Subtraction Game with Pop The Pig

Do your kids love playing Pop The Pig? My daughter loves it, but it’s not exactly a challenging game for her now that she is older. With a few simple modifications, I turned this old favorite into a challenging math game for her. The numbers in the game are 1, 2, 3, and 4 which are pretty small amounts so we went with subtraction since it wouldn’t pose a challenge for her with addition but with a younger child, it would be perfect!

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Gather your materials. You will need a Pop The Pig game, some card stock, scissors, markers in purple, red, green, and yellow to match the burgers the pig eats.

Start by cutting your card stock into little cards.

Write equations that match up with the burgers you have. I was missing a few (will someone remind me I need to check under the couch?) so I only made cards for the burgers I had.

Ready to play!

Shuffle the cards and flip over. Pull a card from the top, find the answer to the equation, find the correct burger, feed the pig, press his hat and hope he doesn’t pop!

Some of the equations needed to be figured out with fingers, and that is totally awesome, that’s why we have them right?

She was very worried about when it was going to pop.

If I were going to do this in a class, I would take the time to laminate the cards for sure!

Here are some fun books about pigs to round out this activity:

Books About Pigs

How Big Is a Pig? by Claire Beaton is a favorite in our house and has been for both my kids. I love the felt illustrations, the detail amazes me and helps distract me from noticing that I have read it 20 times in as many minutes. The story itself is great too, it focuses on opposites in the farm yard with a zippy rhyming text. My daughter loves taking this one in the stroller while I run and because it’s a board book I can give it to her without worrying that after a few miles it’s ripped and ruined.

The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall is a great classic telling of The Three Little Pigs. My son loved the illustrations and chanted ” Little pig little pig let me come in!” along with me as we read. Now I know there are some versions of this story where the pigs don’t die. This one is not one of them, but it’s not graphic at all. We both really liked this book.

Grunt by John Richardson is a classic running away from home story. This one is about a pig who is different from all his siblings. He can only grunt instead of squeal and thinks that because he is different, his family must not want him. Of course, in the end, Mama is overjoyed to see him come home and he discovers his family does love him. I am biased against books like this cause I just don’t like them; I don’t like that a child (or piglet) has to run away to find out they are loved. Maybe it’s just my pet peeve, regardless this book is ok, but I won’t be adding it to my bookshelf.

Have you played Pop the Pig with your children? Share your game time fun with us over on my Facebook page, or comment below!

For more quick tips on helping your child learn to read check out my book; Raising A Rock-Star Reader. It is packed with fun ideas for families, book lists, and advice for parents.