Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Multiplication Math Game: X Game

This game was shared with me by a friend of mine who teaches 2nd grade.  It can be used to introduce the concept of Multiplication and to practice Multiplication facts.

For 2-3 players, but you can have multiple games going. The idea of the game is to fill in the grid paper with different sized rectangles and the winner is the one who can fill in the last space with their rectangle.

Materials Needed
1 cm Grid Paper
2-3 dice per group
Colored Pencils


 How to Play
1.Each group of children gets one piece of grid paper and  2-3 dice.
2. The first child begins by rolling two dice.
3. The child chooses a number that was rolled and makes an x (I colored mine as it made it easier when I was explaining it) on that many squares on the grid going either up or across.  Then the second number determines the amount of squares filled in going the remaining direction (up or across).  As you can see in the picture, the first number is 1, so the squares are filled in for 1 row going up.  The second number is 5, so the squares are filled in 5 across.
4. Once the child is done filling in squares, they write the product in one of the squares.


5. It is now the next child's turn to roll. You can see we chose three as the first number so three up and then 4 across.  Thus 3x4=12.


6. The game continues and the squares are filled in until the last space is filled. If one player can't fill in a space, the next player rolls and tries to fill it in. With the person filling the last spot being the winner!  As it gets down to the last few tiny spots to fill in, we set one die to the side with the number one on it and just rolled one die.  You don't have to do this but it makes the ending a little less drawn out.
 
















Revisions to Increase Difficulty Level
As the children progress in multiplication you can:
-Use a smaller grid.
-Roll two dice for the first factor and one for the second.
-Roll two dice and add twice for the factors to get big boxes.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you enjoy the game!  I would love to hear if your kids like it or if you have any questions. 

-

No comments: