1 year ago

Name the Missing Number
You would want to practice saying the numbers together 1-10, as you lay the cards down, one on top of the other. Stay in one suit at a time, to simplify the concept. Once your student has practiced several times and can do this in an automatic way, then it is time to play the game.
Choose 4 sequential cards and lay them down directly in front of the student. Lay the cards down in a left to right progression, but turn one card over so the number cannot be seen. Tell the child, "Name the missing number." The child will read the numbers aloud, ideally pointing to each number, then say the correct number. As the child flips the card over and can see and recognize that the answer is correct, amazing connections will be made in the developing brain. This will be fun and give the child ample practice on sequencing 1-10. Enjoy playing the game and rejoice, your student is laying an important foundation in math.

Hungry Alligator
You can take a stuffed toy alligator and explain that alligators are always hungry. They always want to eat, eat, and eat. An alligator would rather eat a bigger number or quantity than a smaller one. So you will place two cards directly in front of the student and explain that the alligator will want to eat the bigger number. Which is the bigger number? Which has the bigger amount or quantity? The children can look at the shapes and be able to tell even at a very young age which is the larger amount. The child should turn the alligator in such a way- that his mouth is eating the larger amount. Now a very important concept that you want to pour into your student is the saying: "The number __ is bigger than the number __." Or "The number __ is smaller than the number __." The most important detail is to say this "The American Way" that is to place an American flag in front of the student and have them read/say this in a left to right manner.

Once a child has practiced doing this game with the alligator a few times, switch to a 3"x 5" card with a large green mouth and sharp teeth. Continue playing the game and strengthening the concepts of 'greater than' and 'less than' but using the phrases "is bigger than" and "is less than." In a short period of time you will be able to show the child the large mouth in black ink with no teeth at all and the child will be able to place the mouth the correct way. When the child is ready you can increase the difficulty of the game by adding all of the cards into the game, including the face cards. Face Cards will be worth 10; an Ace is worth 11. When you get two numbers that are the same, they are equal. You can introduce the equal sign. Enjoy playing Hungry Alligator!

Go Fish
This is the same basic game of Go Fish, but slightly modified to make it easier for younger children. Deal out 5 cards to each player and the goal is to make a match. Place the remaining cards in the deck in a stack face down. Once a person has a pair of cards they can remove those cards from the hand and count that as a "book." In the beginning just use the cards 1-10 from all four sets. As the child learns the game, increase the difficulty by including the face cards. These cards will have the Jack, Queen, King and Ace all spelled out, so that will reinforce basic reading skills.

Please have your student learn how to hold the cards in the non-dominant hand and pull the desired card out to make a match or to hand over a card with the dominant hand. This is a very important concept in activating your child's brain to the highest potential. Enjoy playing Go Fish. The person who has the most books wins the game. This is good game for socialization and good for learning how to take turns. Have fun.

To purchase these unique cards and to learn more games go to MerrittSpeech.com.

Loading comments...