elementary math games
Elementary Math Games
Math games are an interesting way of teaching this tricky subject.This article contains a couple of games that you can play with the students in your class.
- An Astrolabe pattern (You can easily download a pattern from the Internet and circulate it in the class)
- A 5 inch square poster board
- A string that is about 6 inches long
- A long soda straw
- A metal washer
- Cellophane tape
- Scissors
- Glue
- Ask the students to cut out the astrolabe along its edges. The next step is to glue it on the poster board, ensuring that corner of the astrolabe is at one edge of the poster board. Punch the hole at the corner (90 Degree angle) of the astrolabe.
- To one end of the string, tie the washer. Insert the other end of the string through the hole punched in the astrolabe. Adjust it in a manner that the washer hangs just below the curved edge of the astrolabe. Stick the free end of the string (through the hole) behind the pattern.
- The straw has to be taped along the edge that connects the punched hole and the 90th Degree on the astrolabe.
- Now, ask the students to place their eye at the end of the straw that is nearest to the curved edge of the astrolabe and look for the object whose elevation is to be measured. The poster board has to be held vertical with the straw at top.
- The washer will swing and will hold the string vertical. Once the object has been captured through the pipe, carefully grab the washer and hold it in its position. The string will provide the angle of the object.
- For children of higher grades, the same game can be used to further explain the concept of similar angles by asking them to measure the elevation of the same object from different distances.
- The basic concept of the game is that you write a series of numbers on the blackboard that follow some pattern and the students have to guess the subsequent numbers on the list.
- Considering a simple example, let us assume that you have written 1, 4, 16, 64 on the blackboard. You will notice that the pattern here is that the first number is multiplied by 4 to get the second number and the second number is again multiplied by 4 to get the third number and so on. Hence the fifth number here, which the students have to guess, is 256.
- To illustrate with another example, the list that is written on the blackboard is 1, 3, 5, 7. The pattern here is that 2 is added to the first number to get the next number. Hence, the answer that the students need to provide is 9.
- Some of the common patterns that you can use are odd number series, even number series, prime numbers, multiplication factors, Fibonacci series, and so on.