :-)  

I'd love to hear what's worked for other families teaching their young kids a foreign language.