Addition Game: Fill It Up

Addition Game: Addition Fill It Up is an addition game full of strategy & mental computation. It is an excellent math centre game.

What You Need:

2 players
10 transparent counters of different colours foreach player
1 game board
scratch paper and a pencil for each player

Aim:

To build a connected trail of counters to total the target number.

How to Play:

1. The person with the shortest hair becomes Player One.
2. Player One chooses a number between 15 and 30 to be the game's target number.
3. Player One places a counter on a bottle and records the number on their scratch paper. This is their score for this turn.
4 Player Two places a counter on a different bottle then records the number on their scratch paper. No bottle can be used twice.
5. Players continue to place counters and keep a running total until one of the players reaches the target number.
6. The first player to reach the target number is declared the winner.
7. Swap who goes first for the next game.

NB If a player goes over the target number then they lose the game.

Teaching Tips:

- Encourage the students spend some time looking at the board and working out a strategy after they have decided on the target number. Pre-planning and strategising are necessary skills in mathematics.
- Encourage the students to look for mathematical patterns which may help them in this game.

Game Variations:

Start on a number other than zero.

If you start on 10 then the range of target numbers is 25 to 40.
Start on 20 = 35 to 50
30 = 45 to 60
40 = 55 to 70
50 = 65 to 80 etc

Before the Game:

– Conduct number talks on strategies which will aid the flow of the game. e.g Doubles, Doubles Plus One, Doubles Plus Two,
Adding 9, Adding 8, To the Decade etc
- Discuss the strategies students use for learning number facts.
- ‘Using your fingers as your main calculation strategy is accurate but slow.’ What could this mean? What actions could you take to fix this?
- That feeling you get when you know you don’t know the fact automatically. What is it for you when you are playing a math game.
- What fact will you make an effort to commit to memory today?

During the Game:

- Encourage the use of strategies as opposed to counting on during the game.

After the Game:

- What strategies helped you do well at this game?
- Is there an advantage to the person choosing the target number? Why do you think this?
- Does the person going first in this game have an advantage?

Enjoy!!!