I often go to the dollar store for inspiration, and I found these fun paper cuts and spinners on my last trip and decided to put together a math spinner game with a rocket theme. My son likes numbers and rockets so I thought easy peasy, sure fire hit. No. Not with me but for some reason when daddy got home they played after dinner until I had to break it up for bedtime. Goes to show you that if something doesn’t go smoothly at first tweak it ( like maybe let daddy do it) and try again.
- Gather your materials. I bought these rocket cut outs but you could make them ( a helpful time saver would be to find a rocket cookie cutter and trace it), I also got the spinner at the dollar store as well. You will also need a marker.
- Number at least 2 sets of the rockets from 1-8 .
- Place dots from 1-8 on the spinner sections.
- To play: give each player 8 rocket pieces in order.
- Take turns spinning the spinner. When it lands on a section count the dots and take that number out of your line up.
- First person to have no rockets left wins.
- Also to make it more fun, my son and husband would do a count down every time they removed a rocket. They started with whatever the number they had to remove . For example if the spinner landed on a 7 they would say 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 BLAST OFF then launch the rocket into a pile, and spin the next number.
Counting Books to Read with Math Spinner Game
Goodnight Moon 123 by Margaret Wise Brown uses the familiar illustrations from the classic book by Margaret Wise Brown and turns it into a counting book. The page with 100 stars really has 100 stars on it, count and see!
One, Two, Three by Tom Slaughter is super simple, bold, bright and a great counting book! These aren’t complex books, pictures matter because they should encourage the reader to want to count and connect the number they have counted with the number printed on the page. I would happily recommend this book to families with babies through preschoolers , my 3 year old loved it and partly because he read all the pictures and numbers himself!
Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh is another gem from this author illustrator. In this book the mice outsmart a hungry snake and save themselves from his belly. In the meantime the reader counts along as the mouse are caught and put in a jar , then again when they escape. The simple illustrations are so effective and my son loved this book.
Anne says
I love this idea. I’ll have to remember it for my space theme next year at school. Thanks for sharing!
.-= Anne´s last blog ..Minute Math – Everyday for June =-.
The activity Mom says
Great game!
.-= The activity Mom´s last blog ..Make Your Own Books =-.
Jennifer @ The Toy Box Years says
This is a great idea! And reminds me that I need to drag that math game out of Nani’s closet!
.-= Jennifer @ The Toy Box Years´s last blog .."Completing Him" Challenge – 6/7 through 8/9 =-.
admin says
Thanks! The blasting off after each spin was a very important part so don’t forget that 😉
Ket says
Wow, what a cool concept! I was trying to think of a way to convert it to letters, but I think there would be too many.
.-= Ket´s last blog ..Dancing Baby =-.
Jen says
I haven’t seen the Goodnight Moon counting book. I just read My World which compliments Goodnight Moon to my little guy. I like the spinner- great find.
Jen
.-= Jen´s last blog ..The Baby Times! 9th Edition: I Love You Songs =-.
Andrea says
Thanks for the idea!
.-= Andrea´s last blog ..Mini Mighty Mind =-.
admin says
Ket- you could do it with letters, just focus on 8 no need to write out the whole alphabet!
Becky says
Great idea! I need to go to my dollar store and see what inspiration I can get!
Kelly Malloy says
My littlest will love this! I love Dollar store finds!
.-= Kelly Malloy´s last blog ..Shark Place Value Game =-.
Angie says
Love this idea and I am linking to it for the 6/16/10 post. Thanks!
.-= Angie´s last blog ..Wow what a great idea! I need to save these for w… =-.