Find the Missing Digit
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See more activities in: Second Grade, Place Value
Okay, identifying place value isn't as fun as eating ice cream, but with a few index cards
and a competitive spirit, it can be disguised as play! This game, which challenges your
child to find the missing digit in a four-digit number, will strengthen your kids
understanding of thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones. After a few rounds of play, your
child will be identifying place value like nobody's business!
What You Need:
40 index cards. Use them to create four cards for each digit from 0-9 (for example,
make four cards with the number 0, four with the number 1, etc.)
Place value chart showing Thousands, Hundreds, Tens, and Ones
What You Do:
1.
Give each player a set of 20 number cards. Make sure each person has two of
each number. Review the place value chart with your child.
2.
To start playing the game say a 4-digit number aloud. Take three of your number
cards and place each of them in the corresponding place value square. One square
will be empty. The point is that your child will have to figure out which one is
missing. For example, if you say the number 1,236 and place cards in the
thousands, hundreds, and one positions, she would have to figure out that the 3 was
missing from the tens position.
3.
Say the number again. Have your child complete the number by placing one of
her number cards, the one showing the missing digit, on the empty place value
square. Have your child read the place value of the missing digit. Ask your child to
read the complete number. For every missing number she finds, she gets one point.
4.
5.
Switch roles.
After youve played this game a couple of times with only one digit missing, try
gradually increasing the number of missing digits. Before long, your child will want
to supply all four digits--prepare to be happily trumped!
Play Ice Cream Addition!
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See in slideshow:
Addition and Subtraction
Knowing basic math facts is important for future math success, and there's no such thing
as too much practice. Looking for another way to get your child learning his basic
addition facts? Play Ice Cream Addition! Here's a math game to keep you and your child
school cool during this hot summer. All you need is dice, the ice cream worksheet, and
some crayons! Roll the dice, add up the terms, and color in all the pieces of your ice
cream cone to win.
Ice Cream Addition is a great game to play in pairs or small groups, and can help your
child learn some math vocabulary while boosting his basic addition skills.
What You Need:
Dice
Pencil
Blank paper
Crayons
Ice Cream Worksheet
Terms to Know:
Addend: the numbers to be added
Sum: the answer you get by adding numbers together
What You Do:
1.
Print enough copies of the Ice Cream Worksheet so that every player has one.
2.
Determine who goes first. The first player will roll the dice. On a blank sheet of
paper, the player will then write the addition problem out using the numbers he
rolled as the addends. If he rolled a 3 and 4, for instance, he would write the
problem this way: 3 + 4 = 7.
3.
The first player will then color the sum on the ice cream cone. In the example 3 +
4 = 7, 7 is the sum and would be colored on the cone.
4.
The next player rolls the dice to determine his addends, writes the addition
problem, and colors in his sum.
5.
Continue playing with each player taking turns. If someone rolls a sum that is
already colored on his sheet, he loses that turn. Try to use the math vocabulary as
you play this game and see how quickly you learn these new words.
6.
The first player to sum up all his problems and color in his entire ice cream cone
wins the game!
Celebrate by eating some real, delicious ice cream for a treat!
Play Pattern Hopscotch!
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12 Clever Ways to Refresh 2nd Grade Math Skills
Creating number patterns with pencil and paper can be dull. But creating patterns with
hopscotch? Way cool! Get your child's game on, and give her some math practice in the
process. While developing pattern skills, students build a firm foundation for algebraic
thinking. Heres a fun at-home activity that will have your child recognizing, describing,
and extending patterns using hopscotch squares.
What You Need:
Chalk
Sidewalk or driveway
Stone
What You Do:
1.
Using chalk, draw a series of six connecting hopscotch boxes on the sidewalk or
on a driveway. In the first four boxes, write a series of four numbers showing a
pattern of counting by 2s. (For example, 2,4,6,8). Write one number in each box.
2.
Have your child extend the pattern by filling in the empty boxes with numbers
that extend this sequence. To demonstrate the pattern, ask your child to hop on
each of the boxes in the series, saying each number aloud.
3.
This time, ask your child to draw two more sets of six to eight boxes. Fill in each
set of boxes with a series of four numbers that show a pattern, such as counting by
5s, counting by 10s, decreasing by 1s, or decreasing by 2s. Do you have a math
whiz? You can also experiment with counting by 3, 4, or 6...this lays the foundation
for multiplication.
4.
Although the boxes may look non-traditional, the game of hopscotch is still
timelessly fun. Make your boxes...and then hop on. In teacher terms, you're doing
"kinesthetic" learningusing the body to integrate key intellectual skills and
knowledge. In kid terms, you'll be having tons of fun!
By Sally Ann Stanley
Sally is an experienced educator, with over 14 years of teaching experience. Over the
last ten years she has created educational materials, including ancillary, textbook, and
test items, for Grades K-8 for major educational publishers.
Updated on Jul 3, 2013
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