Go To The Dump Math Game

Another Right Start post for you. Little Bean and I came across this game in Lesson 42 of the Right Start Level A book. Little Bean LOVED it, so I thought I'd share it with you; maybe your Kinder will enjoy it too!

Game: Go to the Dump (reminicent of Go Fish)

Purpose: to learn all the combinations that equal ten (1 + 9, 2 + 8, 3 + 7, etc)

Materials: Set of basic number cards 1 through 9 (4 or 6 of each number), abacus if needed. You can make these cards with just some index cards or pieces of paper, or just print some up.

Play: Deal out five cards to each player. The remaining cards are the "dump pile". Each player first checks their cards to make sure there are no pairs equaling ten. If there are, he lays the pairs down in front of him. The game then proceeds like Go Fish--a player asks another player if he has a particular card that he needs to make a pair that equals ten. If the other player has the desired card, he must give it over; if not, he says, "Go to the dump" and the asking player draws a card. If he draws a match that he needs, he may lay it down right then and then end his turn. If not, his turn is over. The play moves on like this until all the cards are paired. If a player runs out of cards mid-game, he simply draws 5 more at that point. The winner is the one with the most pairs that equal ten. If a player needs help finding out what he needs to finish a pair, he can enter his card on the abacus and see what card is needed. The Right Start curriculum had a few more rules (like only asking the player to the left for a pair), but this seemed simpler and accomplished the same goal.

Such a simple game, but SO helpful for Little Bean to memorize pairs that equal ten. He loved this game so much that he wanted to play it twice during math time, and then said that he wanted to play it again after he finished all his school work for the day. I didn't think he'd hold me to it, but he did! He wanted to play it twice more after school, and using more cards so that one hand would last longer! We played two more games before I finally told him I needed a break. AND--I'm pretty sure he has mostly memorized his combinations of 10 now! :)