To increase a kiddo’s number sense or number concept takes practice, practice, and more practice, so it might as well be fun!

Fun and relevant! This was my thinking when I designed Rolling Tens: Pennies and Dimes Make a Dollar Just Fine. My kinders and firsties love playing with our penny jar. I guess the dumping and clinking sounds and texture of the coins are appealing to them. Well probably to all of us. 🙂

The giggles that insue from running your hands through a pile is just plain fun. ***Make sure your kiddos have loads of dumping time prior to introducing the trading concept and recording sheet, save yourself. :-)***

Creating and Exchanging

Hands on, hands on, and more hands on activities. My philosophies are based on “Math Their Way” , Kathy Richardson’s Developing Number Concepts and TERC’s Investigations, for my thoughts click and read this post. Research proves that creating groups of ten pennies and exchanging them physically for a dime is the only way to ensure mastery of place value concepts. Say it with me, “Hands on, hands on, and more hands on activities!”

The Product

Supplies needed to play

• 1-6 die or 4-9 die
• Rolling Tens Gameboard per player
• 15 pennies (real or those provided in the packet copied onto cardstock)
• 15 dimes (real or those provided in the packet copied onto cardstock) 
• 10 $1.00 Penguin Bills
• Recording sheets
  ***Enclosed are two versions of recording sheets to practice using the cent and dollar signs to record amounts rolled and added together.***
  (the product contains the bold items)

How to Play

1. Roll a 1-6 die to determine how many pennies to put on the gameboard. 
2. Add that amount to the gameboard.
3. Once you get to 10 pennies, remove and exchange them for 1 dime.
4. Once you get to 10 dimes, remove and exchange them for 1 Dollar.
5. Prior to beginning, players should determine what amount the winner should reach. $1.00 is a great place to start.

I hope your kiddos have as much fun as mine have over the years. Don’t you just love simple games that are engaging and easy to prepare? Ready shop, click.

Until next time,