$mental math practice game$

Mental math is the practice of making mathematical calculations in your head. This article will discuss how to learn mental math and how the practice can improve the ability to solve problems mentally. In the end, it helps to enhance kids’ counting and verbal arithmetic skills. In this situation, 41+21=62 is actually preferable to 57+42=99 because it brings the total score closer to 0.Mental math is a great way to keep your mind sharp! Mental math practice improves overall mathematical skills. For example, Larry was dealt a very bad hand in Round 3, and ended up with 37 points!īefore proceeding, ask him, “What should your strategy be from here? Should you still try to make your cards add up to 100?” Try to guide him to see that to get to an overall total score of 0 in the end, it’s better in this round to aim for something closer to 60, so that the negative points can cancel out the +37 points. If you are playing the challenging version, ask about strategies used at various points in the game.Discuss how if you go over 60, then you might try to compensate with the second number by going under by the same amount. For example, with this hand, 65 and 35 can be used to make exactly 100. Even better, help your child see that even though 6+4=10, that doesn’t mean one should necessarily always use the 6 and 4 combination (or any other combination for 10).Try to help her discover that since she is over 100, she could make her sum closer by choosing smaller numbers in the ones place, using the combination 61 + 43. Maybe she is using her knowledge of combinations for 10 (adding 6 and 4) to make a combination for 100. Perhaps your child makes the combination 65 + 45.How do you add the numbers in your head? What others ways can you add them?.What’s your strategy? Do you look for numbers that will get you close to 100 by starting with the tens place? Ones?.Here are some possible things to look for and/or discuss with your child: Just like in the game Tic-Tac-Toe Products (and most other games), there’s a great opportunity for learning in discussing strategy. Experiment with using just one hand and seeing who can come up with the best combination first (this makes it more competitive). Save paper: If you don’t have the printout on hand, you can still easily play this game and just compete one round at a time.Make it easier: Deal 4 cards (instead of 6) and add up 1-digit numbers to get to 10.A score of 103 would result in +3 (or just plain “3”). This will change the strategy in the game! You can see the difference in scoring below. Make it more challenging: Students can use negative numbers to calculate their score instead of absolute value. For example, a sum of 97 means they are under by 3, so the score would be -3.Q: What do I do when there are no more cards in the deck?Ī: Shuffle all of the used cards and keep going. Q: What if I have all high cards, like all 8’s and 9’s? The only way to make a 1-digit number is if you have a zero (remember, 10’s = 0 in this game), such as “ 0 7” in Round 3 above.

$mental math practice game$

Q: Can I use just one card to make a 1-digit number?Ī: No. >CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION WITH THE SCORING TEMPLATE AND INSTRUCTIONS.>CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION WITH THE SCORING TEMPLATE AND INSTRUCTIONS.<<< It’s easy to learn, there’s no time pressure, and it’s not as directly competitive as other games can be, which helps some students thrive more. It also provides many great opportunities to have math talks to discuss strategy. It’s great for practicing mental math and combinations to make 10. This is a fun and simple game that lends itself to a variety of math topics, including 1- and 2-digit addition, place value, absolute value, and negative numbers.

Mental math practice game