Customer Reviews

Early Childhood Number Games: Teachers Reinvent Math Instruction, Pre-K through 3rd Grade

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Wonderful book for using games instead of worksheets for learning addition,subtraction, multiplication and division. Each game gives a version for younger or older children. There are cover-up games, money games, outdoor games, and children's story games. some supplies are provided in the book others are easily made. Very good book for game ideas.

A wonderful compilation of games to teach children number and math concepts! So much better than the same old worksheets! I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to "liven up" their math instruction!

There are lots of resources that give ideas for math games, but what sets Early Childhood Number Games apart from the rest is the thoughtful chapters on the why and how to use games for kids. The author lays out a convincing argument for teaching children math in ways that let them come up with their own solutions, instead of the rote learning so many of us are exposed to and pass on to our children. As in other subjects, when children make their own discoveries, they retain it. Ms. Wakefield writes, "Sometimes parents and teachers think that they are teaching children only when they tell them directly how to do something, as with the rote learning of ABC's and 1-2-3's. However, children learn much more than memorized letters and numbers when they use letters and numbers to accomplish what they themselves want to do. The normal interaction of children at play (e.g., figuring out how many spaces to move according to the roll of the dice, how many cards make fifteen or what the "chance" card requires) provides natural reading and number thinking challenges."

Following these concise chapters of the thought behind the games, are the games themselves. They are in the following four categories: Cover-up games to encourage math thinking, Money games to encourage math thinking, Outdoor games to encourage math thinking, and Children's story games to encourage math thinking. She includes copyable game boards and cards in black and white that can be colored by the instructor or students and complete instructions for each game, along with recommended ages for each. The games are interesting and challenging, exploiting those subjects young children enjoy, such as sinking submarines, losing teeth, shopping, becoming "Monarch of the Mountain" (complete with the winner wearing a crown), adding whiskers to a cat, etc.

This book makes a great complement to other math resources such as Life of Fred, Miquon Math, Evan-Moor Daily Math, and Math-U-See. With varied and engaging math experiences like these, you may find you don't miss the drills at all...